ਮਾਤਾ ਜੀਤੋ ਜੀਮਾਤਾ ਜੀਤੋ ਜੀ

Mata Jito Ji (about 1670 to 1700), also called Mata Ajeet Kaur, was the first wife of ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ, the tenth Sikh Guru, and the mother of three of the Char Sahibzade: Jujhar Singh, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh. She married the Guru in 1677, stood beside him when he created the Khalsa at ਅਨਂਡਪੁਰ in 1699, and died at Anandpur on 5 December 1700, four years before her sons gave their lives for the faith.

Who was Mata Jito Ji?

Mata Jito Ji was born Ajeet Kaur in Lahore, around 1670, the daughter of Bhai Harjas, a Subhikkhi Khatri, and Mata Sabhrai. In her family she was called Jeeto, a name that became Jito in the histories. She grew up in Lahore, then the capital of the Mughal rulers, at a time when the Gurus and the Mughal court were already in open conflict. Her marriage joined her to the house of Guru Nanak while she was still a child, and she spent her life at the Guru's side, first at Anandpur and then through the years when the Khalsa was born.

How did Mata Jito Ji marry Guru Gobind Singh Ji?

The betrothal took place in 1673. Her father had wished the young Guru to come to Lahore at the head of a marriage party, so that the ceremony could be held with due dignity. But the martyrdom of ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ ਬਹਾਦਰ ਜੀ in 1675 had made travel to Lahore dangerous for the Guru's family, and in the changed circumstances the wedding could not be held there. Instead, the Guru raised a settlement near the village of Basantgarh, about 10 kilometres north of Anandpur, and named it Guru ka Lahore. The nuptials were held there on 21 June 1677, the 23rd of Har in the year 1734 Bikrami. The muklawa, the ceremony that marks the completion of a marriage, was held in late 1688, after the Guru had returned to Anandpur from Paonta Sahib. Mata Jito Ji was the Guru's first wife.

What happened at Vaisakhi 1699?

On 30 March 1699, Guru Gobind Singh Ji created the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib. Sikh tradition remembers Mata Jito Ji as the first woman to take ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ that day, and a fresco that once stood in the original Akal Takht building showed her adding sugar crystals, patase, to the Amrit as it was prepared. Historians differ on this detail. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, in the Mahan Kosh, says it was Mata Sahib Kaur who added the patase, while the Twarikh Guru Khalsa says it was Mata Jito Ji. What is certain is that her name is tied to the first Amrit in the memory of the Panth.

Who were Mata Jito Ji's sons?

Three sons were born to Mata Jito Ji: Jujhar Singh on 14 March 1691, Zorawar Singh on 17 November 1696, and Fateh Singh on 25 February 1699. She raised them on the martyrdom tales of their grandfather, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, and their great-great-grandfather, Guru Arjan Dev Ji, and taught them that a Sikh never runs from a battlefield. The Guru's eldest son, Ajit Singh, was not her son: he was born to ਮਾਤਾ ਸੁੰਦਰੀ ਜੀ at Paonta on 26 January 1687. Mata Jito Ji did not live to see what her sons became. Jujhar Singh, thirteen years old, fell fighting beside his father at Chamkaur in December 1704. Zorawar Singh, nine, and Fateh Singh, six, were bricked alive at ਸਰਹਿੰਦ after they refused to convert to Islam. Sikh tradition tells that Mata Jito Ji, deep in prayer, foresaw their martyrdom and asked the Guru's leave to depart this world rather than live to see it.

How did Mata Jito Ji die?

Mata Jito Ji died at Anandpur Sahib on 5 December 1700, four years before Chamkaur and Sirhind. Her cremation took place at Agampura, near the Holgarh Fort, and a memorial shrine now stands on the spot: Gurdwara Mata Jito Ji, also called Gurdwara Mata Ajeet Kaur Ji, in the village of Agampura next to Anandpur Sahib. She was about thirty years old.

Were Mata Jito Ji and Mata Sundari Ji the same person?

Some modern scholars argue that Guru Gobind Singh Ji had only one wife, and that Jito was renamed Sundari after her marriage, as was the custom in Punjabi families. On that reading, the marriage took place in 1684 and the same woman lived on in Delhi until 1747. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, and historians including Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Bhai Santokh Singh, Giani Gian Singh and Kesar Singh Chibber, treat them as two wives. They point to the separate memorials: the place of Mata Jito Ji's cremation at Agampura near Anandpur, and the place of ਮਾਤਾ ਸੁੰਦਰੀ ਜੀ's cremation in Delhi. This entry follows the Encyclopaedia's account, which treats them as two wives, and records the other view here so that readers can weigh it for themselves.