BRAVE SONS OF GURU GOVIND SINGH

Fateh Singh and Jorawar Singh were the sons of Guru Govind Singh, the tenth Guru of the Sikh religion. In the Anandpur battle, Guruji’s family got separated from one another. He eventually found his two elder sons, Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, but his two younger sons, Fateh and Jorawar, and his mother, Gujaridevi were still on a mission.

 

After leaving Anandpur, Fateh and Jorawar travelled with their grandmother crossing through forests and over mountains to read a town. At that time Jorawar was only seven years and eleven months of age, while Fateh was just five years and ten months old. In this town, they met a Brahmin named Gangu who had one served Guru Govind Singh as a cook for twenty years. Upon seeing Mata Gujaridevi, he at once requested them to come to his house and since he was their old servant, Mataji agreed.

 

There were some gold coins in Mata Gujaridevi’s belongings. Seeing which Gangu was over some with greed. He stole the gold coins at night and did not stop at just that. Greed is as insatiable as it is vile. Desires can never be fulfilled, they just keep on multiplying. Gangu’s greed has swelled. In the hope of a reward, he went to the nearby Murind police station and informed them that Guru Govind Singh’s mother and his two sons were hiding at his place.

 

The police officer in charges sent some constables to Gangu’s house and got Gujaridevi arrested along with the kids. They were kept in Murind jail overnight and taken to the Nawab of Sarhind the next day. Meanwhile, Gujaridevi had been inspiring the children by narrating the brave stories of their grandfather, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and father, Guru Govind Singh.

 

At Sarhind, they were kept in a well-ventilated tower of the fort without food or water. All through the night, Mata Gujaridevi kept inspiring the children to be brave and have strong faith in their religion. She knew only too well that the first thing the Mughals would do is to force the children to convert to Islam. Both the children promised their grandmother that they would not let their father and family’s name become stained, and would remain loyal to their religion.

 

The next morning, the soldiers came to take the children away. The children respectfully touched their grandmother’s feet and left after taking her blessings. When the children were brought before Nawab Vazir Khan, they both roared like lions chanting, “Wahe Guruji Ka Khalasa, Wahe Guruji ki Fateh.” (a war cry of the Sikhs meaning ‘pure are the sons of the Guru, and victory will be on their side only.’)

 

All the courtiers were amazed by the fearlessness of these lion kids, even while surrounded by enemies on all sides. The Nawab’s heart too melted seeing these dagger-wielding little warrior clad in saffron clothes and turbans. He said to the children:

 

“Inshah Allah (God is great)! You look very cute and I do not feel like punishing you. Children! I want to cherish you like the Nawab’s children, but there is only one little condition that you give up your religion and convert to Islam.”

 

The Nawab began to tempt the children in many ways. He thought that it would not be very difficult to win them over. Obviously, he had forgotten that these ware no ordinary young boys. But the most worthy sons of Guru Govind Singh himself. He had forgotten that the blood flowing in their veins belonged to that brave person, who had first inspired his own father to give up his life for the sake of dharma and then spent his entire life for the same cause.

 

hearing the Nawab’s tempting offers, the brothers fearlessly replied, “our religion is more precious than our lives to us. We will never give in to your tempting offers to give up our religion, for the sake of which our ancestors did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives. This is simply impossible.”

 

The Nawab’s first move had fallen flat. The children didn’t fall prey to his sweet, tempting words. Next, he made his second move. The Nawab thought that because they were small children, he might be able to get them to convert through intimidation. He said to the children, “You have insulted the court. If I want, I can inflict severe punishment on you, but I am giving you one more chance. There is still time. If you want to stay alive, convert to Islam or else…”

 

Even before the Nawab could finish his statement, these brave little children roared back, “Nawab! We are the grandchildren of Guru Teghbahadur who sacrificed his life for the sake of dharma. We are the sons of that Guru Govind Singh who famously said, “I will make an Eagle fight eh sparrow; I can make one fight one Lakh and twenty-five thousand’. Each soldier of His can make 1 Lakh and 25 thousands of your slaves bite the dust, and His very name sends shivers down the spine of your empire. You are trying to scare us with the threat of death. We once again say that our religion is more precious to us than our lives. We can sacrifice our lives but not our religion.”

           

At that moment the court minister Suchchananda said, “Okay if you were released now, what would you do?”

 

Jorawar Singh replied, “We would build an army and fight to drive the cruel Mughals out of this country.”

 

“And if you were to be defeated?”

 

Jorawar Singh replied firmly, “Defeat has absolutely no room in our life. We would not be defeated; we would be either victorious or martyrs.”

 

These heroic words of the children annoyed the Nawab. He told the Quazi (law officer) “These boys have insulted the court and said they will rebel against the Mughal empire in the future. What punishment should be given to them?”

 

Quazi: “These boys are the enemies of the Mughal empire and are not ready to accept Islam. Therefore , they should be bricked up alive.”

 

After the wicked Nawab and Quazi had decided the cruel punishment, the boys were sent to their grandmother. The children enthusiastically narrated the entire episode to their grandmother. The grandmother was immensely pleased with the bravery of the children, and hugging them closer to her hear she said: “My children! You have upheld the honors of your father.”

 

The next day both the children were handed over to the executioners of Delhi Government, Shishal Beig and Vishal Beig. The boys were taken to a spot where masons started building a wall around them. Gradually, the wall came up to their ears. At that moment the elder brother Jorawar looked at his younger brother Fateh for the last time and tears trickled down his eyes.

 

On seeing this condition of Jorawar, the Quazi who had been closely supervising the operation was very pleased. He thought that the children must be scared seeing death staring them in the face. He seized the opportunity and said to Jorawar, “Children! There is still time. If you convert to Islam, you will be forgiven.”

 

Jorawar thundered back” “Stupid Quazi! I am not afraid of death. My brother came into this world much after me, and is privileged to sacrifice his life for the sake of dharma before me. I did not have this good luck even thought I m older than him, this is the reason why I am crying.”

 

Everybody present there was stunned to hear such words from the seven-year-old. Shortly, the wall was completed and the two brave young crusaders were buried. The wall was razed after some time. Bothe the children were lying unconscious, but the cruel executioners killed them in that state anyway.

 

In the history of no other country can one find an episode like this showing such bravery from two young children aged five and seven. Jorawar and Fateh were separated from their father and had fallen into enemy hands. At a tender age they had to face such an enormous crisis. First, they were tempted in many ways, and then mercilessly tortured to give up their religion. However, these two brave young children remained resolutely wedded to their religion till their very last. Blessed are such children having absolute faith in their dharma.