ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਸਿੰਘਾਂ ਸਿੰਘਣੀਆਂ ਨੇ ਧਰਮ ਹੇਤ ਸੀਸ ਦਿੱਤੇ, ਬੰਦ ਬੰਦ ਕਟਾਏ, ਖੋਪਰੀਆਂ ਲੁਹਾਈਆਂ, ਚਰਖੜੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਚੜ੍ਹੇ, ਆਰਿਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਚਿਰਾਏ ਗਏ… ਧਰਮ ਨਹੀਂ ਹਾਰਿਆ ॥ Ardas

Notes I keep on the shaheeds named (and unnamed) in Ardas. Shaheed means witness: one whose life, and, if demanded, death, testifies that there is something in a human being no empire can touch. The price of the path was set by Guru Nanak Dev Ji himself: ਜਉ ਤਉ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਖੇਲਣ ਕਾ ਚਾਉ ॥ ਸਿਰੁ ਧਰਿ ਤਲੀ ਗਲੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਆਉ ॥, “if you wish to play the game of love, step onto my path with your head on your palm.” Keep the family tree open beside this: Das Patshahian, the journey of the jot.

The shaheed Gurus

  • Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Lahore, 1606. Seated on the tatti tavi, burning sand poured over him, reciting ਤੇਰਾ ਕੀਆ ਮੀਠਾ ਲਾਗੈ ॥. Shaheedan de Sirtaj, the first shaheedi, after which the sixth Guru took up miri–piri.
  • Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, 1675. Gave his sis for the freedom of another people’s tilak and janju. Hind di Chadar. Shaheed with him: Bhai Mati Das (sawn alive), Bhai Dayala (boiled alive), Bhai Sati Das (burned alive), none wavered.

The era of Guru Gobind Singh Ji

  • Sahibzada Ajit Singh (17) and Sahibzada Jujhar Singh (13), shaheed in battle at Chamkaur, Poh 1704, each sent into the field by their father.
  • Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh, Bhai Sahib Singh, three of the Panj Piare, shaheed at Chamkaur.
  • Bhai Jiwan Singh (Bhai Jaita), who carried the Ninth Guru’s sis from Delhi to Anandpur; shaheed at Chamkaur. Bhai Sangat Singh, wore the Guru’s kalgi in the garhi. Bhai Bachittar Singh, of the nagni barchha; fell after the Sarsa crossing.
  • Sahibzada Zorawar Singh (8) and Sahibzada Fateh Singh (5), bricked alive at Sirhind for refusing to abandon Sikhi; Mata Gujri Ji shaheed in the Thanda Burj the same day.
  • The Chali Mukte, the forty of Khidrana (Muktsar), 1705, led back into battle by Mai Bhago, who survived the field; pardoned by the Guru as Bhai Maha Singh breathed his last.
  • Bibi Harsharan Kaur, cremated the shaheeds of Chamkaur alone by night; burnt at the pyre she lit.

The 18th century

  • 1716, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and ~740 Singhs, Delhi. Executed over days; offered pardon for conversion daily, not one accepted; his young son killed before his eyes.
  • 1734, Bhai Mani Singh, Lahore. The Panth’s great scholar-scribe, cut joint by joint (band band kataye).
  • 1739, Bhai Bota Singh & Bhai Garja Singh, declared the Khalsa alive by levying toll on the royal road; fell fighting the detachment sent against them.
  • 1745, Bhai Taru Singh, chose his scalp over his kesh.
  • 1745, Bhai Subeg Singh & Bhai Shahbaz Singh, father and son, broken together on the charkhari.
  • 1746, Chhota Ghallughara, Kahnuvan, thousands of Sikhs, many women and children.
  • 1748–53, the Singhniyan of Mir Mannu’s jail, ground sava-sava mann of grain daily; their children cut and hung in garlands around their necks; not one converted.
  • 1757, Baba Deep Singh, kept the vow of Damdama; fell within sight of Harmandir Sahib.
  • 1762, Vadda Ghallughara, Kup-Rahira, tens of thousands, near half the Panth, in one day. The Khalsa took Sirhind within the year.
  • 1764, Baba Gurbaksh Singh, thirty Singhs before Sri Akal Takht Sahib against thirty thousand.

Shaheedi pehra

Pehra is the sentry’s watch. In the Panth’s understanding it runs three ways:

  • The watch they stood, every generation from 1606 onward drew the night shift of history and stood it, with no evidence the dawn would come.
  • The watch they still stand, in puratan and Nihang tradition the shaheeds remain a guarding host over the Panth, remembered at every Ardas and shaheedi asthan.
  • The watch that rotates to us, Ardas is a shift-change, not a memorial. The daily forms are small: kesh kept, bani read, someone else’s freedom of conscience defended, the names taught to our children.

ਸ਼ਹੀਦਾਂ ਦੀ ਕਮਾਈ ਦਾ ਧਿਆਨ ਧਰ ਕੇ, ਬੋਲੋ ਜੀ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ॥

Sources: Kavi Kankan, Das Gur Katha (tr. Kamalroop Singh, 2024) · Khalsa Women and Mir Mannu’s Jail, Discover Sikhism · 18th-Century Shaheed Singh Martyrs, Learn Religions · Bibi Harsharan Kaur, AllAboutSikhs · Mai Bhago, Wikipedia · L. Fenech, Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition (OUP, 2000)