Sahibzade Baba Ajit Singh Ji and Baba Jujhar Singh Ji
Guru Gobind Singh Ji's 2 eldest sons
The brave and fearless Sikhs of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji were engaged for months together in a prolonged battle with the Mughal army outside the fort of Anandpur. Emperor Aurungzeb sent a message on Oath that if the Guru and his Sikhs left the fort they would be allowed to go whereever they please.
Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji had his doubts, but on being persuaded by his devoted Sikhs, he reluctantly agreed to leave the fort. However it happened exactly as the Guru had apprehended. As soon as Sikhs came out of the fort the Mughal Army pounced upon them. A fierce battle was fought on the banks of Sirsa River. The Valiant Sikhs faced the enemy with unparalled courage. Each one of them killed quite a few Moghul soldiers before sacrificing himself.
Baba Ajit Singh, with a party of Sikhs, held up the enemy, while the rest were crossing the river Sarsa. When all had crossed, he and his party plunged their horses into the flooded river. They soon reached the other bank. The enemy did not have the courage to jump into the fast-flowing ice-cold water of the flooded stream. After crossing the Sarsa, Guru hurried towards Chamkaur. In the dust and din of battle, members of the family of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji got separated from each other. He had only forty Sikhs with him beside his two elder sons as the rest had been sepearted during the escape. A cash reward was set by Emperor Aurangzeb for information on the whereabouts of any of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's family.
The Mughal army was coming after him. He learnt that another Mughal army lay only a few miles away ahead of him. He was thus between two large armies. He decided to meet them at Chamkaur. He reached there about sunset. He occupied a mud-house or haveli, and began to wait for the enemy.
The Mughals armies arrived during the night. They besieged the mud-house on the following day. They attacked it from all sides. They had to retreat every time after suffering heavy losses. Then they decided to force open the gate. They rushed towards it. A batch of five Sikhs went out to meet them holding their advance as long as possible. The Sikhs fought very bravely. They killed many at last they were over-powered and slain. Then another batch of five Sikhs went out to meet the enemy and check his advance. This went on for some time. The enemy suffered heavily at the hands of each batch of Sikhs. After a time, Guru Gobind Singh's eldest son, Baba Ajit Singh, asked permission to go out and oppose the enemy. He was less than eighteen years of age.
Guru Gobind Singh was immensly pleased at this and embraced his son. He himself armed his son and sent him out with the next group of five Sikhs whom he considered no less dear than his own sons, to prove Guru’s saying that he would be worthy of being Gobind Singh when he would make a Sikh so brave and fearless that he would fight with one lakh and quarter enemies alone.
Coming out of the fortess Ajit Singh, the brave son of the Tenth Master, attacked the enemy soldiers like a lion leaping on a flock of sheep to be cut to pieces. Many enemy soldiers were both astonished and terrified on seeing the fighting calibre and methods of attack of this young boy. The accompanying Sikhs prevented enemy soldiers from other sides from encircling the brave Ajit Singh. After the brave son of the Master exhausted his arrows, he attacked to enemy with his spear. However, the blade of spear which had penetrated into the chest of one of the adverseries piercing his steel dress, broke inside the body of the enemy solider, when Sahibzada Ajit Singh pulled his spear back. Taking advantage of this delay caused by stuck up spear of Baba Ajit Singh, the enemy soliders were successful in injuring his horse, which fell dead.
The Sahibzada swiftly dismounted the horse and pulling out his sword from its sheath, engaged the enemy soldiers. While he was cutting the adverseries to pieces by lightening attacks with his sword, an enemy soldier successfully attacked the brave son of Guru Gobind Singh with a sharp spear. This spear pierced deeply into the body of Baba Ajit Singh. The brave son of Guru Gobind Singh was fatally injured and his youthful body fell on ground. He attained martyrdom under the watchful and appreciative eyes of his great father. Scores of enemy soldiers bodies were lying in heaps around the fallen body of brave Ajit Singh. Guru Gobind Singh was watching the brave acts of his son in the battle field from the fortess. He had been keeping the enemy at bay by his arrows thus providing his son a chance for prolonged fight with the enemy soldiers.
The Guru was immensly pleased at the courage shown by his son and the tactics employed by him for inflicting heavy casualties on the adversaries. Guru Gobind Singh thanked God for helping, Ajit Singh to live upto his father’s expectations. The Guru thus proved that for the cause he was fighting, he would not hesitate to offer his own sons for sacrifice, while demanding supreme sacrifice from his Sikhs. The Sikhs were as dear to him as his own sons.
Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, the second son of Guru Gobind Singh had been keenly observing from the fortess Chamkor the heroic fight put up by his elder brother, Sahibzada Ajit Singh against overwhelming number and better equipped enemy soldiers. The brave fight put up by his elder brother filled Sahibzada Jujhar Singh with happiness and courage.
No sooner did Sahibzada Ajit Singh fell martyr, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh requested his dear father Guru Gobind Singh to grant him permission to accompany the next batch of Sikhs to repeat the heroic acts of his elder brother. He assured his father that he will not let him down and that he would attack the enemy soldiers and drive them away as a shepherd drives his flock of sheep. The Guru Father was filled with immense pleasure at the determination of his 16 years old second son. He armed his son with weapons and allowed him to go out with next batch of five Sikhs.
Once outside the fortess, the young Jujhar Singh fearlessly attacked the enemy soldiers like a lion, while accompanying Sikhs formed a protective ring around him. Guru Gobind Singh was watching his brave son’s deeds of valour and appreciated his courage and swordsmanship from top of the fortess. Even the enemy soldiers could not help appreciating the ferocity and smartness of the young boy. They had never seen such bravery performed by anyone at such a young age against mighty enemy forces. Sahibzada Jujhar Singh using arrows spear and finally his sword felled numerous enemy soldiers. Headless bodies of enemy soldiers were piling up around him. The accompanying Sikhs were likewise putting to death many more enemy soldiers while keeping a protective ring around Sahibzada Jujhar Singh.
After a long drawn battle, the enemy soldiers attacked the young Jujhar Singh from all sides in large numbers, breaking the protective ring around him. Under the appreciative gaze of his father and the accompanying Sikhs, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh put up a brave fight but was ultimately fatally injured and fell martyr on the ground encircled by heaps of dead bodies of the enemy forces.
The way both the elder sons of Guru Gobind Singh achieved martyrdom upholding the principles for which their father had been actively mobilising his disciples, the Guru was able to show to all the Sikhs and enemy the he did not value his own sons more than his Sikhs and that he would not hesitate even to sacrifice his own sons for the Sikh cause.
On seeing his second son falling martyr like his first-son, Guru ji thanked God for enabling his sons to live upto his expectations. There is no parallel in the world when a father had thanked God, instead of weeping, on the death of his sons in front of his eyes.
The heroic deeds of these two elder sons of Guru Gobind Singh will keep inspiring the young Sikh generations to rise to the occassion when ever called upon to fight for justice and rights against injustice and cruelty for all times to come.
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