Sikhi Explored

Sunday 11th December Volume 1 | Issue 2

Birthday of Sahibzada Baba : The world’s youngest martyr.

Waheguru Jee Ka , Jee Ke Fateh!

Guru Gobind Singh Jee, the last of the ten human had four sons. The eldest was Baba , next was Baba , then , and finally his youngest son was named Fateh Singh. Born on the 12th December 1699, worldwide will tomorrow celebrate the birth of Sahibzada Fateh Singh, the youngest martyr in our history and most probably in the world, becoming shaheed at the age of 6. Ji (also known as Mata Ajeet Kaur Jee) gave birth to Fateh Singh in but sadly passed away a year later on the 5th De- cember 1700¹. Therefore, both the two younger sons of Guru Jee were bought up mainly by Jee. In terms of important Sikh women in our history, Mata Gujri would be placed among the very highest. She was the wife of our ninth Guru, Sri Sahib jee and gave birth to Gobind Rai, later to become the great Jee. The history is there to show the amia- ble nature and personality of Mata Jee, with the writer Gurbilas Chevvi commenting, “(Mata) Gujri by her own destiny, is worthy of (Guru) Teg Bahadur in every way”. She was a high spirited women who bore the death of her husband and separation from him for long periods without any complaints, grief or anger. So as the young sons were raised by one of the most pious, loving, spiritu- ally devoted women in our history, they had an up-bringing which would have been filled with lessons in Sikhi and stories of how their grandfa- ther sacrificed his life for the greater good (See last week’s Sikhi Ex- plored). It is bearing this strong foundation in mind, that allows us to comprehend how two children of age 6 and 8 respectively were able to defy the governor of a State, reject the thought of conversion and know- ingly achieve martyrdom on the 26th December 1705. The month of December is a special one for all Sikhs as we will pay great respect and take courage from the heroics of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh Jee. In the next two editions of this newsletter we will be looking at exactly how and why Guru Gobind Singh Jee lost all of his sons in the matter of a week. Because of their unshakeable commitment to their faith and sac- rifice, out of love and respect the sons of Guru Gobind Singh are often referred to as “Sahibzade”, meaning son in Punjabi. They have taken a key place in Sikh history for their display of brav- ery, courage and honour when being faced with death. And as we pay homage to Sahibzada Baba Fateh Singh tomorrow, it will be out of awe and admiration that we remember how someone so young could be so unafraid of dying for their religion...

Waheguru Jee Kha Khalsa, Waheguru Jee Ke Fateh!

¹Sikh Encyclopedia—Harbans Singh