Zorawar Singh (Sikhism)

In 1699, the Hindu Rajahs of the Shiwalik Hills, frustrated with increasing Sikh ascendancy in the region, requested aid from Aurangzeb; their combined forces took on the Khalsa, led by Gobind Singh, at Anandapur but was defeated.[3] Another faceoff followed in the neighboring Nirmoh but ended in Sikh victory; there was probably another conflict in Anandapur (c. 1702) to the same outcome.[3] In 1704, the Rajahs mounted a renewed offensive against Singh in Anandapur but facing imminent defeat, requested aid from Aurangzeb.[3] While the Mughal subahdars came to aid, they failed to change the course of the battle.[3] Accordingly, the Rajahs decided to lay siege to the town than engage in open warfare.[3]

With the passage of a few uneventful months, as scarcity of food set in, Singh's men compelled him to migrate; the besiegers guaranteed a safe passage but Singh did not trust them.[3] The Sikhs left Anandapur in night and took refuge in Chamkaur, only for its Hindu Zamindar to inform the Rajahs and Mughal authority.[4] In the melee that ensued, Singh escaped but most of his men were either killed or captured.[4]

Some Sikh accounts note Singh's two younger sons — Zorowar Singh and Fateh Singh — to have successfully fought at Chamkaur before being captured.[4] Other accounts note that they along with their grandmother had bee separated from the Sikh retinue while migrating away from Anandapur; subsequently, they were betrayed by local officials and handed over to the Mughals.[4] Sukha Singh and Ratan Singh Bhangu, in particular, blames a greedy Brahmin for the betrayal.[4]

The sons were taken to Sirhind and coerced for conversion to Islam in the court of Wazir Khan, the provincial governor.[4] Sikh accounts accuse Sucha Nand, the Hindu Diwan, to have been the most vocal adocate for executing the children; Sher Muhammad Khan, the Nawab of Meherkotla, despite being an ally of the Mughals and losing relatives in the faceoff, was the sole dissenter.[4][5] Both of the children maintained a steadfast refusal to convert and were executed.[4] In early Sikh accounts, they were simply beheaded; in popular Sikh tradition, they are held to have been "bricked" (entombed) alive.[6]

• 
  Full detail of the fresco of Jorawar Singh (left) from Gurdwara Baba Atal
• 
  Guru Gobind Singh with His Four Sons, the Sahibzadas. Punjab plains; mid-19th century. Opaque watercolor on paper. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh

• Ajit Singh
• Jujhar Singh
• Fateh Singh
• Martyrdom in Sikhism