Baba Deep Singh Ji: the scholar-warrior who fought his way to Amritsar

Baba Deep Singh Ji is remembered twice in the Nanakshahi calendar, at his birth anniversary in winter and at his Shaheedi Purab in autumn. He was both a scholar of the Guru's bani and one of the bravest warriors of the eighteenth century.

Scholar of Damdama Sahib

Born in 1682 at Pahuwind, near Amritsar, Deep Singh Ji came to Anandpur Sahib as a young man and took Amrit from Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He learned Gurmukhi and the bani there, and stayed at Damdama Sahib with Bhai Mani Singh Ji while Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was written out. He later made several handwritten copies of the scripture, sent to the Takhts, and taught at the centre of learning that grew at Damdama Sahib, remembered as the Guru Ki Kashi.

The Shaheedan Misl

In the 1730s, when the Khalsa was organised into misls, Baba Deep Singh Ji led the Shaheedan Misl, its members sworn to give their lives for the Panth. He fought alongside Banda Singh Bahadur and in many later battles.

The last battle

In 1757 Ahmad Shah Abdali's forces, under Jahan Khan, desecrated Sri Harmandir Sahib and filled its sarovar with debris. Baba Deep Singh Ji, then seventy-five, vowed to celebrate Diwali at Amritsar. He drew a line in the earth, asked those ready to die to cross it, and set out, thousands joining him on the way. Near Amritsar, at Gohalwar, he was gravely wounded. Sikh tradition remembers that, holding his head on his palm, he fought on to reach the sacred precincts. Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Baba Deep Singh Ji marks the place, and sangats gather there for kirtan and Ardas on both days.