Guru Khalsa at Chamkaur Sahib: when the Panj Pyare gave the Guru an order

This day remembers a turning point at Chamkaur Sahib in December 1704, when Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji accepted an instruction from the Khalsa itself. Five Singhs, standing as the Panj Pyare, asked the Guru to leave the besieged fortress so that he could live to lead the Panth, and the Guru obeyed, honouring the Khalsa as his own form.

The garhi at Chamkaur

After leaving Anandpur Sahib and losing much of the sangat at the flooded Sirsa river, the Guru reached Chamkaur with his two elder sons and about forty Singhs. They took shelter in a mud fortress, a garhi, and were surrounded by a far larger Mughal army. Through the day the Singhs went out in small groups to fight, and both elder Sahibzade, Baba Ajit Singh Ji and Baba Jujhar Singh Ji, gave their lives.

The Khalsa decides

By nightfall only a handful of Singhs were left. They urged the Guru to escape, and when he refused, five of them stood together as the Panj Pyare and gave the instruction as the Khalsa. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who had himself taken Amrit from the first Panj Pyare in 1699, accepted. Tradition remembers that he placed his kalgi and dress on Bhai Sangat Singh Ji, who resembled him, and declared that the Guru lives in the Khalsa. He left under cover of darkness with Bhai Daya Singh Ji, Bhai Dharam Singh Ji and Bhai Man Singh Ji, clapping and calling out as he went. The Singhs who stayed fought on until they fell.

How the day is remembered

The day is remembered as the time the Guru placed his authority in the Guru Khalsa, the five acting together, a principle that still guides Panthic decisions. Gurdwaras at Chamkaur Sahib hold kirtan, katha and Ardas during the Shaheedi Jorh Mela.