Sahibzada Baba Fateh Singh Ji: the youngest son of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji

This day celebrates the birth of Sahibzada Baba Fateh Singh Ji, the youngest son of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, born at Anandpur Sahib in 1699, the year the Khalsa was created, to Mata Jito Ji. He was the youngest of the Chaar Sahibzade, and the town of Fatehgarh Sahib is named after him.

The youngest of the four

Fateh Singh Ji spent his short childhood at Anandpur Sahib. Paintings and stories often show him in the blue dress and tall dumalla of a Nihang Singh, a small boy carrying the form of the Khalsa, and Nihang Singhs honour him as their own. He was raised with his brother Zorawar Singh Ji by their grandmother, Mata Gujri Ji.

Sirhind

In December 1704, separated from the Guru at the Sirsa river and betrayed by Gangu, the two boys and their grandmother were held by Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind, in the Thanda Burj, a tower open to the winter wind. In court they refused every offer to give up their faith. Tradition remembers that they bowed to no one, entering with the greeting of the Khalsa. Fateh Singh Ji, about six years old, and his brother were bricked into a wall and then put to death, and Mata Gujri Ji passed away on hearing the news. Read the story of the Saka of Sirhind.

How he is remembered

In 2022 the Government of India named 26 December Veer Bal Diwas in memory of the younger Sahibzade. Sikhs remember them every day in Ardas, and mark this birth anniversary with kirtan and Ardas, especially at Fatehgarh Sahib and Anandpur Sahib, often with programmes for children.