Bhai Sangat Singh Ji: the Singh who stayed at Chamkaur in the Guru's place

This day remembers Bhai Sangat Singh Ji, one of the last Singhs left in the garhi of Chamkaur Sahib in December 1704. When the Guru left the besieged fortress at night, he stayed behind in the Guru's place, so that the army outside would believe the Guru was still within.

The night at Chamkaur

By the end of the first day at Chamkaur, both elder Sahibzade and most of the Singhs had fallen, and only a handful remained in the mud fortress. Acting as the Panj Pyare, five of them asked Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji to escape so that he could continue to lead the Panth, and the Guru obeyed the Khalsa. Before he went, tradition remembers that he placed his kalgi, the plume he wore in his turban, and his dress on Bhai Sangat Singh Ji, who resembled him in height and features, and seated him in his place.

Holding the garhi

The Guru slipped out in the darkness with three Singhs. In the morning the besiegers attacked the garhi expecting to take the Guru, and met Bhai Sangat Singh Ji and the few remaining Singhs, who fought until every one of them fell. Some accounts hold that the commanders, finding the body in the Guru's dress, believed for a time that the Guru had been killed, which gave him precious hours to get away towards the Machhiwara forest.

How he is remembered

Many accounts give Bhai Sangat Singh Ji's earlier name as Bhai Sangtia Ji, and some link him to the family of Bhai Jaita Ji. He is remembered at Chamkaur Sahib with kirtan and Ardas during the Shaheedi Jorh Mela, and as an example of selfless sacrifice for the Guru and the Panth.