Shaheedi Saka Paonta Sahib: the Guru's city on the Yamuna and the martyrs of 1964

The Shaheedi Saka Paonta Sahib remembers the Sikhs who were killed in police firing at Gurdwara Sri Paonta Sahib in 1964, during a dispute over the management and maryada of the gurdwara. The SGPC's Nanakshahi calendar keeps the day so that their sacrifice is not forgotten.

The Guru's city by the Yamuna

Paonta Sahib stands on the banks of the Yamuna in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji came here in 1685 at the invitation of the Raja of Sirmaur and lived here for about four years. The name is often explained as the place where the Guru set his foot. These were years of learning and writing: the Guru composed bani here, and gathered fifty-two poets at his court, where the Kavi Darbar Asthan still stands and a poetry gathering is held each year. In 1688 the hill rajas attacked him at Bhangani, nearby, and the Sikhs, with Pir Budhu Shah and his sons and disciples fighting beside them, won the battle.

The saka of 1964

In the decades after Independence, control of the gurdwara and the way its services were conducted became the subject of a long dispute. In 1964 the dispute ended in police firing at the gurdwara, and a number of Sikhs lost their lives. The Panth remembers them as shaheeds who gave their lives for the sanctity of the Guru's place.

How the day is observed

It is observed with Akhand Paath, kirtan and Ardas for those who gave their lives, at Paonta Sahib and in gurdwaras elsewhere. It is also a day to remember the sangat's care for the Guru's historic places, and the long struggle to keep them in the Panth's own hands.