Mata Gujri
Wife of Guru Tegh Bahadur and mother of Guru Gobind Singh. Held with her younger grandsons in the cold tower of Sirhind, she died there on hearing of their execution.
Mata Gujri was born in 1624 at Kartarpur, the daughter of Lal Chand Subhikkhi, and married Tegh Bahadur, the future ninth Guru, in 1633. For years she lived with him in seclusion at Bakala. Their only son, Gobind, was born at Patna in 1666 while the Guru was travelling in the east, and she brought him up and brought him to Anandpur.
When her husband was executed in 1675 she guided her nine-year-old son as Guru. Through the sieges of Anandpur she cared for the household. In December 1704, during the crossing of the Sarsa, she was separated from the Guru with her two youngest grandsons, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh.
Betrayed and handed over to Wazir Khan at Sirhind, she was held with the boys in the Thanda Burj, the open cold tower, through the winter nights, and each day she sent them to face the governor and told them to stay firm. When she heard of their execution on 26 December 1704 she died. Mata Gujri was wife of a martyr, mother of a martyr and grandmother of four martyrs, and stands at the head of the long line of Sikh women who gave everything.
Battles
Connected
Ninth Guru, 'Hind di Chadar', the shield of India. Founded Anandpur and was beheaded in Delhi in 1675 for defending the right of Kashmiri Pandits to keep their faith.
Tenth Guru, warrior and poet. Created the Khalsa in 1699, fought a long war with the Mughals and hill rajas, lost his four sons and mother, and named the Guru Granth Sahib as the final Guru.
The Guru's younger sons, aged about nine and six, executed at Sirhind for refusing to convert. Their week of martyrdom is the Shaheedi Jor Mela.
Merchant of Sirhind who bought land to cremate the Guru's younger sons and mother by covering it in gold coins, said to be the most expensive land ever bought.