Sri Muktsar Sahib
Once the pool of Khidrana. The Forty Liberated Ones (Chali Mukte) died here in 1705, and the place was renamed the 'Pool of Liberation'. Maghi mela is held here every January.
Sri Muktsar Sahib, in the dry south-west of the Punjab, was once a pool in the scrubland called Khidrana. Here in 1705 the Forty, who had deserted Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur, came back with Mai Bhago and died fighting a Mughal army. The Guru called them the Chali Mukte, the Forty Liberated, and the place became Muktsar, the pool of liberation.
Gurdwara Tuti Gandhi Sahib marks the place where the Guru tore up their disclaimer; Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib the mound from which he shot arrows; Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj where he cremated them.
The Maghi mela in January is one of the largest fairs in the Punjab, and the town is the headquarters of a district.
People
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.
Five times Chief Minister of Punjab, both the youngest and the oldest, and for half a century the face of the Akali Dal.
Shamed forty deserters into returning to the Guru, led them into battle at Muktsar and survived to serve as one of his bodyguards.
Forty Sikhs from Majha who renounced the Guru during the Anandpur siege, then came back and died defending him at Khidrana. He tore up their letter of desertion.
Writer and broadcaster from Muktsar, whose short story Gadariya and Sufi-tinged television talks made him a household voice in Pakistan.
