History of Sirhind

Sirhind is the older and more popular name of Fatehgarh Sahib. It is situated on the Delhi to Lahore Highway. It has a population of about 60,852. It is now a district headquarters in the state of Punjab; the name of the district is Fatehgarh Sahib.

Pre-Mughal Empire History

The antiquity of the city is traceable to the beginning of the Christian era. It was a military outpost of Prithviraj Chauhan against Muhammad Ghori. In 1192 it became a part of Ghauri Sultanate after the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan. It was refounded by Emperor Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1361 AD at the behest of Sayyid Jalaluddin Bukhari, the spiritual guide of that King. He made it a new pargana by dividing the old fief of Samana. Firuz Shah dug a canal from the Sutlej. It was an important stronghold of Delhi Sultanate. In 1415 Khizr Khan the first Sayyid ruler of Delhi, nominated his son Malik Mubarak as a governor of Sirhind. in 1420 Khizr khan defeated insurgent Sarang Khan at Sirhind. In 1451 here, Bahlul Khan Lodhi assumed the title of Sultan under the governorship of Malik Sultan Shah Lodhi.

Under The Mughal Empire

Mausoleun of Ahmad Sirhindi.

ruins of Aam Khas Bagh

However it reached the zenith of its glory under the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century. This city was a home of sixteenth century saint Ahmad Sirhindi, popularly known as Mujadid Alif Sani which means 'Revivor of the Faith in the Second Millennium'. The mausoleum of this saint is still there. Under Akbar it had turned the highest yielding sarkar. Under Sirhind sarkar there were 28 parganas. Due to its prosperity during the Mughal Empire it was known as Sirhind Bāvani which means Sirhind Fifty-two because it yielded a revenue of 52 lakh Rs, i.e. 5 million 20 thousand Rs per year. Emperor Shah jahan built a famous garden known as Aam khas Bagh.

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and His Sikh Army In 1710 Destroyed the City of Sirhind Completely,and Wazir Khan the Governor Was Killed The Sikhs Occupied Sirhind and Made Bhai Baj Singh the Governor.

Sirhind and Sikhs

. Under the orders of the faujdar, Nawab Wazir Khan, Guru Gobind Singh`s two younger sons, aged nine and seven, were cruelly done to death.

According to Sikh tradition, they were enclosed alive in a wall in Sirhind and executed as the masonry rose up to their necks. Sirhind was for this reason the accurst city in the eyes of the Sikhs. Mobilized under the flag of Banda Singh Bahadur after the death of Guru Gobind Singh in November 1708, they made a fierce attack upon Sirhind. The Mughal army was routed and Wazir Khan killed in the battle of Chappar Chiri fought on 12 May 1710. Sirhind was occupied by the Sikhs two days later, and Bhai Baj Singh was appointed governor. The town was, however, taken again by the imperial forces.

In March 1748, Sirhind was seized, but only temporarily, byAhmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan general of Nadir Shah who succeeded his master in the possession of the eastern part of his dominions. But the Durrani was defeated by the Mughal rulers of Delhi who reoccupied the town, although the invader reconquerred it during his fourth invasion during 1756-57. Early in 1758, the Sikhs, in collaboration with the Marathas, sacked Sirhind, drove Prince Taimur, son ofAhmad Shah and his viceroy at Lahore, out of the Punjab.

Ahmad Shah defeated the Marathas at Panipat in January 1761. and struck the Sikhs a severe blow in what is known as Vadda Ghallughara, the Great Massacre, that took place on 5 February 1762. Sikhs rallied and attacked Sirhind on 17 May 1762. defeating its faujdar, Zain Khan, who purchased peace by paying Rs 50,000 as tribute to the Dal Khalsa. A more decisive battle took place on 14 January 1764 when Dal Khalsa. under Jassa Singh Ahluvalia, made another assault upon Sirhind. Zain Khan was killed in action and Sirhind was occupied and subjected to plunder and destruction.

The booty was donated for the repair and reconstruction of the sacred shrines at Amritsar demolished by Ahmad Shah. The territories of the Sirhind sarkar were divided among the leaders of the Dal Khalsa, but no one was willing to lake the town of Sirhind where Guru Gobind Singh`s younger sons were subjected to a cruel fate. By a unanimous will it was made over to Buddha Singh, descendant of Bhai Bhagatu, wlio soon after (2 August 1764) transferred possession to Sardar Ala Singh, founder of the Patiala family. Sirhind thereafter remained part of the Patiala territory until the state lapsed in 1948.

Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala (1813-45) had gurdwaras constructed in Sirhind in memory of the young martyrs and their grandmother, Mata Gujari. He changed the name of the nizamat or district from Sirhind to Fatehgarh Sahib, after the name of the principal gurdwara. Besides the Sikh shrines, Sirhind has an important Muslim monumentRauzaSharifMujjadidAlfSani, the mausoleum of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1569-1624),.the fundamentalist leader of the orthodox; Naqshbandi school of Sufism. There are a number of other tombs in the compound mostly of the members of Shaikh Ahmad`s house. See FATEHGARH SAHIB, GURDWARA

Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib

References

• Sirhind Town(Sahrind) The Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 20.
• Sirhind Canal The Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 18.
• Memories of a town known as Sirhind