ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CH&#256L&#298 MUKTE</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="CHL*,MUKTE"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279CH&#256L&#298 MUKTE, lit. forty (<i>ch&#257l&#299</i>) liberated ones (<i>mukte</i>), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the <i>&#7693h&#257b</i> or lake of Khidr&#257&#7751&#257, also called &#298sharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mu<u>gh</u>al force in chase of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh are remembered in Sikh history and daily in the Sikh <i>ard&#257s</i> or supplicatory prayer offered individually or at gatherings at the end of all religious services. Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, who had watched the battle from a nearby mound praised the martyrs' valour and blessed them as Ch&#257l&#299 Mukte, the Forty Immortals. After them Khidr&#257&#7751&#257 became Muktsar - the Pool of Liberation. Etymologically, <i>mukt&#257</i> from Sanskrit <i>mukt</i> means 'liberated, delivered, emancipated, ' especially from the cycle of birth and death. <i>Mukti</i> (liberation, emancipation) in Sikhism is the highest spiritual goal of human existence, and <i>mukt&#299</i> or <i>mukta</i> is the one who has achieved this state of final beatitude. <i>Mukt&#257</i>, also means a pearl, and the word would thus signify a title or epithet of distinction. It was probably in this sense that the five Sikhs, who on 30 March 1699 received the vows of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 immediately after the first five Pañj Pi&#257re (<i>q. v. </i>), were blessed with the title <i>mukt&#257</i>, plural <i>mukte</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The term Ch&#257l&#299 Mukte is also used sometimes for the martyrs whom a huge army, in pursuit since the evacuation of Anandpur by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh during the night of 5-6 December, caught up with and encircled at Chamkaur on 7 December, and who engaged the enemy in small sorties throughout the day with the result that the Gur&#363 with three other survivors was able to escape during the following night. <i>See</i> CHAMKAUR S&#256HIB.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While there is no unanimity over the names of the martyrs of Muktsar and Chamkaur S&#257hib, the five Mukt&#257s who comprised the first batch of Sikhs to receive <i>amrit</i> at the hands of the Pañj Pi&#257re are given in <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> by Bh&#257&#299 Day&#257 Si&#7749gh as R&#257m Si&#7749gh, Fateh Si&#7749gh, Dev&#257 Si&#7749gh, &#7788ahil Si&#7749gh and &#298sar Si&#7749gh. No other details of these five are available except that an old manuscript of Bh&#257&#299 Prahl&#257d Si&#7749gh's <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> is said to contain a note associating R&#257m Si&#7749gh and Dev&#257 Si&#7749gh with the village of Bughi&#257&#7751&#257, &#7788ahil Si&#7749gh and &#298sar Si&#7749gh with &#7692all-V&#257&#7749 and Fateh Si&#7749gh with <u>Kh</u>urdpur M&#257&#7749ga&#7789. According to Bh&#257&#299 Chaup&#257 Si&#7749gh, his <i>Rahitn&#257m&#257</i> or code of conduct was drafted by <i>mukt&#257s</i>. The text is said to have received Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's approval on 7 Je&#7789h 1757 Bk / 5 May 1700. It appears that the title of <i>mukt&#257</i> was bestowed subsequently also on persons other than the original five. The number of <i>mukt&#257s</i> is recorded variously in old Sikh texts. For instance, Kesar Si&#7749gh Chhibbar, <i>Ba&#7749s&#257val&#299n&#257m&#257 Das&#257&#7749 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299&#257&#7749 K&#257</i>, mentions 14, and Kuir Si&#7749gh, <i>Gurbil&#257s P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 X</i>, 25. But <i>mukt&#257s</i> universally celebrated in the Sikh tradition are the forty martyrs of Muktsar who earned this title by sacrificing their lives for the Gur&#363 and who redeemed their past apostasy of having disowned the Gur&#363 and deserted him driven to desperation by the prolonged siege of Anandpur by the hill chiefs and Mu<u>gh</u>al forces by having their disclaimer torn by the Gur&#363.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>See</i> MUKTSAR</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Santokh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Prat&#257p S&#363raj Granth</i>. Amritsar, 1926-37<BR> <li class="C1"> Padam, Pi&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Darb&#257r&#299 Ratan</i>. Patiala, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Chhibbar, Kesar Sin&#775gh, <i>Bans&#257val&#299n&#257m&#257 Das&#257&#7749 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299an&#775 K&#257</i>. Chandigarh, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> V&#299r Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Kal<u>gh</u>&#299dhar Chamatk&#257r</i>. Amritsar, 1963<BR> <li class="C1"> Bhagat Lakshman Singh, <i>Sikh Martyrs</i>. Ludhiana, n. d.<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Pi&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh Padam<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>