ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GUJAR&#298 M&#256T&#256 (1624-1705)</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="GUJAR*,MT,Person,Person"> <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">&#65279GUJAR&#298, M&#256T&#256 (1624-1705), was the daughter of Bh&#257&#299 L&#257l Chand Subhikkh&#299 and Bishan Kaur, a pious couple of Kart&#257rpur, in present-day Jalandhar district of the Punjab. L&#257l Chand had migrated from his ancestral village, Lakhnaur, in Amb&#257l&#257 district, to settle at Kart&#257rpur where his daughter Gujar&#299 was married to (Gur&#363) Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur on 4 February 1633. The betrothal had taken place four years earlier when Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur had come to Kart&#257rpur in the marriage party of his elder brother, S&#363raj Mall. Bishan Kaur, the mother, had been charmed by the handsome face of Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur and she and her husband pledged the hand of their daughter to him. After the marriage ceremony, the couple came to reside in Amritsar. Bride Gujar&#299 won the appreciation of everyone. "Like bridegroom like bride" records <i>Gurbil&#257s Chhev&#299&#7749 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299</i>. "Gujar&#299 is by destiny made worthy of Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur in every way." In 1635, M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 left Amritsar with the holy family and went to reside at K&#299ratpur, in the Siv&#257lik foothills. After the death of Gur&#363 Hargobind in 1644, she came with her husband and mother-in-law, M&#257t&#257 N&#257nak&#299, to Bak&#257l&#257, now in Amritsar district of the Punjab. There they lived in peaceful seclusion, Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur spending his days and nights in meditation and Gujar&#299 performing the humble duties of a pious and devoted housewife. After he was installed Gur&#363 in 1664, Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur, accompanied by M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299, went on a visit to Amritsar, travelling on to M&#257khov&#257l, near K&#299ratpur, where a new habitation, named Chakk N&#257nak&#299 (later Anandpur) was founded in the middle of 1665. Soon after this, Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur along with his mother, N&#257nak&#299, and wife, Gujar&#299, set out on a long journey to the east. Leaving the family at Pa&#7789n&#257, he travelled on to Bengal and Assam. At Pa&#7789n&#257, M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 gave birth to a son on 22 December 1666. The child was named Gobind R&#257i, the illustrious Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh of later day. Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur returned to Pa&#7789n&#257 in 1670 for a brief stay before he left for Delhi, instructing the family to proceed to Lakhnaur, now in Hary&#257&#7751&#257. M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299, accompanied by the aged M&#257t&#257 N&#257nak&#299 and young Gobind R&#257i, reached, on 13 September 1670, Lakhnaur where she stayed with her brother, Mehar Chand, until she was joined by her husband. An old well just outside Lakhnaur village and reverently called <i>M&#257t&#257 J&#299 d&#257 Kh&#363h</i> or <i>M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 d&#257 Kh&#363h</i> still commemorates her visit. From Lakhnaur the family proceeded to Chakk N&#257nak&#299 where Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur rejoined them in March 1671 after spending some more time travelling through the M&#257lv&#257 region and meeting <i>sa&#7749gats</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At Chakk N&#257nak&#299, 11 July 1675 was a momentous day when Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur left for Delhi prepared to make the supreme sacrifice. She showed courage at the time of parting and bore the ultimate trial with fortitude. Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur was executed in Delhi on 11 November 1675, and, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh then being very young, the responsibility of managing the affairs at Chakk N&#257nak&#299, initially, fell to her. She was. assisted in the task by her younger brother, Kirp&#257l Chand.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When in face of a prolonged siege by hostile hill <i>r&#257j&#257s</i> and Mu<u>gh</u>al troops Chakk N&#257nak&#299 (Anandpur) had to be evacuated by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh on the night of 5-6 December 1705, M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 with her younger grandsons, Zor&#257war Si&#7749gh and Fateh Si&#7749gh, aged nine and seven year respectively, was separated from the main body while crossing the rivulet Sars&#257. The three of them were led by their servant, Ga&#7749g&#363, to the latter's village, Sahe&#7771&#299, near Mori&#7751&#7693&#257 in present-day Ropa&#7771 district, where he treacherously betrayed them to the local Muslim officer. M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 and her grandsons were arrested on 8 December and confined in Sirhind Fort in what is referred to in Sikh chronicles as &#7788ha&#7751&#7693&#257 Burj, the cold tower. As the children were summoned to appear in court from day to day, the grandmother kept urging them to remain steadfast in their faith. On 11 December they were ordered to be bricked up alive in a wall, but, since the masonry crumbled before it covered their heads, they were executed the following day: M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 died the same day in the tower. Se&#7789h &#7788odar Mall, a kind-hearted wealthy man of Sirhind, cremated the three dead bodies the next day.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At Fatehga&#7771h S&#257hib, near Sirhind, there is a shrine called Gurdw&#257r&#257 M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 (&#7788ha&#7751&#7693&#257 Burj). This is where M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 spent the last four days of her life. About one kilometre to the southeast of it is Gurdw&#257r&#257 Jot&#299 Sar&#363p, marking the cremation site. Here, on the ground floor, a small domed pavilion in white marble is dedicated to M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299. The Sikhs from far and near come to pay homage to her memory, especially during a three-day fair held from 11-13 Poh Bikram&#299 dates falling in the last week of December.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Trilochan Singh, <i>Guru Tegh Bahadur</i>. Delhi, 1967<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Guru Tegh Bahadur</i>. Delhi, 1982<BR> <li class="C1"> Satib&#299r Si&#7749gh, <i>Iti Jini Kar&#299</i>. Jalandhar, 1981<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">A. C. Banerjee<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>