ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GURBAKHSH SI&#7748GH BH&#256&#298 (1688-1764)</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="GURBA"> <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">&#65279GURBA<u>KH</u>SH SI&#7748GH, BH&#256&#298 (1688-1764), also known as Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh Niha&#7749g or Shah&#299d, hailed from the village of L&#299l, in Amritsar district. According to an old manuscript which was preserved in the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, until it perished in the Army action in 1984, and which is quoted by Si&#7749gh S&#257hib Gi&#257n&#299 Kirp&#257l Si&#7749gh, he was born on Bais&#257kh <i>vad&#299</i> 5, 1745 Bk/ 10 April 1688 (father Bh&#257&#299 Dasaundh&#257, mother M&#257&#299 Lachchham&#299). In 1693, the family shifted to Anandpur where Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh took <i>p&#257hul</i> of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 on the historic Bais&#257kh&#299 day of 1699. He completed his religious education under Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh. He later joined the Shah&#299d <i>misl</i> under B&#257b&#257 D&#299p Si&#7749gh and, after the latter's death in 1757, organized his own <i>jath&#257</i> or fighting band. In the battles against the Durr&#257n&#299s and the Mu<u>gh</u>als in the eighteenth century, his <i>&#7693er&#257</i> or small group usually formed the vanguard carrying the banner, and won renown for its acts of gallantry. When in November 1764 Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299, at the head of 30,000 men, invaded India for the seventh time, Bh&#257&#299 Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh happened to be stationed at the holy shrine at Amritsar. The Durr&#257n&#299 advanced up to the town virtually unopposed and entered the partially reconstructed Harimandar, which he had demolished two years earlier. Bh&#257&#299 Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh, who had already evacuated from the precincts women, children and the aged, had with him only thirty men. According to Ratan Si&#7749gh Bha&#7749g&#363, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>, "Bh&#257&#299 Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh, with garlands around his neck and sword on his shoulder, dressed himself as a bridegroom, his men forming the marriage party, waiting eagerly to court the bride-death." As soon as they saw the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n King and his hordes, they swooped down upon them. This was an unequal flight -- thirty pitted against thirty thousand. All thirty Sikhs were killed before Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh, though throughout in the forefront, also fell. Giving an eye-witness account of the action, Q&#257z&#299 N&#363r Muhammad, the chronicler who was in the train of the invader, writes in his <i>Ja&#7749gn&#257mah</i>:</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When the King and his army reached the Chakk (Amritsar), they did not see any[infidel] there. But a few men staying in a fortress were bent upon spilling their blood and they sacrificed themselves for their Gur&#363.... They were only thirty in number. They did not have the least fear of death. They engaged the <u>Gh</u>&#257z&#299s and spilled their blood in the process. Thus all of them were slaughtered and consigned to the seventh [hell].</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This happened on 1 December 1764. Bh&#257&#299 Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh was cremated behind Ta<u>kh</u>t Ak&#257l Bu&#7749g&#257. Later, a tomb was built on the site which is now known as Shah&#299d Gañj.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1914<BR> <li class="C1"> Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Panth Prak&#257sh</i> [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Latif, Syad Muhammad, <i>History of the Panjab</i>. Delhi, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Prinsep, Henry T., <i>Origin of the Sikh Power in the Punjab</i>. Calcutta, .1834<BR> <li class="C1"> Sar, Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh, <i>Parupk&#257r&#299 H&#299re</i>. Amritsar, n.d.<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">G. S. Nayyar<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>