Guru Tegh Bahadur : Martyrdom Day
Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom Day is observed every year on 24 November to honour the sacrifice of the ninth Sikh Guru.
- Guru Teg Bahadur’s name earlier was Teyag Mal and he was the ninth of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion.
- His father and the sixth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Hargobind Sahib (1595-1644) changed the name to Teg Bahadur.
- He got his name from his fighting and sword skills on the battlefield.
- He was known as Hind ki Chadar, or the ‘Shield of India.
- He built the city of Anandpur Sahib (in Rupnagar/Ropar district, on the edge of Shivalik Hills, near the Sutlej River, in Punjab).
- Here the last two Sikh Gurus lived and where Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699.
- He contributed more than 100 poetic hymns to Granth Sahib which cover various topics, such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, dignity, service etc.
- He was instrumental in the conciliation between Raja Bishan Singh and Raja Paranpal, thus avoiding a war.
Martyrdom: - He was first arrested by the Mughals on the orders of Aurangzeb in 1665.
- He was publicly beheaded in 1675 on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi.
- His martyrdom is remembered as the Shaheedi Divas every year on 24 November, according to the Nanakshahi calendar released by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in 2003.
