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History

Prisoner and Liberator: The Gwalior Fort and the Bandi Chhor

Professor: Kavi Santokh Singh Source: SikhLibrary

This course provides a detailed historical and theological study of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's imprisonment in Gwalior Fort by Emperor Jahangir and the celebrated Bandi Chhor episode in which the Guru secured the release of fifty-two imprisoned kings. Students examine the historical sources, the theological significance of collective liberation, and how Bandi Chhor Divas became one of the most important commemorations in the Sikh calendar.

Begin course12 lessons · 10-question test · 80% to pass
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Prerequisite recommended. This is a 200-level course. To get the most out of it, we recommend completing the 100-level courses first.

What you'll learn

  • Explain the historical circumstances that led to Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's imprisonment in Gwalior Fort
  • Identify the key figures involved in the imprisonment and the eventual release, including Mian Mir
  • Describe the Bandi Chhor episode and analyze its theological significance within Sikh thought
  • Evaluate the different accounts of the imprisonment in Sikh and Mughal sources
  • Explain the origins and contemporary observance of Bandi Chhor Divas
  • Connect the Bandi Chhor episode to broader Sikh principles of solidarity and collective liberation

Key terms — ਸ਼ਬਦਾਵਲੀ

ਬੰਦੀ ਛੋੜ

Liberator of prisoners; the title given to Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji for securing the release of fifty-two kings

ਬੰਦੀ ਛੋੜ ਦਿਵਸ

Day of Liberation; celebrated on Diwali, commemorating the Guru's release from Gwalior Fort

ਗਵਾਲੀਅਰ ਕਿਲ੍ਹਾ

Gwalior Fort; the Mughal imperial prison in Madhya Pradesh where the Guru was confined

ਜਹਾਂਗੀਰ

Mughal Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), during whose reign the Guru was imprisoned

ਮੀਆਂ ਮੀਰ

Mian Mir; revered Qadiri Sufi mystic of Lahore who had laid the foundation stone of Harmandir Sahib

ਚੰਦੂ ਸ਼ਾਹ

Chandu Shah; the Lahore divan whose enmity toward Guru Arjan Dev Ji contributed to his martyrdom

ਕੈਦ

Imprisonment, captivity; the state endured by the Guru and the fifty-two kings at Gwalior

ਮੁਕਤੀ

Liberation, release; both physical freedom from prison and spiritual liberation from ego and suffering

ਦੀਵਾਲੀ

Diwali; the festival of lights on which the Guru was released and which Sikhs now celebrate as Bandi Chhor Divas

ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ

Welfare of all; the Sikh principle of universal wellbeing that the Bandi Chhor episode embodies

Lessons

1. The Road to Gwalior: Circumstances of the Arrest

Full course contents
  1. The Road to Gwalior: Circumstances of the Arrest
  2. Gwalior Fort: History and Significance as an Imperial Prison
  3. Life in Captivity: The Guru in the Fort
  4. The Role of Mian Mir and Intercessors
  5. Chandu Shah and the Politics of Enmity
  6. Jahangir and the Gurus: A Complex Relationship
  7. The Fifty-Two Kings: Who Were They?
  8. The Coat of Tassels: The Liberation Strategy
  9. The Day of Diwali: Walking Out of Gwalior
  10. Return to Amritsar: The Welcome Home
  11. The Origins of Bandi Chhor Divas
  12. Theological Significance: Freedom as a Sikh Value

The Post-Martyrdom Political Climate

The martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji in 1606 CE created a volatile political situation. The new Guru, Hargobind Sahib Ji, had immediately adopted a martial posture — donning two swords, building the Akal Takht, maintaining an army. These actions, which were responses to the threat that had killed his father, were simultaneously provocations to those at the Mughal court who had been instrumental in Guru Arjan Dev Ji's death and who now found themselves facing a Guru who was no longer content to rely solely on spiritual authority. The Gurbilas Patshahi Chevin identifies the continued influence of enemies of the Guru at court as a major factor in the eventual arrest (Bhagat Singh 1997, 279).

Chandu Shah's Continuing Influence

Chandu Shah, the Lahore divan whose personal enmity toward Guru Arjan Dev Ji had been a significant factor in the Fifth Guru's martyrdom, retained his influence at the Mughal court in the early years of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's Guruship. The traditional sources suggest that he and similar figures continued to work against the Sikh Guru at Jahangir's court, portraying the Guru's martial preparations as a threat to imperial stability. The precise weight of Chandu Shah's influence in bringing about the arrest is difficult to determine from available sources, but the Gurbilas tradition consistently identifies him as a key adversary (Bhagat Singh 1997, 290).

The Summons and Arrest

Around 1617 CE, Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji was summoned to the Mughal court and subsequently imprisoned in Gwalior Fort rather than being allowed to return to Amritsar. The specific grounds given for the imprisonment vary in different accounts: some sources suggest it was related to unpaid fines from Guru Arjan Dev Ji's estate, others to concerns about the Guru's growing military capacity. Khushwant Singh reviews these accounts and notes that the precise reason for the imprisonment cannot be definitively established from available evidence, and that it probably reflected a combination of factors including court intrigue, political anxiety about Sikh autonomy, and the unresolved grievances stemming from the Fifth Guru's martyrdom (Singh 1963, 65).

2. Gwalior Fort: History and Significance as an Imperial Prison

The Fort's Strategic and Symbolic Importance

Gwalior Fort, situated in Madhya Pradesh on a massive rocky plateau, was one of the most formidable fortifications in South Asia. Its strategic importance — controlling a key route between northern and central India — had made it a prize contested by successive empires from the Delhi Sultanate onward. The Mughals used it not only as a military asset but as a prestigious prison for political detainees of the highest importance: keeping a prisoner in Gwalior Fort sent an unambiguous message about the gravity with which the imperial administration viewed their case and the security with which it intended to hold them.

Conditions of Confinement

The conditions of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's imprisonment in Gwalior Fort are described differently in different sources. The Sikh tradition generally emphasises that despite being imprisoned, the Guru maintained his spiritual practices, continued to guide fellow prisoners, and was treated with a degree of respect consistent with his status as a religious leader. The Gurbilas records that the Guru spent his time in spiritual practice and in ministering to the other prisoners, many of whom were Hindu rajas imprisoned for various political offences. This ministry to fellow prisoners is the foundation of the Bandi Chhor story that would follow.

The Other Prisoners

Gwalior Fort held at any given time a number of political prisoners from across the empire. During Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's confinement, the fort held numerous Hindu rajas who had fallen afoul of the Mughal administration for various reasons: unpaid tribute, territorial disputes, suspected disloyalty, or simply the misfortune of having powerful enemies at court. The Guru's relationship with these fellow prisoners — binding them together through shared adversity and the Guru's personal spiritual influence — created the conditions for the remarkable collective liberation that would follow when the Guru's release was eventually ordered.

3. Life in Captivity: The Guru in the Fort

Spiritual Practice in Captivity

The Gurbilas Patshahi Chevin and the Suraj Prakash Granth both present Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's imprisonment as a period of deep spiritual practice rather than mere suffering. The Guru is depicted as maintaining his daily Nitnem, his meditation, and his contemplative engagement with Gurbani even within the confines of the fort. This portrayal reflects the Sikh theological principle that no external circumstance — not even imprisonment — can constrain the inner freedom of one who is anchored in the divine Name. The Guru's equanimity in captivity becomes itself a teaching: a demonstration that the freedom conferred by ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰਨ (remembrance of the divine Name) transcends all physical constraint.

Ministry to Fellow Prisoners

The Guru's ministry to his fellow prisoners in Gwalior Fort is one of the most humanising aspects of the traditional accounts. Far from retreating into individual spiritual practice, the Guru actively engaged with the other prisoners — listening to their difficulties, offering spiritual guidance, and fostering a sense of community among a diverse group of men who shared little beyond their confinement. This outward ministry, even in the most adverse circumstances, reflects the sant-sipahi ideal at its most complete: the sant who remains in active service regardless of personal hardship, and who sees in every person — regardless of their religion, caste, or political alignment — a fellow seeker deserving of compassion.

The Sangat's Response

The Sikh Sangat at Amritsar and across Punjab did not passively await the Guru's release. The Gurbilas records various efforts by devoted Sikhs to secure the Guru's freedom through petitions, through the influence of respected figures, and through the cultivation of relationships at the Mughal court. This communal response to the Guru's imprisonment reflects the deep bonds between the Guru and the Sangat that had been cultivated through years of shared spiritual practice, and prefigures the collective joy with which the community would welcome his eventual release.

4. The Role of Mian Mir and Intercessors

Mian Mir: Bridge Between Traditions

Mian Mir of Lahore (1550-1635) was one of the most revered Sufi saints of the period, whose disciples included members of the Mughal royal family and whose spiritual authority was recognised across religious boundaries. He had a documented connection to the Sikh Gurus: tradition holds that he was invited to lay the foundation stone of Harmandir Sahib by Guru Arjan Dev Ji, reflecting the warm relationship between the Sikh and Sufi communities in Lahore at that time. This relationship makes it plausible that Mian Mir would have been motivated to intercede on behalf of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji when the latter was imprisoned.

The Intercession Account

The tradition of Mian Mir's intercession with Jahangir on behalf of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji is recorded in Sikh sources but is not corroborated by the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, as the critical editor of the Gurbilas notes (Bhagat Singh 1997, 448). Khushwant Singh treats this tradition with historical caution while acknowledging that some form of intercession is entirely plausible given the relationships between the Sufi communities and the Mughal court (Singh 1963, 65). Whether or not Mian Mir personally interceded, the tradition's recording of his potential role reflects the Sikh community's memory of warm relationships between the Guru and righteous members of the Muslim tradition.

Wazir Khan and Court Allies

The Gurbilas also mentions Wazir Khan as a devotee of the Guru who maintained a relationship with the Mughal court (Bhagat Singh 1997, 290). Such figures — Sikhs or Sikh sympathisers with access to the imperial administration — would have been natural intercessors in efforts to secure the Guru's release. The eventual release, when it came, was probably the result of a combination of factors: the influence of intercessors, Jahangir's own assessment of the political costs and benefits of continued imprisonment, and the passage of time during which the immediate political crisis that had prompted the arrest receded.

5. Chandu Shah and the Politics of Enmity

Who Was Chandu Shah?

Chandu Shah was a Hindu divan (revenue official) of Lahore under the Mughal administration whose personal enmity toward the Sikh Gurus stemmed from a combination of social rivalry and wounded pride. The traditional accounts describe a matrimonial dispute: Chandu Shah had sought an alliance between his family and the Guru's family, which was rejected; this rejection, combined with reportedly contemptuous language attributed to Chandu Shah about the Gurus, created a lasting enmity that he exploited through his influence at the Mughal court. The Gurbilas holds Chandu Shah responsible for providing the administrative and political instruments of Guru Arjan Dev Ji's martyrdom (Bhagat Singh 1997, 279).

After the Martyrdom

Following Guru Arjan Dev Ji's death, Chandu Shah continued to seek ways to harm the Sikh Panth and its new Guru. The traditional accounts suggest that his influence at Jahangir's court contributed to the decision to imprison Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji at Gwalior. The ultimate fate of Chandu Shah in Sikh tradition is that he was handed over to the Guru by Jahangir and met his death at the hands of the Sikh community as retribution for his role in Guru Arjan Dev Ji's martyrdom. The Gurbilas describes Jahangir's eventual willingness to surrender Chandu Shah as an expression of the Emperor's recognition of the divan's culpability (Bhagat Singh 1997, 290).

Historical Assessment

Historians approach the figure of Chandu Shah with appropriate care, recognising that the portrait of him in Sikh sources is shaped by the community's understandable anger at what is understood as his role in the Fifth Guru's martyrdom. Some scholars have suggested that the Mughal administration's decision to execute Guru Arjan Dev Ji was primarily political — driven by Jahangir's assessment of the Guru's growing influence — and that Chandu Shah, whatever his personal motivations, was instrumental rather than primary in bringing it about. This assessment does not diminish the significance of the episode but contextualises it within the broader political dynamics of the Mughal-Sikh relationship.

6. Jahangir and the Gurus: A Complex Relationship

Jahangir's Religious Attitudes

Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) was a complex figure whose religious attitudes defied simple categorisation. His memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, reveal a man of considerable personal piety who combined genuine religious curiosity — meeting Sufi masters, visiting shrines, engaging with Jesuit missionaries — with a willingness to use religious persecution as a political tool. His attitude toward the Sikh Gurus was similarly ambiguous: he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan Dev Ji in 1606, and yet is described in Sikh tradition as having a respectful personal relationship with Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji during and after the Gwalior imprisonment.

The Gwalior Period

The Gurbilas records that Jahangir's attitude toward Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji during the Gwalior period was not simply hostile. The Guru is depicted as receiving visitors, maintaining his spiritual practices, and eventually being released — not executed, as his father had been. This relative leniency may reflect Jahangir's personal respect for the Guru's spiritual qualities, the influence of intercessors, or simply a political calculation that the Guru was more useful as a released prisoner who might moderate Sikh militancy than as a martyr who would intensify it (Singh 1963, 65).

The Post-Gwalior Relationship

After the Guru's release from Gwalior, the Gurbilas describes a period in which Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and Jahangir had relatively peaceful relations, including an episode in which the Guru reportedly accompanied the Emperor on a portion of his journey toward Kashmir (Bhagat Singh 1997, 448). While the critical editor notes that this specific account cannot be corroborated in the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, the tradition of a post-Gwalior period of relative peace is consistent with what we know of Jahangir's final years. The major military confrontations of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's reign came under Shah Jahan, not Jahangir.

7. The Fifty-Two Kings: Who Were They?

Who Were the Imprisoned Rajas?

The fifty-two Hindu rajas imprisoned in Gwalior Fort alongside Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji were, according to the traditional accounts, rulers of smaller kingdoms who had been imprisoned by the Mughal administration for various political offences. Gwalior Fort served precisely this function in the Mughal imperial system: it was where politically inconvenient rulers were held indefinitely, far enough from their home territories to prevent rescue attempts and secure enough to prevent escape. The identity of specific individuals among the fifty-two has been the subject of historical research, though conclusive documentation remains elusive.

The Bond Formed in Captivity

The Gurbilas describes the relationship that developed between Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and the imprisoned rajas as one of genuine spiritual companionship. The Guru ministered to them, shared his daily spiritual practice with them, and became a source of hope and dignity in conditions designed to strip their inhabitants of both. This companionship across religious lines — a Sikh Guru ministering to Hindu kings in a Muslim imperial prison — reflects the Sikh principle of ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ (welfare of all) in its most literal form: the Guru's concern extending to all who suffer, regardless of their religious affiliation.

The Number Fifty-Two

The specific number fifty-two has generated scholarly discussion. Some historians treat it as a precise historical figure; others suggest it may be a round number reflecting the tradition's memory of a substantial group of co-prisoners rather than an exact count. Regardless of the precise number, the essential historical claim — that Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji refused to accept freedom without the concurrent release of his co-prisoners — is consistent across the traditional sources and reflects the theological principle that would become the foundation of Bandi Chhor Divas.

8. The Coat of Tassels: The Liberation Strategy

The Condition and the Response

When the order came for Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's release from Gwalior Fort, the Guru declared that he would not leave unless all the imprisoned rajas were also freed. The imperial response — that only those who could grasp the hem of his coat could leave — was either a genuine concession or a limiting condition intended to restrict the number who could exit with the Guru, since only a small group could physically hold onto a single garment. The Guru's response to this condition was characteristically resourceful: he ordered the immediate manufacture of a special coat with fifty-two tassels, one for each imprisoned raja to grasp (Singh 1963, 65).

The Resourcefulness as Theology

The story of the coat with fifty-two tassels is celebrated not merely as a clever solution to a logistical problem but as a demonstration of the Guru's character: his refusal to accept a personal benefit at the cost of his companions' continued captivity, combined with his practical ingenuity in finding a way to honour both the imperial condition and his own ethical commitment. The coat itself has been interpreted as a symbol of the Guru's embrace extending to all who sought shelter under it: a garment designed specifically for the purpose of liberation, made at the moment it was needed. Harbans Singh reads the episode as a parable of inclusive liberation: no one is truly free while others remain in chains (Singh 1994, 82).

Variations in the Account

Different traditional sources present this episode with some variations. Some accounts give slightly different numbers of tassels or vary the precise conditions of the release. Scholars generally read these variations as reflecting the natural transmission history of an oral tradition rather than fundamental disagreement about the episode's core meaning. The consistency across sources on the essential elements — the Guru's refusal to leave without his companions, and the resourceful solution he devised — suggests a genuine historical core even where specific details vary.

9. The Day of Diwali: Walking Out of Gwalior

Diwali as the Day of Release

Sikh tradition holds that Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji walked out of Gwalior Fort on the day of Diwali — the Hindu festival of lights observed across northern India in the autumn month of Kartik. The coincidence of this date with the most celebrated festival of light in the South Asian calendar was deeply resonant: the Guru's liberation on the day when lamps are lit across the land to celebrate the return of light after darkness gave the event an immediate symbolic charge. The imprisoned Guru's emergence into the open air on Diwali transformed the festival for Sikhs from a purely calendrical celebration into a day freighted with the memory of liberation.

The Journey Back to Amritsar

The Gurbilas describes the journey from Gwalior to Amritsar as a progression of joyful gatherings: Sikhs who had heard of the release hurrying to meet the Guru on the road, news of his coming preceding him as he travelled north through Punjab. The image of the Guru walking free, accompanied by fifty-two released kings who owed their freedom to his insistence, and surrounded by growing crowds of jubilant Sikhs, has the quality of a living parable. By the time the Guru approached Amritsar, the Sangat there was ready to receive him with the full expression of communal joy.

Illuminating Harmandir Sahib

The Gurbilas records that when Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji returned to Amritsar on Diwali, the Sangat illuminated Harmandir Sahib with candles and oil lamps in celebration of his return. This illumination created a direct visual link between the universal Diwali tradition of lighting lamps to celebrate the return of light and the specifically Sikh meaning of the day: the return of the Guru, the liberation of the captives, and the reaffirmation of the principle that no true light is complete while others remain in darkness. The tradition established that Diwali evening has continued at Harmandir Sahib to the present day, when the complex is illuminated magnificently in observance of Bandi Chhor Divas.

10. Return to Amritsar: The Welcome Home

The Communal Joy

The return of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji to Amritsar after his imprisonment in Gwalior Fort was one of the great celebrations of the early Sikh period. The Gurbilas Patshahi Chevin describes the gathering of Sikhs from across Punjab, the illumination of the sacred precinct, and the resumption of the Guru's dual activities at Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht (Bhagat Singh 1997, 9442). The community's relief and joy at his return was proportionate to the anxiety and grief that had accompanied his imprisonment: both emotions expressed the depth of the bond between the Guru and the Sangat.

The Execution of Chandu Shah

The Gurbilas records that in the period following the Guru's return, Jahangir arranged for Chandu Shah — identified as the man most responsible for Guru Arjan Dev Ji's martyrdom — to be handed over to the Sikh community. According to the traditional account, Chandu Shah met his death at the hands of the Sangat. This episode, which scholars assess with care given its reliance on Sikh sources alone, reflects the community's deep desire for justice for the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji and its understanding that the Guru's return from Gwalior was not only a personal liberation but a communal vindication (Bhagat Singh 1997, 290).

Resuming the Dual Ministry

With the Guru's return, the full dual ministry of Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht resumed. The years following his return — before the four battles of the 1630s — were a period of consolidation and deepening: the Sikh community rebuilding its sense of security and purpose around the living presence of the Guru at Amritsar. The experience of the Gwalior imprisonment had not diminished the Guru's commitment to Miri-Piri; if anything, it had strengthened it by demonstrating in the most personal possible terms what happened to those who relied on spiritual authority alone without the capacity to defend themselves.

11. The Origins of Bandi Chhor Divas

From Historical Event to Annual Commemoration

The transformation of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's release from Gwalior into an annual commemoration reflects the Sikh community's characteristic practice of embedding theological principles in liturgical time. Bandi Chhor Divas — the Day of Liberation — is observed on the same day as Diwali, typically in October or November of the Gregorian calendar. For Sikhs, this date carries the overlay of meaning accumulated across the centuries: the Hindu festival of lights, the Guru's liberation, the liberation of the fifty-two kings, and the principle of collective freedom that the episode embodies. This layering of meaning on a single date is characteristic of how the Sikh tradition incorporates and transforms elements of the wider South Asian cultural environment.

The Relationship to Diwali

The relationship between Bandi Chhor Divas and Diwali is both historical and theological. Historically, the Guru's release happened to coincide with Diwali, and the Sangat's illumination of Harmandir Sahib on that day created a tradition that has continued ever since. Theologically, the Sikh observance gives the day of lights a specifically Sikh meaning: not the return of Ram from Lanka (the Hindu Diwali narrative) but the return of the Guru from imprisonment and the liberation of all who held his coat-hem. Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas as a Sikh holy day with its own theological significance, while many also acknowledge its coincidence with Diwali as part of the shared cultural fabric of South Asian life.

Contemporary Observance

Today, Bandi Chhor Divas is observed by Sikhs worldwide with a combination of religious observance and communal celebration. Gurdwaras hold special diwan (service) programmes; Harmandir Sahib is illuminated magnificently on the evening of Bandi Chhor Divas; communities in the diaspora organise celebrations that combine kirtan, langar, and the illumination of gurdwara buildings with lights. The day is an occasion to reflect on the principles it embodies: the insistence that no liberation is complete while others remain in chains, the Guru's refusal to accept personal privilege at the cost of others' freedom, and the Sikh commitment to ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ as a practical principle rather than a mere aspiration.

12. Theological Significance: Freedom as a Sikh Value

Individual and Collective Liberation

The Bandi Chhor episode encodes one of the most important theological principles of Sikh life: that liberation — whether spiritual or physical — cannot be purely individual. The Guru who could have walked out of Gwalior Fort alone, leaving the other prisoners behind, chose instead to insist on collective liberation. This choice reflected a theological conviction rooted in Gurbani: that the divine ਮੁਕਤੀ (liberation) which the Guru mediates is never for the individual alone but always for the community, the creation, the whole of suffering humanity. Harbans Singh identifies this as one of the most significant theological statements of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji's ministry (Singh 1994, 82).

Solidarity Across Religious Lines

The fifty-two kings who were liberated with Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji were Hindu rajas, not Sikhs. The Guru's insistence on their liberation was an act of solidarity across religious lines, reflecting the Sikh principle that the welfare of all — ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦਾ ਭਲਾ — does not stop at the boundaries of the religious community. This principle, embedded in the daily Sikh Ardas, received its most dramatic enactment in the Gwalior episode. The Guru's practical application of universal solidarity — not merely as an ethical principle but as a condition of his own freedom — remains one of the most powerful expressions of Sikh values in action.

The Continuing Call

The theological significance of Bandi Chhor Divas extends beyond historical commemoration to contemporary challenge. Every Diwali, when Sikhs illuminate their gurdwaras and homes in celebration of the Guru's liberation, they are also renewing their commitment to the principle that underlies it: that they too must be willing to insist on the liberation of others as a condition of their own fullness of life. The Guru's coat of fifty-two tassels is a permanent image of the Sikh vocation: to reach out in service to all who need liberation, and to refuse any freedom that leaves others behind.

References & further reading

  1. Bhagat Singh. Gurbilas Patshahi Chevin. Edited by Gurmukh Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University Publication Bureau, 1997.
  2. Santokh Singh, Kavi. Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, 1963.
  3. Khushwant Singh. A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1: 1469-1839. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.
  4. Ganda Singh, ed. Early European Accounts of the Sikhs. Calcutta: Indian Studies Past & Present, 1962.
  5. Harbans Singh. The Heritage of the Sikhs. New Delhi: Manohar, 1994.
  6. J. S. Grewal. The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  7. Pashaura Singh. Life and Work of Guru Arjan. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.

From the source text

(੧੭੬) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ਹੈ, ਤਿਸ ਬੀਰਜ ਤੇ ਹੀ ਸਰਬ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਅਰ ਜਲ ਕੇ ਬਰਸਬੇ ਤੇ ਸਰਬ ਉਤਭੁਜ੧ ਕੀ ਉਤਪਤੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸੀ ਹੇਤ ਕਰਿ ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੋ ਪਿਤਾ ਜਲ ਹੈ। ‘ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤਿ ਮਹਤੁ’=ਸਰਬ ਜਗਤ ਕੀ ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ। ਕੈਸੀ ਧਰਤੀ ਹੈ? ‘ਮਹਤੁ’ ਕਹੀਏ ਬਡੀ ਹੈ।
(176) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Yes, from that seed, everything originates. And from the raining of water, all vegetation originates. For this reason, water is the father of the entire world. ‘Mata dharat mahat’ = the earth is the mother of the entire world. What kind of earth is it? It is called ‘mahat’, meaning great. A mother is one who supports and raises a child, nourishes them by producing milk from her own body, and bears the impurities of the child; in the same way, the earth relates to the entire world. First, it supports and holds everything upon itself; second, the earth produces grain and other sustenance within itself to feed everyone—the nourishment of all comes from the earth, and everything that originates from it consumes it.
— from Garab Ganjinee Teeka. Gurmukhi is the author's original text (OCR); the English is a machine translation. Both are short study excerpts — refer to the original for an authoritative reading.Read the full work on SikhLibrary ↗

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Course test

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1. In which Mughal emperor's reign was Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji imprisoned in Gwalior Fort?
2. Gwalior Fort is located in which present-day Indian state?
3. How many imprisoned kings did Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji secure the release of?
4. What was special about the coat the Guru wore when walking out of Gwalior Fort?
5. On which Hindu festival did the Guru's release from Gwalior coincide?
6. What is the Sikh name for the day celebrating the Guru's release from Gwalior Fort?
7. Which Sufi saint is credited in some traditions with interceding on the Guru's behalf with Jahangir?
8. What does 'Bandi Chhor' literally mean?
9. The Sikh principle invoked by the Bandi Chhor episode - welfare of all - is expressed in Punjabi as:
10. What happened to Chandu Shah after the Guru's return to Amritsar, according to the Gurbilas?

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