By temperament, Tegh Bahadur — the ninth Sikh Guru — was contemplative and stayed in seclusion for many years, so it was rather uncharacteristic of him to meet the Pandits fleeing from Kashmir following Aurangzeb’s conversion drive. Pleading their case, Kripa Ram explained to the Guru that converting Kashmiri Pandits was a strategic move. Being an orthodox community, if it converted, others would follow. The Guru reflected on this and told the Pandits to convey to Aurangzeb that if he could be persuaded to embrace Islam, the Pandits would follow.

The Guru was summoned to Delhi and he went there along with three of his close disciples. Having failed to get the Guru to renounce his faith through peace, Aurangzeb’s officials tried violence. They first tortured his associates to death while the Guru watched from an iron cage. First, it was Mati Dass, who after being bound between two pillars, was cut into two. Next came Dayal Dass, who was put in a cauldron of boiling oil. Finally, Sati Dass was covered with cotton and burnt to death. Despite these horrendous deaths, the Guru could not be terrified into submission.

Predictably, he was ordered to be executed. It was on yet another cold morning, 332 years ago, that the executors beheaded the Guru — an act witnessed by thousands. Today, Gurudwara Sis Ganj in Old Delhi stands at the spot where he was beheaded.

This was an epochal event for the Sikhs. The sacrifice of the Guru shook the people into action. The tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, felt that the community needed to take up arms in order to save the faith. Sikhism became the symbol of resistance and with Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom acquired a new consciousness of its strength and self-reliance. It is this consciousness that resulted in the creation of the Khalsa, a band of Sikh warriors who fought for over a hundred years, creating history by amazing acts of sacrifice, courage and spirituality.

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