Page 209 - Lohgarh

Battle of Gurdas Nangal and Arrest of Banda Singh Bahadur w 209

to Farukhsiyar. These had been sent by Abdus Samad Khan; out of these
16 horses and mares, 3 horses and 6 mares had belonged to Banda
Singh himself.

Execution of the Sikh Prisoners
On 5 March 1716, the Emperor ordered Sarbrah Khan, the police chief
31
of Delhi, to execute all the Sikh prisoners except the seventeen senior
leaders of the Sikh army. For the next seven days, one hundred Sikhs
were executed every day; they had, of course, been given the option to
save their lives in case they embraced Islam; but, not a single Sikh chose
to renounce his faith in order to save his life; all of them chanted
‘Waheguru! Waheguru!!’ while they were being beheaded; what to say
about their saving their lives, they used to address the executioner as
‘Mukta’ (deliverer, i.e. one who liberates from this world). 32 These
executions were carried out in front of the kotwali (police station) at
the Chandni Chowk, the then downtown and a hub of Delhi. 33
John Sermon and Edwards, Stephen, the Delhi representatives of
the British Governor at Fort William (Calcutta), in a letter written on
March 10, 1716, have given an eyewitness account of these executions:
“The great Rebel Guru who has been for these past 20 years so
troublesome to the Subaship of Lahore, is at length taken with all his
family and attendance by Abd-Us-Samad Cawn, the Suba of that
province. Some days ago, they entered the city laden with fetters, his
whole attendance, which were left alive, being about seven hundred
and eighty, all severally mounted on camels which were sent out of the
city for that purpose, besides about two thousand head struck upon poles,
being those who died by the sword in battle. He was carried into the
presence of the King, and from thence to a close prison. He, at present,
has his life prolonged with most of his mutsuddys, in hope to get an
account of his treasure in the several parts of his kingdom and of those
who assisted him, when afterwards he will be executed; for the rest there
are 100 each day beheaded. It is not a little remarkable with what
patience they undergo their fate, and to the last it has not been found
that one apostatized from his new formed religion”. Sarup Das Bhalla