Page 54 - Lohgarh

54 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

Wazir Khan of Chiniot (later Governor of Lahore) had become a favorite
courtier of Jahangir; almost during the same time Jahangir had a meeting
with Mian Mir. Both of them (Wazir Khan and Mian Mir) requested
Jahangir to release Guru Hargobind; Jahangir’s beloved wife Nur Jahan
too impressed upon him to accept their advice and release the Guru.
By this time, Jahangir too had become free from the influence of the
fanatical Muslim clergy (including Sheikh Ahmad Sarhandi); all this made
Jahangir to issue orders for the release of Guru Sahib.
The orders of the release of Guru Sahib were delivered by Wazir
Khan himself. When the other royal prisoners came to know of the
release of Guru Sahib, they became very sad and some of them began
weeping also. Daily discourses of the Guru had changed their lives and
they had begun living in high spirits. Guru Sahib decided to help them.
He told Wazir Khan: ‘I will leave the prison only if other prisoners too
are released.’ Wazir Khan promised to approach the Emperor; and when
Wazir Khan met Jahangir and informed him about the Guru’s wish, the
Emperor was very much impressed. He ordered that those prisoners
who had been given short sentences (one to two years) be released
and from amongst the rest all those would be released who clung to
the Guru’s cloak. Jahangir, perhaps, wanted to test as to whom the Guru
preferred as there were 49 prisoners who had been given short
sentences and 52 were those who were undergone long sentences.
When Guru Hargobind came to know about the orders of the
Emperor, he requested the jailor Hari Das Yadav to get him a cloak which
had 52 hanging stripes. The cloak was ready by the next morning. The
Guru wore the cloak and got all the prisoners released as each was
holding one stripe of the cloak. Those who got released included several
kings and princes from hill states of the Punjab (Bilaspur, Handur etc.),
th
Rajputana and other zones. The Guru was released on the 26 of October
1619. When Jahangir got this news he was convinced that the Guru
was really a genuine pir for whom everyone was equal. After this,
Jahangir ordered the arrest of Sheikh Ahmad Sarhandi, who was interned
in this Gwalior Fort prison.