Page 58 - Lohgarh

Chapter 4

Banda Singh Bahadur’s Journey
from Nanded to Lohgarh Fort

When Aurangzeb died, there was a war of succession between his sons,
in which Muazzam (later Bahadur Shah) became victorious. The decisive
battle took place at Jajau, on 8 June1707, in which prince Tara Azam
was killed and Muazzam was victorious; a unit of the Sikh soldiers too
had fought as allies of Muazzam. Now, Muazzam sat on the Mughal
throne as Bahadur Shah; and held a darbar (court) to thank and award
his supporters. On 23 July 1707, he welcomed the Guru in his darbar,
thanked him for his blessings and help and presented him a diamond-
studded khillat (robe of honour). Besides, he (Bahadur Shah) promised
to punish those who had perpetrated atrocities on the Guru’s mother,
Sahibzadas and the Sikhs. The Guru presented him a list of ten persons,
including Wazir Khan (the Governor of Sahrind, now Sirhind), who were
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responsible for the killings of Sahibzadas and Mata Gujri as well as
others. But, before he could take any action on his promise made to
the Guru, he had to leave Agra to quell the rebellion of the Rajput Rajas
of Amber (Jaipur), Jodhpur and Ajmer. He requested the Guru to
accompany him during the expedition so that they may finalize the line
of action regarding Wazir Khan and others.
According to another tradition, the Guru did not accompany him,
but when he remained engaged in Rajput-expedition for about five
months, he sent an emissary to the Guru to visit him in Ajmer. The
Guru reached Ajmer in the beginning of March 1708; but, before he
could discuss further on Wazir Khan’s issue, Bahadur Shah received
reports that his second brother Kam Bakhsh too has rebelled; so he
decided to go to South to quell his rebellion; he requested the Guru