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Was born to Mata Sundari at Paonta on 26 January 1687. The following
year, Guru Gobind Singh returned with the family to Anandpur where
Ajit Singh was brought up in the approved Sikh style. He was taught
the religious texts, philosophy and history, and had training in
the manly arts such as riding, swordsmanship and archery. He grew
up into a handsome young man, strong, intelligent. and a natural
leader of men.
Soon after the creation of the Khalsa on 30 March 1699, he had his
first test of skill. A Sikh sangat coming from Pothohar, northwest
Punjab, was attacked and looted on the way by the Ranghars of Nuh,
a short distance from Anandpur across the River Sutlej. Guru Gobind
Singh sent Sahibzada Ajit Singh, barely 12 years of age then, to
that village. Ajit Singh at the head of 100 Sikhs reached there
on 23 May 1699, punished the Ranghars and recovered the looted property.
A harder task was entrusted to him the following year when the hill
chiefs supported by imperial troops attacked Anandpur. Sahibzada
Ajit Singh was made responsible for the defence of Taragarh Fort
which be-came the first target of attack. This, according to the
Bhatt Vahis, happened on 29 August 1700. Ajit Singh, assisted by
Bhai Ude Singh, a seasoned soldier, repulsed the attack. He also
fought valiantly in the battles of Nirmohgarh in October 1700. On
15 March 1701, a sangat, column of Sikh devotees, coming from Darap
area (present Sialkot district) was waylaid by Gujjars and Ranghars.
Sahibzada Ajit Singh led a successful expedition against them. As
instructed by Guru Gobind Singh, he took out (7 March 1703) 100
horsemen to Bassi, near Hoshiarpur, and rescued a young Brahman
bride forcibly taken away by the local Pathan chieftain.
In the prolonged siege of Anandpur in 1705, Sahibzada Ajit Singh
again displayed his qualities of courage and steadfastness. When,
at last, Anandpur was vacated on the night of 5-6 December 1705,
he was given command of the rearguard. As the besiegers, violating
their solemn promises for a safe conduct to the evacuees, attacked
the column, he stoutly engaged them on a hill-feature called Shahi
Tibbi until relieved by Bhai Ude Singh. Ajit Singh crossed the Sarsa,
then in spate, along with his father, his younger brother, Jujhar
Singh, and some fifty Sikhs. Further reduced in numbers by casualties
at the hands of a pursuing troop from Ropar, the column reached
Chamkaur in the evening of 6 December 1705, and took up position
in a garhi, highwalled fortified house. The host, since swelled
by reinforcements from Malerkotla and Sirhind and from among the
local Ranghars and Gujjars, soon caught up with them and threw a
tight ring around Chamkaur: An unequal but grim battle commenced
with the sunrise on 7 December 1705 - in the words of Guru Gobind
Singh's Zafarnamah, "a mere forty defying a million".
The besieged, after they had exhausted the meagre stock of ammunition
and arrows, made sallies in batches of five each to engage the encircling
host with sword and spear. Sahibzada Ajit Singh led one of the sallies
and laid down his life fighting in the thick of the battle.
Gurdwara Qatalgarh now marks the spot where he fell, followed by
Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, who led the next sally. An annual fair is
held in commemoration of their martyrdoms on the 8th of the Bikrami
month of Poh (December January). The martyrdom of two of the sons
of Guru Gobind Singh in the battle of Chamkaur is substantiated
by a contemporary record in the form of an official letter preserved
in a MS., Ahkam-i- Alamgiri by Emperor Aurangzeb's official letter
writer, Mirza Inayat Ullah Khan Ismi (1653-1725). The relevant extract
from the MS., translated into English, reads:
"Received the letter
containing miscellaneous matters including the arrival of Gobind,
the worshipper of Nanak to a place 12 kos from Sirhind; the despatch
of a force of 700 with artillery and other material; his being besieged
and vanquished in the haveli (i.e. large walled house of a zamindar
of village Chamkaur and the killing of his two sons and other companions;
and the capture of his mother and another son..."
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