Shaheedi Jor Mela
Encyclopedia
Shaheedi Jor Mela is organised every year in December at Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib
Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib
Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib is named so, because it marks the conquest of the Sikhs in 1710 when under the leadership of Banda Bahadur, the Sikhs ran over the area and razed the fort to the ground.-History:...

, in the Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib is headquarters of Fatehgarh Sahib district, one of the twenty districts in the state of Punjab in North-West India.-History:The city is an historically important town north of Patiala, especially for the Sikh faith...

 district of Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

 to pay homage to the martyrdom of Baba Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh was the third of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his younger brother, Sahibzada Fateh Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism....

 ji and Baba Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh was the youngest of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his older brother, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism. He is also known as Baba Fateh Singh...

 ji, the youngest of the tenth
Tenth
Tenth can mean:* 10th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order ten places from the beginning, following the ninth and preceding the eleventh.* 1/10, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts...

 guru of sikhs Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...

's four sons.

Supreme sacrifice

Both Sahibzada's defied all attempts of then Governor of Sirhind Wazir Khan's offers of treasure and easy lives if they would only convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. Holding steadfast in their will to die as Sikhs, they were first entombed
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...

 alive by being bricked into a wall, but mere bricks and mortar could not hold the young Sahibzadas, for the wall collapsed and fell to the ground. Then, on 26 December 1705, Baba Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh was the youngest of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his older brother, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism. He is also known as Baba Fateh Singh...

 ji was cruelly and mercilessly martyred at Sirhind along with his elder brother, Baba Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh was the third of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his younger brother, Sahibzada Fateh Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism....

. He is probably the youngest recorded martyr in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 who knowingly and consciously laid down his life at the very tender age of 6 years.

Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib

Gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib, 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the Sirhind marks the site of the live entombment of the two younger sons of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs
Sikh Gurus
The Sikh Gurus established Sikhism from over the centuries beginning in the year 1469. Sikhism was founded by the first guru, Guru Nanak, and subsequently, all in order were referred to as "Nanak", and as "Lights", making their teachings in the holy scriptures, equivalent...

, Sri Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...

 by then Governor of Sirhind, Wazir Khan .

Mela Schedule

The first day of the Mela is observed purely in religious spirits. The mela would begin from December 24 with Akhand Path
Akhand Path
Akhand Path is the common practise of continuous recitation of sacred religious texts in Hinduism and Sikhism.-Sikhism:...

 of Guru Granth Sahib
Guru Granth Sahib
Sri Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Granth, is the religious text of Sikhism. It is the final and eternal guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs, compiled and composed during the period of Sikh gurus, from 1469 to 1708...

 at gurdwara Jyoti Swarup. Political rallies & meetings would be held by various political parties next day, for which stages have been set up near gurdwaras. Mela will conclude on December 26 with nagar kirtan from gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib to gurdwara Jyoti Swarup.

People participation

Lakhs of devotes pay their obeisance at Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib and Gurdwara Jyoti Swarup on this historic occasion every year during this three day Jor Mela. All nearby villagers organize langar for the devotees going to visit Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib for the Mela along all the roads leading to the gurdwara. During Mela days, the service of the people is exemplary with community kitchens serving tea, snacks and meals every mile on the way to Sirhind, whichever way you are coming from. People from far away places come to Sirhind to do karsewa and braving the chilly weather in tents out in the open.

Arrangements

Each year, the district administration would do special arrangements for devotees and people visiting the mela like parking areas, controlling flow of traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...

 by setting up special barricades and nakas, medical & emergency services and by deploying heavy police force for security.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has been arranging deewan, where the Sikh preachers, ragis, dhadi jathas will present devotional songs and give the accounts of the Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

 history.

Although Jor Mela is a religious event, but heavy police
Punjab Police
Punjab Police may refer to:* Punjab Police , which operates in the Indian state of Punjab* Punjab Police , which operates in the Pakistani province of Punjab...

force is normally deployed all around the Mela site .

External links

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