The Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb cherished the
ambition of converting India into an Islamic
country. A minority of the conversions in
Kashmir happened peacefully. Yet, the
Emperor's experiment was carried out in
Kashmir . The viceroy of Kashmir , Iftikhar Khan
(1671–1675) carried out the policy vigorously
and set about converting non-Muslims by
force. [3][4]
A group of Kashmiri Pandits (Kashmiri Hindu
Brahmins ), approached Guru Tegh Bahadur for
help. They, on the advice of the Guru, told the
Mughal authorities that they would willingly
embrace Islam if Guru Tegh Bahadur did the
same. [3][4]
Orders of the arrest of the Guru were issued by
Aurangzeb, who was in the present-day Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan subduing Pushtun
rebellion. The Guru was arrested at a place
called Malikhpur near Anandpur after he had
departed from Anandpur for Delhi. Before
departing he nominated his son, Gobind Rai
(Guru Gobind Singh) as the next Sikh Guru.
He was arrested, along with some of his
followers, Bhai Dayala , Bhai Mati Das and Bhai
Sati Das by Nur Muhammad Khan of the
Rupnagar police post at the village Malikhpur
Rangharan, in Ghanaula Parganah, and sent to
Sirhind the following day. The Faujdar
(Governor) of Sirhind, Dilawar Khan, ordered
him to be detained in Bassi Pathana and
reported the news to Delhi . His arrest was
made in July 1675 and he was kept in custody
for over three months. He was then kept in an
iron cage and taken to Delhi in November
1675.
The Guru was put in chains and ordered to be
tortured until he would accept Islam. When he
could not be persuaded to abandon his faith,
he was asked to perform some miracles to
prove his divinity. Refusing to do so, Guru
Tegh Bahadur was beheaded at Chandni
Chowk on 11 November 1675. Guru Tegh
Bahadur is popularly known as "Hind Di
Chadar" i.e. "The Shield of India ", in reference
to his supreme sacrifice to protect Hindus of
India from conversion to Islam and the
religious freedom of other non Muslims in
Mughal India.
Guru Tegh Bahadur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
