Shaheedi Diwas November 24

La disparition prématurée du huitième gourou, gourou Harkrishan Singh, avait laissé les sikhs dans un dilemme quant à savoir qui serait le prochain gourou. Selon la legend, a wealthy trader Baba Makhan Shah Labana had prayed for his life, promising to offer 500 gold coins to the next guru if he survived. Once he was well, he went to meet some gurus and offering them two gold coins and expecting that the real guru had heard his silent promise. It was only Guru Tegh Bahadur who reminded him of his promise and thus the ninth Guru was found.

On se souvient de Guru Tegh Bahadur, né à Amritsar, comme l’homme qui a défendu les droits à la liberté religieuse. Sous le règne de l’empereur moghol Aurangazeb, l’islam s’est imposé à tous. Les temples hindous ont été démolis et transformés en mosquées et les non-hindous ont dû payer des impôts plus élevés. L’empereur persécutait ceux qui ne se conformaient pas à la loi islamique.

Amidst all this, Guru Tegh Bahadur stood up against the persecution and refused to convert to Islam. Subsequently, he was beheaded in Delhi in 1675. The site of his execution was later converted into a Gurdwara.

During his lifetime, he married Bibi Gujjari and had a son, the tenth guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh.

After the beheading of Guru Tegh Bahadur at Chandni Chowk in Delhi, his head was carried by one of his disciples to his son Gobind Rai (who later became Guru Gobind Singh). Guru Tegh Bahadur's body was secretly taken home and burned so that Aurangzeb could never find the body.