Martyrdom is a Semitic concept. Its doctrine goes back to old Oriental and Hellenistic ideas. The literal and primary meaning of the word uaprus in Greek, martyr in English and shahid in Arabic is ‘witness’,. It has quite often been used in that sense in the holy Bible and the holy Quran. 1
Semitic Origin: The word ‘martyr’ acquired its modern connotation during the conflict between Paganism and Christianity when Christians ‘testified to the truth of their convictions" by sacrificing their own lives. 2
A similar development of its Arabic synonym, Shahid, took place under Christian influence, and it also began to be used for one who dies in witness of his faith or who seals his belief with his death while fighting against infidels.3
Sikhism adopted the concept, alongwith its current form and usage, from Islam, extending it by introducing a new dimension and a universal outlook. It set, thereby, its currency in Indian society which, because of its conformist approach and escapist tendency, had previously remained almost deficient of great heroic deeds of such martyrdom and did not cherish it in that context before the advent of the Sikh Movement.
Martyrdom, as such, has been associated primarily with religion and its traditions, originating in some cases from indications given in their respective scriptures.
But all religious traditions are not endowed with this great and proud privilege. It does not seem to exist, for instance, in that specific form and usage in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism; in Babylonian and Abyssinian lores; or in Chinese and Japanese religions. However, notions of self-abnegation and self-annihilation as well as the compassionate feelings for others are found almost in all historical religions in one form or the other. Moreover, there is no dearth of men, women and children during all these ages, who were either offered in sacrifice for numerous rites and rituals, or who had themselves suffered torture and death, of their own accord, for various other causes, ideas, opinions and superstitions.
On the other hand, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism, for example, preserve more or less rich traditions of martydom, martyrology, martyry and martyrolatry. The prominent acts of the eminent persons associated with these traditions form a glorious chapter in the histories of religion and philosophy of the world. For instance, ‘Aquiba (50-130 A.D.), the saintly Jewish teacher, suffered martyrdom in the cause of the propagation of the Torah in defiance of an imperial edict. Socrates (470-390 B.C.), the well-known Greek Philosopher, drank to death the cup of poison in order to vindicate his lofty ideal. The Persian prophet, Zoroster (583 B.C.); and the blessed founder of Christianity, Jesus, laid down their lives in defence of their respective faiths. Islam has in al-Husain (603-660 A.D.) the ‘king of the martyrs’ for the Shias, and in Mansur al-Hallaj (858-922 A.D.) the ‘martyr par excellence’ for the Sufis – the former having been killed in Karbala while fighting the battle of Islam and the latter cruelly executed in Baghbad on the charges of Heresy or Heterodoxy. But no proper martyrology appears to have developed in Islam comparable to the pattern of Christianity 4 which can feel justly proud of embodying, probably, the richest tradition in this demain, with its martyred Founder himself standing at its fountain head.
Altruism in Devotion: It did develop, however, properly and consistently, in the case of Sikhism; and that too with a significant difference. In it word ‘martyr’ or shahid diverges from its primary and limited meaning of ‘testimony’ It implies and connotes, on the other hand, a wholistic concept of martyrdom or shahadat as a selfless heroic deed of sublime self-sacrifice for a lofty and righteous cause with a universal outlook in a comprehensive form.
Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539), the Founder, who, according to Dr. Gokal Chand Narang, "after centuries of subjection was the first among the ‘Hindus’ to raise his voice against tyranny and oppression" 5 of the Lodi-Mughal India, himself set the norm and ideal of this tradition in Sikhism. His following pronouncement showed, from the very beginning, the form and course it followed:
Jau tau prem khelon ka chao,
Sir dhar talli gali meri ao.
It marag pair dharijai,
Sir dijai kan na kijai.
i.e. If you are keen on playing the game of love, enter my path with your head on the palm of your hand.Once you set your foot upon it, lay down your head without any fear or demur. 6
According to this and such other pronouncements made by him 7 and his spiritual successors, a true martyr is one who imbued with Simran and Seva, that is, the love of God and service of mankind, offers himself to the oppressor for supreme sacrifice for the cause of upholding truth and defending Dharma (i.e. righteousness). He does it at all costs, in the face of challenges from any side, in order to defend, thereby, right against wrong, justice against injustice; and for serving and safeguarding any other and allied noble cause while treading the path of martyrdom, he shuns all pressures and inducements, bears all tortures and torments, and expects no material gain or glory for himself, his country or community. This is so in Sikhism, because Guru Nanak Dev has himself assured him that
Maranu munsân suryan haqq hai, Jo hoe marani parvanon. (Wadhanas, p.579)
i.e. Martyrdom is the privilege of the heroic
If they die for a noble cause.
Martyr as Hero: Guru Arjun Dev (1563-1606 A.D.), fifth in his apostolic line, remaining true to this concept and ideal, willingly and patiently, suffered inhuman tortures and martyrdom in 1606 A.D. at Lahore, under the orders of Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627 A.D.) for pleading the people’s cause, defending Dharma and refusing to accept unjust orders. He preferred to submit to the Will of God and suffer in silence, while vindicating the cause of truth and religious freedom, rather than yield to the unjust will and aggressive policy of a bigoted ruler. 9 Jahangir had himself recorded in his Memories that "for a long time" he "was thinking that either this evil business (i.e. Guru’s religion and highly popular pontificate) must be put an end to or he should be brought in to the fold of Islam" 10, Proceeding further, he had stated, "I ordered that he should be put to death with tortures", Guru Arjun resolutely and boldly faced horrible persecution setting thereby an example to the rest of the world as to how a man of God could mock death, 11 and declaring at the same time:
Nah ko beiri, nehin bigana, Sagal Sangi, ham ko bani aee.
i.e. None is our enemy, Nor is any one alien to us. We are friends of all mankind. 12
His grandson and the Ninth Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675 A.D.), too, laid down his life as a martyr on 11th of November 1675 at Delhi under orders of Jahangir’s grandson, Aurangzeb (1618-1707 a.D.), "whose efforts", according to Sayad Muhammad Latif, "were directed to converting the whole world to the Mahomedan faith" and 13 who had unsuccessfully "urged the Sikh Guru to embrace Mahomedanism". The Guru did so valiantly at the altar of Dharma for raising a forceful voice against the Emperor’s religious fanaticism, communal bigotry, persecutory zeal, repressive policies and tyrranical measures, adopted on a comprehensive scale to annihilate all traces of diversity among various culture-groups and communities and eliminate Hindusim altogether, in a deliberate effort to change thereby the entire face of the Indian Subcontinent into a Muslim State. Guru Tegh Bahadur himself volunteered to sacrifice his life in order to defend the fundamental rights of the people; to protect their faith and belief; and to vindicate, by his heroic action, the freedom of conscience and worship being denied to them. He embodied in himself the undaunted spirit of supreme sacrifice in the pursuit of such lofty ideals and eternal values by which humanity must always live.
Every effort was made by the greatest empire of the day to dissuade him from the programme or to distract him from his path; and also a prevail upon him to renounce his faith and embrace Islam. Neither deterred nor shaken from his faith and ideal, Guru Tegh Bahadur pursued it with unqualified commitment and unflinching courage, proving him-self true, both in principal and practice, to his well known motto:
Bhai kahun ko deit nehn
Nehn bhai manat aan.
i.e. Fear not and Frighten no.
Barbaric Rule: Consequently, he was chained and imprisoned in a cage and was tortured in the cruelest and the most inhuman ways for five long days. In order to terrorise him further into submission, one of his distinguished devotees (viz. Bhai Mati Das) was sawn alive, another (viz. Bhai Dayal Das) was boiled in the cauldron and the third (viz. Bhai Sati Das) was roasted alive in his very sight. Finally, he himself was beheaded, under imperial warrant, in broad daylight, in the middle of a public square, the most prominent public place in India, called Chandni Chowk, of Delhi, on the charge that he was a stumbling block preventing the spread of Islam in the Indian subcontinent. 15
While in Zoroastrianism a martyr is "one who lays down his life in the cause of his religion or faith", in Judaism it is he who suffers death "for the propagation of his Holy Scripture". In Christianity martyrs are those "who have actually laid down their lives for Christ" or those "who undergo penalty of death for persistence in the Christian faith" 16. In Islam a martyr is "one who has either been slain in a religious war or has been killed unjustly" 17. In these historical religions such noble persons have been honored as Shahid-e-Kamil, i.e. perfect martyrs or martyrs par excellence.
In Sikhism, however, the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur embodies in itself some unique features of martyrdom, particularly in the sense that he passed through a tortuous ordeal and courted a voluntary death not for the salvation of his own self, or for the protection of his own family and followers, or for the propagation of his own faith and convictions, but for the faith of others and for upholding convictions in which he did not believe himself either on doctrinal or on credal basis.
Valour & Dharma: A large number of saintly and valorous persons, throughout the world, have sacrificed themselves, from time to time, before and after him, in defence of their respective faiths or for the vindication of their own convictions or for the protection of their own country and community. But none, excepting Guru Tegh Bahadur, is known to have offered himself for sacrifice for the vindication of an all-embracing ideal, the ideal pertaining to the freedom of conscience, conviction and worship – not only for himself, his country and community but also for the entire human fraternity for all times to come. He actually laid down his life for the cause of justice and Dharma (righteousness), in defence of the convictions of others in order to champion the cause of religious freedom for one and all, and to protect the religious principles and practices which one did not himself follow. Guru Tegh Bahadur alone came forward in order to uphold the dignity of man and to protest against the policy of conversion, through force and oppression, by the rulers of the ruled. By his supreme sacrifice, he attempted thus to usher in a new social order and to promote thereby the spirit of republicanism in religion. He alone ventured at a highly critical and decisive juncture, to announce publicly that if he would not be able to change the mind of the mighty Mughal monarch with moral, spiritual and rational arguments he would himself offer to die for the protection of the faith of the oppressed for the preservation of a religion other than his own and for the freedom of worship for one and all. Among all prophet-teachers, he alone is believed to have under-taken, of his own free will, a historic march of passive resistance for the vindication and assertion of human rights at the cost of his own life. He, thereby, espoused the cause of the oppressed, exhorting them to cast away their fears and face the situation with courage and fortitude.
On reaching Delhi and failing in his honest efforts to persuade imperial authorities to give up their policy of coercion, repression and forcible conversion, Guru Tegh Bahadur gladly offered himself for the supreme sacrifice in the cause of truth, tolerance, justice and righteousness; for equality and liberty in matters of faith and idealogical belief of all mankind.
By doing so, according to the autobiography of his son, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 A.D.),18 the Tenth Nanak, he "performed a heroic deed and made the supreme sacrifice in the dark age for the protection of their (i.e. Hindus’) right to wear sacred threads and the frontal caste-marks. He spared no pains and went to the utmost limit in helping and protecting the good and the men of faith. Without a groan, he gave up his head but neither his ideals nor determination. He suffered martyrdom for the sake of religion and righteousness, as a whole. He refused to perform miracles to escape a violent death, pronouncing these as a juggler’s tricks and unworthy act which fill true men of God with utter shame. Breaking the pitcher of his mortal frame over the head of the Emperor of Delhi, he departed to the Realm of God. No one else has ever performed such a noble, mighty and glorious deed,* signifying thereby a great and heroic martyrdom which stands till today unparalleled in the history of the world.
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s sacrifice was a mightly challenge to the mightiest empire of the age and this challenge was given to the Emperor himself in the capital of his empire itself. As the subsequent event proved, it turned out in the course of time as "a declaration of war" by accepting "a challenge to meet force by force", 19 acting upon the ideal expressed in the following words of his own son, Guru Gobind Singh:
Chun kar az hama hilate dar-guzasht,
Halal ast burdan ba shamshir dast:
i.e. When all avenues have been explored, and the affair has passed all remedies, It is rightful to draw the sword, and wield it with your hand.
Triumph of Spirit: If it is true that "the martyrs of a religion usually arise from persecution" 21 and that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church", then the Sikh religion is a classic case for study. "Perhaps the most striking example in India of a the effect of a cruel persecution in consolidating and defining the religious life of a country", according to Dr. A. S. Geden, "is that of the Sikhs… who found themselves brought into conflict with the dominant power of the Mughal emperors and were forced, in self-defence, to take up arms and maintain their existence and religious liberty…. They were confronted with the alternative of acceptance of the formula and creed of the ruling faith - or destruction. They refused to submit to either, but endeavoured rather to maintain their freedom and rights with the sword. The persecution which ensured had the effect of welding a community and organization in its origin purely religious, into a militant order and nation of soldiers, tenancies of military might and norms no less than of creed and faith." 22
Just as the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev, seventy years before, had given impetus to the Sikh Movement and produced, in the time of his son and successor, Guru Har Gobind (1595-1644 A.D.) 23, the doctrine of Miri (i.e. political sovereignty) and Piri (i.e. spiritual sovereignty), leading towards the evolution of the Sikh people into a militant church; the martyrdom of the latter’s youngest son, Guru Tegh Bahadur, enthused his own illustrious son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 A.D.), to the extent that he completely and marvelously transformed the whole community and produced in 1699 A.D. the semi-military Brotherhood of the Khalsa endowed with special virtues, symbols and sacraments. 24 "tenacious of military might and norms no less than of creed and faith", exemplifying thereby in letter and spirit the last prophetic words of the great martyr himself:
Nam reho, sadhu reho
Reho Guru Gobind.
i.e. When Guru Gobind is there to uphold the Dharma; God’s Name and His devotees shall flourish and endure eternally. 25
Guru Tegh Bahadur’s unique martyrdom animated not only his young and only son to sacrifice his all, even his entire family, including his four young sons, for the protection of Dharma, assertion of religious freedom and promotion of the aforesaid causes, but also instilled such an invincible spirit of self-confidence and self-sacrifice in the oppressed and the downtrodden of such a magnitude that it gave rise, in its turn, to a very long line of martyrs and a strong tradition of martyrdom-matchless, perhaps, in the annals of the world, in its length, strength and steadfastness; in ts intensity, sanctity and continuity, until now.
Comemoration: The site of his martyrdom, the sacred spot where his holy head had fallen on the ground, is marked by the famous Gurdwara Sis-Ganj which, in the memorable words of the first National Professor of Free India, Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, "commemorates the final triumph of a great life and a living faith, and of the truth that a Man lives in God when he gives up his life for the benefit and service of Man. It also reminds us of the silent soul-elevating message of the Gurus". It remains till today a highly popular and holy place of pilgrimage; and people from far and near visit it daily in their thousands to pay homage and to seek Guru’s blessings for peace and prosperity. "Whenever I have occasion to go to Delhi", added Professor Chatterji in 1975, "and spare a little time for it, I never feel happy unless I can visit the Gurdwara Sis-Ganj at Chandni Chowk and spend half-an-hour there. For me this Gurdwara is a holy place and a historical place, and it is a symbol of the highest ideals and achievements of the Sikhs and consequently of the Hindus and of all other people whose minds are attuned to the spirit of understanding and toleration, and of dedication to the love and service of Man and God. Here took place, exactly 300 years ago, the greatest and most glorious martyrdom of history." 26
1. Holy Bible: New Testament, e.g. Math XVIII, 16; Mark XIV. 63; Holy Quran, Sura ii. 127, Sura iii, 93.
2. New Testament, Act xxii, 20; Rev. ii, 13; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol.IVX, p.993.
3. Houstsma, M. Th. (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IV, Leydon-1944; p.259; Platts. J.T., A dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi and English, Oxford-1884, p.738.
4. Hastings, J. (ed. ( Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Edinburg-1920, Vols. VIII, IX, XI, XIII; Hughes, T.P., A Dictionary of Islam, London-1885, p.327; Encyclopaedia Britannica, o.c. Vol. XIV, p.993; Hardy, R.S. A Manual of Buddhism, London-1890, pp.349 ff; The Encyclopaedia of Islam, op, cit., Vol. I., p.1129 Vol. IV, pp.259-61; Money Kyrle, R., The Meaning of Sacrifice, London-1929; etc. etc.
5. Narang, Dr. Sir Gokal Chand, Transformation of Sikhism, Lahore 1912; 5th ed., New Delhi 1960, p.25.
6. Guru Granth Sahib, ‘Slok Varan te Vadhik’, no.:20, p.1412; Gurdas, Bhai Varan, 1600©, no.:3, st.18.
7. Preserved in original in Guru Granth Sahib, compiled in 1604 A.D. at Amritsar by Guru Arjun Dev, fifth in his apostolic line.
8. Guru Granth Sahib, op. Cit., Rag Wadhans, M.I., p.579.
9. Smith, V.A., Akbar, Oxford-1926, p.322; Sharma, S.R. Religious Policy of Mughal Emperors. P.71.
10. Jahangir, Nur-ud-Din, Emperor, Tuzk-I-Jahangiri, Nawal Kishore Press, Lakhnow, Persian text, p.35. (translated by Rogers & H. Beveridge).
11. See also Mohsin Fani, Dabistan-I-Mazahib (complied in 1645 A.D.) Nawal Kishore Press, Kanpur-1904, p.234.
12. Guru Granth Sahib, op. Cit., Rag Kanahra, M.V., p. 1299.
13. Latif, Sayad Muhammad, History of the Panjab, Jhang-1889, p.259.
14. Guru Granth Sahib, op. Cit., Slok, M. 9, ho : 16, p.1427.
15. Trilochan Singh, Dr., Guru Tegh Bahadur: Prophet & Martyr, Delhi-1967, pp.311-24; Dr. Harnam Singh Shan’s paper in Guru Tegh Bahadur Commemorative Volume, Amritsar-1975, pp.89-106.
16. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. Cit., Vol. VIII, pp. 55, 60.
17. A dictionary of Islam, op. Cit., pp.327.
18. Gobind Singh, Guru, Dasam Granth Sahib, ‘Bachittar Natak’; Anandpur Sahib-1696, ch.5, st.13-14.
19. Gupta, Dr. Hari Ram, History of the Sikhs, Delhi-1973, p. 144.
20. Dasam Granth Sahib op. Cit., ‘Zafarnamah’, V.22.
21. Rhys Davids, T.W., Persecution of the Buddhists in India in the J.P.T.S., 1896, p.87.
22. Geden, Dr. A. S., in Vol. IX of the Encyclopaedia of Religion, op. Cit. P.764.
23. He took to arms, openly defying the Mughal Government and enjoining active and armed resistence to the violence let loose by the rulers of the day during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1658).
24. Cunnigham, Capt. J.D. A History of the Sikhs, from the Origin of the National to Battles of the Sutlej, London-1849, p.84; Macauliffc, Mr. M.A., The Sikh Religion, Vol.VI, London-1909; Rahdakrishnan, Dr. Sir S., in his Introduction to Selections From The Sacred Writings of the Sikhs, London-1960, p.23.
25. Guru Granth Sahib, op. Cit., Slok M.9, no.56, p.1429.
26. Chatterji, Dr. Suniti Kumar in his article published in The Sikh Review, Calcutta – December, 1975, pp. 108-109.