The Battle

In 1704 Anandpur was under an extended siege by the allied forces of the Mughals and the hill chiefs. Provisions were completely exhausted and the Khalsa lived on leaves and t~e bark of trees. The Jats of Majha made up their mind to go home. The Guru would not let them leave unless they signed a disclaimer saying that they were not the Sikhs of Guru Gobind Singh. Out of hun-dreds of Sikhs, only forty put their thumb im-pression on the disclaimer; they were then per-mitted to leave Anandpur. The forty deserters from Anandpur lived in the Majha region in the district of Amritsar. In one of their villages, called Jhabal, there lived a brave woman named Mai Bhago. She was known for her faith and courage, and she had a great zeal to serve the Guru. Her blood boiled at the timidity of those who, beaten by the ravages of the prolonged siege of Anandpur, disclaimed Guru Gobind Singh Ji to return to their homes. She was smitten at the ignominy shown by these forty deserters. Mai Bhago charged them with cowardice and lack of faith. She was determined to wipe out this stain of infamy on Majha Singhs. She went around the neighbouring villages and exhorted the women folk not to be hospitable to the deserters who had disclaimed the Guru. She shamed and censured the Singhs for their cowardice and eventually brought them back to the path of devotion and sacrifice. She, donning a man's dress, inspired them to return to the fold of Guru Gobind Singh ii. Feeling ashamed for their act of cowardice, they followed her banner and joined in the famous battle of Muktsar, which was fought against the Mughal forces at Khidrana in the district of Ferozepur.

Mai Bhago vowed to suffer death on the blood-stained battlefield on behalf of the Guru. She fought so well in their ranks that she dis-posed of several Muhammadan soldiers. At the end of the battle, when Guru Gobind Singh ii was looking for survivors, Mai Bhago, who was lying wounded, greeted him. She told him how the forty deserters valiantly laid down their lives fighting in the battlefield. Guru Saheb was greatly touched by her sense of remorse, self-sacrifice, and heroism. Mai Bhago recovered and remained in the Guru's presence after the battle of Muktsar. Guru Ji tore up the disclaimer and welcomed the 40 deserters back. They are now known as the Chali Mukte (40 liberated ones).

Chali Mukte

CHALI MUKTE, lit. forty (chali) liberated ones (mukte), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the dhab or lake of Khidrana, also called Isharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mughal force in chase of Guru Gobind Singh are remembered in Sikh history and daily in the Sikh ardas or supplicatory prayer offered individually or at gatherings at the end of all religious services. Guru Gobind Singh, who had watched the battle from a nearby mound praised the martyrs' valour and blessed them as Chali Mukte, the Forty Immortals. After them Khidrana became Muktsar - the Pool of Liberation. Etymologically, mukta from Sanskrit mukt means 'liberated, delivered, emancipated,' especially from the cycle of birth and death. Mukti (liberation, emancipation) in Sikhism is the highest spiritual goal of human existence, and mukt or mukta is the one who has achieved this state of final beatitude. Mukta, also means a pearl, and the word would thus signify a title or epithet of distinction. It was probably in this sense that the five Sikhs, who on 30 March 1699 received the vows of the Khalsa immediately after the first five Panj Piare (q.v.), were blessed with the title mukta, plural mukte.

The term Chali Mukte is also used sometimes for the martyrs whom a huge arrny, in pursuit since the evacuation of Anandpur by Guru Gobind Singh during the night 5-6 December, caught up with and encircled at Chamkaur on 7 December, and who engaged the enemy in small sorties throughout the day with the result that the Guru with three other survivors was able to escape during the following night. While there is no unanimity over the names of the martyrs of Muktsar and Chamkaur Sahib, the five Muktas who comprised the first batch of Sikhs to receive amrit at the hands of the Panj Piare are given in Rahitnama by Bhai Daya Singh as Ram Singh, Fateh Singh, Deva Singh, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh. No other details of these five are available except that an old manuscript of Bhai Prahlad Singh's Rahitnama is said to contain a note associating Ram Singh and Deva Singh with the village of Bughiana, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh with Dall-Van and Fateh Singh with Kurdpur Mangat. According to Bhai Chaupa Singh, his Rahitnama or code of conduct was drafted by muktas. The text is said to have received Guru Gobind Singh's approval on 7 Jeth 1757 Bk / 5 May 1700. It appears that the title of mukta was bestowed subsequently also on persons other than the original five. The number of muktas is recorded variously in old Sikh texts. For instance, Kesar Singh Chhibbar, Bansavallnama Dasan Patshahlan Ka, mentions 14, and Kuir Singh, gurbilas Patshahi X, 25.

But muktas universally celebrated in the Sikh tradition are the forty martyrs of Muktsar who earned this title by sacrificing their lives for the Guru and who redeemed their past apostasy of having disowned the Guru and deserted him driven to desperation by the prolonged siege of Anandpur by the hill chiefs and Mughal forces by having their disclaimer torn by the Guru. They were led by Mai Bhago and Mahan Singh Brar.