Chali Mukte

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CHALI MUKTE, literally forty (chali) liberated ones (mukte), is a term used to refer to the 40 Sikhs who laid down their lives for the Panth. There are 2 separate groups or bands of soldiers to whom this term is used to refer.

Two uses of the term The Liberated Ones

Muktas Of Muktsar

Mahaan Singh asking Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji to tear the Bedawa
  • First

It refers to the 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 Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji who 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. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who had watched the battle from a nearby mound praised the martyrs' valour and blessed them as the Chali Mukte, the "Forty Immortals" or "Forty Beloved". After them Khidrana became Muktsar, the "Pool of Liberation".

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 DallVan and Fateh Singh with Khurdpur Mangat.

According to Bhai Chaupa Singh, his Rahitnama or code of conduct was drafted by muktas. The text is said to have received Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji's approval on 7Jeth 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, Barisava/mama Dasari Patshahian Ka, mentions 14, and Kuir Singh, Gurbilas Patshahi X, 25.

But the forty 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 Sri Guru Ji 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 as the last of them laid in the Guru's lap dying.

The names of the forty Mukte are listed below:

  • (1). Bhai Bhag Singh
  • (2). Bhai Dilbag Singh
  • (3). Bhai Mann Singh
  • (4). Bhai Nidhan Singh
  • (5). Bhai Kharbara Singh
  • (6). Bhai Darbara Singh
  • (7). Bhai Dyal Singh
  • (8). Bhai Nihal Singh
  • (9). Bhai Khushal Singh
  • (10). Bhai Ganda Singh
  • (11). Bhai Ishmer Singh
  • (12). Bhai Singha
  • (13). Bhai Bhalla Singh
  • (14). Bhai Suhel Singh
  • (15). Bhai Chamba Singh
  • (16). Bhai Ganga Singh
  • (17). Bhai Sumer Singh
  • (18). Bhai Sultan Singh
  • (19). Bhai Maya Singh
  • (20). Bhai Massa Singh
  • (21). Bhai Sarja Singh
  • (22). Bhai Sadhu Singh
  • (23). Bhai Gulab Singh
  • (24). Bhai Harsa Singh
  • (25). Bhai Sangat Singh
  • (26). Bhai Hari Singh
  • (27). Bhai Dhana Singh
  • (28). Bhai Karam Singh
  • (29). Bhai Kirt Singh
  • (30). Bhai Lachman Singh
  • (31). Bhai Buddha Singh
  • (32). Bhai Kesho Singh
  • (33). Bhai Jado Singh
  • (34). Bhai Sobha Singh
  • (35). Bhai Bhanga Singh
  • (36). Bhai Joga Singh
  • (37). Bhai Dharam Singh
  • (38). Bhai Karam Singh
  • (39). Bhai Kala Singh
  • (40). Bhai Mahan Singh

Muktas Of Chamkaur

  • Second

The term Chali Mukte is also used sometimes for the martyrs whom a huge army, in pursuit since the evacuation of Anandpur by Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji during the night 5-6 December 1705, 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 by fighting through the forces of the Mughal Imperial Army during the following night.



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.

Also View

Chamkaur Sahib

Muktsar

References