Diwan Todar Mal
Seth Todar Mall was a wealthy merchant of Sirhind, who on the 13 December 1705 performed the cremation of the three dead bodies of the two younger Sahibzade Zorawar Singh, Fateh Singh and their grandmother, Mata Gujari after the Sahibzade had been martyred by the Mughal authorities on the 12 December 1705 and the death from shock of their grandmother. This wealthy merchant had to cover the required ground for cremation with gold coins to get the release of the three bodies.
A wealthy merchant of Sirhind, according to tradition, performed the last rites for the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh martyred, on 12 December 1706, under the orders ofWazir Khan, faujdar of Sirhind, and of Mata Gujari, the Guru's mother who died of the shock on the same day. It is said that landowners around the Sirhind Fort would not permit him to hold the cremation in their fields, until one Chaudhari Atta agreed to sell him a plot. The seller's stipulation was that the buyer (Todar Mall) will take only as much of the space as he could cover with gold mohars, he would lay out for the purchase. The Seth produced the coins and bought the piece of land he needed. He cremated the three bodies and putting the ashes in an urn buried them there. The site is now marked by Gurdwara Joti Sarup at Fatehgarh Sahib, near Sirhind. Modern historians have tried to identify Seth Todar Mall as a son or later descendant of Raja Todar Mall, of Sirhind, who won renown as an administrator under the Mughal emperors, Shah Jahan and Aurangzib, and who, according to Shah Nawaz Khan, Ma'asir ulUmara, lived up to 1076 AH/AD 1666. To perpetuate the memory of the nobleminded Seth, a road in Sirhind town and a hall in Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib have now been named after him.
The Haveli Todar Mal also known as Jahaz Haveli is situated on the Eastren side of Sirhind-Ropar Railway Line just 1 KM away from Fatehgarh Sahib
References
1. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Guru Khalsa. Patiala, 1970
2. Harbans Singh, Guru Gobind Singh. Chandigarh, 1967
3. Macauliffe, M.A., The Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1909
