Fatehgarh Sahib (Sirhind)

Fatehgarh Sahib district, with its historic core at Sirhind, has a history deeply tied to both imperial power and Sikh martyrdom. Sirhind grew in the medieval period as a major town on the Grand Trunk Road between Delhi and Lahore. Under the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughals, it became an important administrative and military centre, with governors, forts, caravanserais and large markets serving travellers and armies moving between North India and the Punjab–Afghan frontier.

In the late 17th–early 18th century, Sirhind’s fate became inseparable from Sikh history. In 1704–05, the Mughal faujdar Wazir Khan ordered the capture of Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s two younger sons, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, at nearby Morinda. When the young Sahibzadas refused to convert to Islam, they were cruelly bricked alive at Sirhind. This act of martyrdom burned itself into Sikh memory and turned Sirhind into a symbol of oppression.

In 1710, the Sikh leader Banda Singh Bahadur attacked and sacked Sirhind in retribution. Over time, the power of Mughal Sirhind collapsed and the area came under Sikh misls and later the Patiala rulers, before passing to the British.

After Independence, a separate Fatehgarh Sahib district was created in 1992, named for the Sahibzada and centred on the gurdwara complex that commemorates their martyrdom.