A large combination of forces laid a siege to the fort town of Anandpur Sahib. The initial thrusts of the enemy were repulsed by ferocious Khalsa warriors. The Mogul commanders and Rajas decided to make the siege more severe and leave no gaps to stop all the supplies to the fort. All the escape routes were plugged. The idea was to starve out the defenders. Now no one could enter or leave Anandpur.
There were enough provisions in the fort to deal with such sieges. The siege continued relentlessly. And eight months went by. Now the defenders began to lose patience. It had become clear that the enemy was in no mood to lift the siege. The demoralisation set in the Sikh soldiers. The provisions were running out. The Khalsa soldiers and their horses began to die of starvation. The situation was becoming desperate in the fort. So desperate that Khalsas would sneak out at night and raid enemy tents to plunder food stuffs and the fodder for horses. How long could it last? Some Khalsa soldiers in good faith requested Guru Sahib to leave the fort and escape to safety. Guru Sahib refused. But the pressure went on increasing.
The enemy could guess the situation inside. So, Moguls and Rajas made a solemn promise over Quran and Geeta that Sikhs leaving the fort would not be attacked and allowed a safe passage. Guru Gobind would not believe it, but others wanted to leave the fort.
Guru Sahib said that those who wanted to leave could do so. But only after signing a pledge that they no more belonged to his Khalsa Panth. A batch of 40 soldiers signed the pledge and prepared to leave the fort in the darkness of the night.
Mata Gurji advised that it was time when all left the fort as there was nothing left to fight for in the pre-vailing circumstances. Guru Gobind would not agree.
Then, Mata Gujri declared that she was also leaving the fort with two of her youngest grandsons, Jorawar Singh and Fateh Singh. With more soldiers she left.
Now Guru Gobind and only a few faithful soldiers remained in the fort. They too were having second thoughts because there was no point in starving to death in the fort. At last they too decided to go. Guru Sahib bundled up his books and manuscripts and left the fort with his faithfuls on the night of 21 December, 1704. In this bid several manuscripts were lost. Whatever could be saved were later printed.
The group was able to give a slip to the enemy taking advantage of the darkness. Guru Sahib knew for certain that the enemy would not allow him safe passage like they had done to others. It was all done to trap him.
Guru Sahib reached Ropar via Nirmoh. Meanwhile the enemy had got the wind of his escape. They went in chase and caught up with him on the bank of the river Sirsa. The enemy attacked. Ajit Singh’s group of soldiers engaged the enemy. The fierce battle ensued. It had rained and the river was in spate. On the other side of the river also enemies in the form of Gujjars and Ramghars were ready for an ambush.
The Khalsas were able to repulse the chase group. Guru Sahib raced towards Chamkaur with his two elder sons Ajit and Jujhar besides some faithful soldiers.
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