| History of the Battle of Chamkaur, the Second Historic Battle at Chamkaur
On occupying the house during the night of 6/7 December, he had assigned 8 Sikhs each to guard each side of the four sided perimeter wall, while another two, Madan Singh and Kotha Singh, were posted at the only entrance which faced north. Guru Gobind Singh, with his sons Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh and other disciples, took up positions on the first floor of the house in the centre.
The imperial army, grown larger with reinforcements from Ropar, Sirhind and Malerkotia, arrived and surrounded the garhi. The battle raged throughout the day. Successive efforts of the besiegers to storm the citadel were thwarted. As the ammunition and arrows in the fortress ran out, the Sikhs started coming out in small batches to engage the enemy in hand to hand fight.
The Sahibzadas lead two such successive sallies, Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, 18 and 14 years old respectively, who like the other Sikhs fell fighting heroically. The valour displayed by the young sons of Guru Gobind Singh has been poignantly narrated by a modern Muslim poet Allahyar Khan Jogi who used to recite his Urdu poem entitled, "ShahidaniWafa" from Sikh pulpits during the second and third decades of the twentieth century.
By nightfall Guru Gobind Singh was left with only five Sikhs in the fortress. These five urged him to escape so that he could rally his followers again and continue the struggle against oppression. The Guru agreed. He gave his own attire to Sangat Singh who resembled him somewhat in features and physical stature, and, under cover of darkness, made good his way through the encircling host slackened by the fatigue of the day's battle. Daya Singh, Dharam Singh and Man Singh also escaped leaving behind only two Sikhs, Sangat Singh and Sant Singh. Next morning as the attack was resumed, the imperial troops entered the garhi without much resistance, and were surprised to find only two occupants who, determined to die rather than give in, gave battle till the last.
Upon the fall of Sirhind to the Khalsa in 1764 when this part of the country came under Sikh domination, the fortress at Chamkaur came to be preserved as a sacred monument. Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala had a gurdwara constructed here. It was called Garhi Sahib ; also, Tilak Asthan (Anointment Site) in the belief that Guru Gobind Singh's act of obeying the five Sikhs with regard to his escape and giving his dress, turban and plume to Bhai Sangat Singh were symbolic of anointing the Khalsa as his successor to guruship. The old Gurdwara building has since been demolished and replaced by a four storeyed structure. The sanctum is on the ground floor in the centre of a large divan hall. The building is topped by a lotus dome covered with chips of glazed tiles. There are decorative domed pavilions over the corners and walls of the main hall.
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