EveMagill33 at 11:06, 7 January 2026

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{{Short description|Sikh temple in Delhi, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox religious building
| building_name = Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib
| infobox_width =
| image = File:Sisganj GUrudwara in Old Delhi.jpg4.jpg
| image_size =
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| caption = Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib Delhi {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|type=point|zoom=15|frame-align=center|frame-width=220}}
| map_type =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| location = [[Chandni Chowk]], [[Old Delhi]], [[India]].
| geo = {{coord|28.6558|77.2325}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Sikhism]]
| rite =
| state =Delhi
| consecration_year =
| heritage_designation =
| website =
| architecture = yes
| architect =
| architecture_type =
| architecture_style = [[Sikh architecture]], [[Islamic Architecture]] and [[Mughal Architecture]]
| groundbreaking =
| year_completed = built in 1783, current structure mostly built post 1930
| construction_cost =
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}}

'''Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib''' is one of the nine historical [[Gurdwara]]s in [[Delhi]]. It was first constructed in 1783 as a small shrine by [[Baghel Singh]] to commemorate the martyrdom site of the ninth [[Sikh Guru]], [[Tegh Bahadur]] and was probably expanded after [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] or after [[Partition of India]]. Before its construction the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] ''Kotwali'' (Police Station and Jail) was situated here.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Discovering Old Delhi: a heritage walk in Chandni Chowk, 26 Aug 2012 {{!}} Delhi Heritage Walks|url=http://blog.delhiheritagewalks.com/discovering-old-delhi-a-heritage-walk-in-chandni-chowk-26-aug-2012/|access-date=2021-05-26|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bayley|first1=Emily|url=https://archive.org/details/goldencalmenglis00bayl|title=The Golden calm : an English lady's life in Moghul Delhi : reminiscences|last2=Metcalfe|first2=Thomas|last3=Kaye|first3=M. M. (Mary Margaret)|date=1980|publisher=New York : Viking Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-670-34400-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=R. V.|date=2019-06-17|title=Delhi's gory heritage of the Khalsa panth|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/recalling-a-ruthless-act-in-1675-the-beheading-of-guru-tegh-bahadur-and-the-places-in-delhi-associated-with-it/article27990910.ece|access-date=2021-05-26|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> After the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] the Mughal Kotwali was demolished by the [[British Raj|British]] and the land was given to the [[Sikhs]] as the [[maharaja of Patiala]] and other Sikh soldiers helped the [[British Raj|British]] to defeat the Mughal soldiers by providing large numbers of [[ammunition]] and soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dalrymple|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYW5J-jQn8QC|title=The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi, 1857|date=2009-08-17|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4088-0688-3|language=en}}</ref> Its current building was made by Rai Bahadur Narain Singh a contractor who build most of roads in Lutyens New Delhi construction under British Rule. Situated in [[Chandni Chowk]] in [[Old Delhi]], it marks the site where the ninth Sikh Guru was beheaded on the orders of the [[Mughal emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]] on 11 November 1675. The Sikh regiment of the Indian army salute the Sis Ganj Gurudwara before saluting the president of India since 1979, the only instance of saluting twice in the Republic Day parade by a regiment of Indian army.<ref>{{cite book |title=Guru Tegh Bahadur: background and the supreme sacrifice|editor=Gurbachan Singh Talib |publisher=Punjabi University |year=1976}}</ref><ref name=encyc/>

==History==

=== Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur ===
The ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded here on 24 November 1675 on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. However, before the Guru's body could be quartered and exposed to public view, it was taken under the cover of darkness by Lakhi Shah Vanjara who then burnt his own house to cremate Guru's body; today, at this site stands [[Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.happytrips.com/destinations/guru-tegh-bahadur-martyrdom-day-2017-visit-this-gurudwara-in-old-delhi/as61778061.cms|title=Guru Tegh Bahadur Martyrdom Day 2017: visit this Gurudwara in old Delhi|last=Sengar|first=Resham|work=HappyTrips|access-date=2017-12-10}}</ref>

The severed head ("Sis" in Hindi or Punjabi) of Guru Tegh Bahadur was brought to [[Anandpur Sahib]] by [[Bhai Jiwan Singh|Bhai Jaita]], another disciple of the Guru.<ref name="encyc" /><ref name="ss" /> Another gurudwara by the same name, Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib at [[Anandpur Sahib]] in Punjab, marks this site, where, in November 1675, the head of the martyred Guru Teg Bahadur, brought by Bhai Jaita (renamed Bhai Jivan Singh according to [[Sikh rites]]), in defiance of the Mughal authorities, was cremated.

The trunk of the tree beneath which the head of the Guru was severed and the well used by him for taking bath during his prison term have been preserved in the shrine. Also, adjoining the gurudwara, stands the ''[[Police station|Kotwali]]'' (police station), where Guru was imprisoned and his disciples were tortured. Located close to it is the [[Sunehri Masjid (Chandni Chowk)]].

=== Construction of a shrine by Baghel Singh ===
[[File:Photograph of Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, ca.1913–16.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, ca.1913–16]]
On 11 March 1783, Sikh military leader [[Baghel Singh]] (1730–1802) of the [[Singh Krora Misl|Karora Misl]] marched into Delhi along with his army.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Madra |first=Amandeep Singh |title=Sicques, Tigers or Thieves: Eyewitness Accounts of the Sikhs (1606-1810) |last2=Singh |first2=Parmjit |date=27 September 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137119988 |pages=109-110}}</ref> He occupied the [[Diwan-i-Am (Red Fort)|Diwan-i-Am]], the Mughal emperor [[Shah Alam II]] made a settlement with them agreeing to allow Baghel Singh to raise gurudwaras on Sikh historical sites in the city and receive six annas in a rupee (37.5%) of all the octroi duties in the capital.<ref name=":0" /> Sis Ganj was one of the shrines built by him (with eight Sikh shrines connected to the Sikh gurus being constructed in the city by him<ref name=":0" />), within the time span of eight months, from April to November 1783.

Baghel Singh did not actually know the exact location that the guru's beheading had taken place, only knowing that the place was somewhere near a mosque in Chandni Chowk.<ref name=":0" /> A local, elderly Muslim woman belonging to the water-carrier caste got in-contact with him and revealed that her father had actually been the one who had cleaned the site of the guru's execution after the event and he was an eye-witness to the execution itself.<ref name=":0" /> She explained that the guru at the time of his beheading had been seated upon a wooden ''chauki'' (seat) that faced in the eastern direction of the compound wall of the mosque.<ref name=":0" /> A part of this very wall was then removed and a shrine was then constructed in the compound.<ref name=":0" />

=== Modern period ===
[[File:Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903 (3).png|thumb|Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by [[Gertrude Bell]], January 1903]]
However, due to volatile political climate in the coming century, the site alternated between being a mosque and a gurudwara. It became a site of dispute between two communities, and litigation followed. Eventually, after prolonged ligation the Privy Council during [[British Raj]] ruled in the favour of the Sikh litigants and the present structure was added in 1930; gold gild of the domes was added in the coming years. The Mughal-era ''Kotwali'' was handed over to the [[Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee]] around 1971.<ref name="encyc">{{cite book |title=The encyclopedia of Sikhism|author=H. S Singha|publisher=Hemkunt Press |year=2000|isbn=81-7010-301-0 |page=187 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&dq=Gurudwara+Shish+Ganj&pg=PA187 }}</ref><ref name="ss">{{cite book |title=Sikh Studies, Book 7|author=H.S. Singha|publisher=Hemkunt Press|year=2005|isbn=81-7010-245-6 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nRodBu9seiIC&dq=Gurudwara+Shish+Ganj&pg=PA43 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Guru Tegh Bahadur: testimony of conscience|author=Mohindar Pal Kohli|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] |year=1992|isbn=81-7201-234-9 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3H1XAEqCOqAC&dq=Gurudwara+Shish+Ganj&pg=PA36 }}</ref>

==Photo gallery==
<gallery>
File:Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903 (4).png|Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903
File:Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903 (1).png|Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903
File:Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903 (2).png|Photograph of a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903
File:Photograph of Sikh soldiers at a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903.png|Photograph of Sikh soldiers at a ceremony at Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, by Gertrude Bell, January 1903
File:India - Delhi Sikh Temple - 5758.jpg|View of the Prayer hall from above
File:Gurdwara sis ganj.jpg|Gurdwara Sri Guru Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk
File:Sheesh Ganj Gurudwara.jpg|Sri Guru Sheesh Ganj Sahib Gurudwara
File:Interior-view-Gurudwara-Sis-Ganj-Sahib-Night-View.jpg|View of the front of the [[Darbar Sahib Hall|Darbar Sahib]] or Prayer Hall showing the [[Palki]] housing the Guru Granth Sahibji
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Golden temple]]
* [[Sikhism]]
* [[Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib}}
* [http://www.india9.com/i9show/Gurdwara-Shish-Ganj-25427.htm Gurudwara Sis Ganj]
* [http://wikimapia.org/365520/Sis-Ganj-Gurudwara-Chandni-Chowk Gurudwara Sis Ganj] at [[wikimapia]]
{{Sikhism}}
{{Delhi landmarks}}
{{coord|28.6558|N|77.2325|E|source:kolossus-ukwiki|display=title}}

[[Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1930]]
[[Category:Gurdwaras in Delhi]]
[[Category:1783 establishments in British India]]

Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib - Revision history

EveMagill33 at 11:06, 7 January 2026