(Aad Granth Sahib - Page 1399)

17th January 1872, the arrested Sikhs were to face death by being blown to bits with cannons as per the order of the deputy commissioner, Cowon and his wife. These cannons, however, were unfortunately provided by the so called 'sikh-maharajas' of Nabha, Sangroor and Patiala to shoot the Sikhs. The execution was done without a trial and even the Names of The Sikhs were not accounted for! This is just another proof of the cruelty possessed by the englishmen who were trying to enslave The Nation of India.

The First Sikhs to face death were none other than Sardar Hira Singh and Sardar Lehna Singh, the leaders of The Army. The cannon was blown unsuccessfully 3 times and the Sikhs were smilingly facing the situation. For at the time it was a norm that if a cannon does not shoot or the rope used for execution breaks, the suspect would be released. But the executioners were rather stubborn and to this incident Sardar Hira Singh laughingly announced that he had once again proved the britishers to be liars who do not follow the rules. Then he ordered the executioner to fire the cannon as it was his Guru's Hukam(Order) and that the cannon would be successfully fired.

-*At this very scene, it should also be noted that Giani Gian Singh was also present and recorded the incident in the volume of Panth Parkash, which briefly reads as follow:

It must also be noted that The Sikhs were NOT BOUND TO CANNONS as mentioned by some singh sabha and english writers in order to deny their Bravery and Sacrifice*-

The Sikhs, with their fates ensured, were not at all shaken. They were infact fighting one another to be the next person at whom the next shot would be fired! They all saw the same thing happening infront of them: The Sikh whose earthly body was destroyed was attending a Diwan in Presence of All 12 Patshahis, from Sri Satguru Nanak Dev Ji to Sri Satguru Ram Singh Ji.

Seven cannons were fired at seven Sikhs at a time. With each firing, the Sikhs would Shout the Jaikara:

Then it was time for Bishan Singh, a twelve year old Singh, to become a Shaheed. Cowon's wife however, felt compassion towards The Sikh and asked for his release. Cowon however, was not going to let Bishan Singh escape without any assurance that he would not stop creating more troubles for the britishers in the future. So The Singh was given a choice that if he declares he wasn't a Sikh of Satguru Ram Singh Ji, he would be released.

On hearing this, Bishan Singh grabbed Cowon's beard and pulled it with all The Singh's might, not letting go until his body was cut into pieces by the englishman's slave. Such was The Guru's Sikh who would rather be cut into pieces than to disown The Akal Purakh.

18th January 1872: The remaining Sikhs were to be executed. The turn came for a Kuka, Waryam Singh, to be shot. However, Waryam Singh was related to the 'maharaja' of Patiala, and the executioner thought he may be able to change a Kuka's mind, making him loyal to englishmen!

Waryam Singh was rather short, so the executioner tried to use this as an excuse claiming that The Sikh was too short to be a target for the cannon.

This was no excuse for Waryam Singh, who like the other Sikhs, was not afraid of dying but rather afraid of not becoming a Shaheed! So The Sikh collected pebbles and rocks lying nearby and after stacking them infront of the cannon, stood on top of it asking the executioner if he was tall enough to be the target of the cannon or not! The executioner, having no choice, was forced to fire the cannon, and the body of Waryam Singh was destroyed.

From the beginning to the end, the number of Shaheeds at Malerkotla are as follow:

Blown by Cannons on 17th of January: 49 Sikhs.

Blown by Cannons on 18th of January: 16 Sikhs.

Executed by Sword: 1 Sikh.

Shaheeds at Malerkotla: 7 Sikhs.

Injured at Malerkotla and later passed-away: 1 Sikh.

Shaheeds at Malaud: 2 Sikhs.

Injured and arrested, later facing death: 4 Sikhs.

Add the numbers and one would end up with the sum of 80. As told by Sri Satguru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj.

SatGuruji's Hukam was once again fullfilled.