page_title: Sirhind-Fategarh
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sirhind-Fategarh / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Entrance to the Ramgarh Fort near Sirhind
context_page_description: Sirhind-Fatehgarh is a city and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab.
context_section_description: Varahamihira (505 – 587) in his Sanskrit treatise, Brihat Samhita, mentions the city as 'Satudar Desh', later it was inhabited by a tribe of 'Sairindhas Aryans, leading to its present name.
  According to Huan Tsang, the Chinese traveller who visited India during the seventh century, Sirhind was the capital of the district of Shitotulo, or Shatadru (the present day River Sutlej).
  In 12th century, Sirhind came under the rule of the Hindu Chauhan Rajputs of Delhi. During the rule of Prithvi Raj Chauhan (1168–1192), the Hindu Rajput ruler of Delhi, it became his military outpost.
  It further rose in glory during the Mughal Empire, when it became its provincial capital, controlling the Lahore-Delhi Highway, the Grand Trunk Road. During the Mughal era, Sirhind was the name for Malwa, since it was the area's capital city. Sirhind was the headquarters of the Mughal administration in Eastern Punjab. Many European travellers describe its splendours, and it also developed into a center of cultural activity.
  Sirhind was known for the dozens of saints, scholars, poets, historians, calligraphers and scribes who lived there. This city is mostly famous to Muslims for Great saint Imām-e-Rabbānī Shaykh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī (R.) (1564–1624). He was an Indian Islamic scholar of Arab origin, a Hanafi jurist, and a prominent member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. A large number of buildings survive from this period, including the fort named 'Aam Khas Bagh'; it is said that in its heyday, the city had 360 mosques, gardens, tombs, caravansarais and wells.
  Younger sons of tenth Sikh guru Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji namely Baba Zorawar Singh ji and  Baba Fateh Singh ji were bricked alive at the age of 9 and 7 years respectively by then governor Wazir Khan. Gurudwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib is established at that place to commemorate them. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in 1710 destroyed the city of Sirhind completely and killed Wazir Khan the governor. The Sikhs occupied Sirhind and made  Bhai Baj Singh Ji the governor.
caption: Entrance to the Ramgarh Fort near Sirhind
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