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| Related Article: Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan's Letter To Emperor Aurangzeb http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/discussion.nsf/3d8d6eacce83bad8872564280070c2b3/6D5E23E7F8EF46D087256741006D2674?OpenDocument *************************************************** The Spokesman Chandigarh The following is a letter to the editor published in the magazine. **************************************************** Why Are You Erasing The Memory Of Sahibzadas' Martyrdom On March 14, 1998, I took my grandchildren to Fatehgarh Sahib. A glimpse of the Gurdwara gave me immense pleasure. When we went to see the "Shahidi wall", it was not there. On the door was hanging a plate which read as follows: The wall has been removed and in its place Guru Granth Sahib has been installed. I felt very much pained. The martyr's wall had been removed. This wall remained there from 1704 to 1997. In November 1997, Shri L.K. Advani had broken down on seeing the wall and had remarked that Wazir Khan had committed atrocities on innocent children. My ten year old grandson was with me. He asked, 'Where is the wall in which the Sahibzadas were bricked alive?' Not only my grandson but countless grandsons and granddaughters will ask this question. How will the coming generation know that the original monument relating to the Sahibzadas martyrdom was destroyed not by our enemies but by our own people. In Delhi, the hall where Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred, has not been touched. In Gurdwara Rakabganj, Gurdwara Bala Sahib, Gurdwara Mata Sundari ji - all burial places are intact, though the halls have been extended. There are hundreds of such examples. The why was it done at Fatehgarh Sahib? Will anybody ask Jathedar Tohra and let me and my grandson have the answer? Narinder Kaur New Delhi *************** A Note: The following may be of interest to some. This is not directly related to Sikhism. It shows how others value their historic inheritance. In 1960s when the Aswan High Dam was built, Lake Nasser flooded many areas along the banks of river Nile thus threatening many archeological sites. In 1963, under the auspices of the Egyptian government and UNESCO a team of engineers commenced work on relocating the temple to a safer place. Huge chunks were cut and then reassembled in exactly the original way. Thus, the temples and the statute of Abu Simbel was saved from being inundated with the waters of Lake Nasser. ********** The Amber Room was designed during the time of Catherine the Great by her architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. It was considered to be the pride of the Tsars. The walls of the Amber Room were engraved with amber panels given to Peter the Great by the King of Prussia. These panels later disappeared from Kaliningrad during World War II. Many Russians believe that the German army had stolen the panels together with many other artifacts. For decades both the Russian and the German authorities have been trying to search for these stolen pieces of art. In 1997, the German police in Potsdam recovered a painting supposed to be from the Amber Room. This has led to many official as well as amateur treasure hunts on land as well as the Baltic Sea. Some believe that the ship transfering the panels to Germany sank off the coast of Kaliningrad. ************ |
