Maagh month and Guru Gobind Singh Ji and 40 sikhs

Magh is a eleventh month in the Nanakshahi calender and governs the activities of the Sikhs during the Winter period and dictates events within Sikhism. This month coincides with January - February of the Western Calendar and is 30 days long. The month of Marg starts on the 13 of January and ends on the 11 of February.

ਮਾਘਿ ਮਜਨੁ ਸੰਗਿ ਸਾਧੂਆ ਧੂੜੀ ਕਰਿ ਇਸਨਾਨੁ ॥ ਹਰਿ ਕਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਇ ਸੁਣਿ ਸਭਨਾ ਨੋ ਕਰਿ ਦਾਨੁ ॥ ਜਨਮ ਕਰਮ ਮਲੁ ਉਤਰੈ ਮਨ ਤੇ ਜਾਇ ਗੁਮਾਨੁ ॥ ਕਾਮਿ ਕਰੋਧਿ ਨ ਮੋਹੀਐ ਬਿਨਸੈ ਲੋਭੁ ਸੁਆਨੁ ॥ ਸਚੈ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਚਲਦਿਆ ਉਸਤਤਿ ਕਰੇ ਜਹਾਨੁ ॥ ਅਠਸਠਿ ਤੀਰਥ ਸਗਲ ਪੁੰਨ ਜੀਅ ਦਇਆ ਪਰਵਾਨੁ ॥ ਜਿਸ ਨੋ ਦੇਵੈ ਦਇਆ ਕਰਿ ਸੋਈ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਸੁਜਾਨੁ ॥ ਜਿਨਾ ਮਿਲਿਆ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਆਪਣਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਤਿਨ ਕੁਰਬਾਨੁ ॥ ਮਾਘਿ ਸੁਚੇ ਸੇ ਕਾਂਢੀਅਹਿ ਜਿਨ ਪੂਰਾ ਗੁਰੁ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨੁ ॥12॥

maagh majan sa(n)g saadhhooaa dhhoorree kar eisanaan ॥ har kaa naam dhhiaae sun sabhanaa no kar dhaan ॥ janam karam mal outharai man thae jaae gumaan ॥ kaam karodhh n moheeai binasai lobh suaan ॥ sachai maarag chaladhiaa ousathath karae jehaan ॥ at(h)asat(h) theerathh sagal pu(n)n jeea dhaeiaa paravaan ॥ jis no dhaevai dhaeiaa kar soee purakh sujaan ॥ jinaa miliaa prabh aapanaa naanak thin kurabaan ॥ maagh suchae sae kaa(n)dteeahi jin pooraa gur miharavaan ॥12॥

In the month of Maagh, let your cleansing bath be the dust of the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy. Meditate and listen to the Name of the Lord, and give it to everyone. In this way, the filth of lifetimes of karma shall be removed, and egotistical pride shall vanish from your mind. Sexual desire and anger shall not seduce you, and the dog of greed shall depart. Those who walk on the Path of Truth shall be praised throughout the world. Be kind to all beings-this is more meritorious than bathing at the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage and the giving of charity. That person, upon whom the Lord bestows His Mercy, is a wise person. Nanak is a sacrifice to those who have merged with God. In Maagh, they alone are known as true, unto whom the Perfect Guru is Merciful. ((12))

CHALI MUKTE, lit. forty (chali) liberated ones (mukte), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the dhab or lake of Khidrana, also called Isharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mughal force in chase of Guru Gobind Singh are remembered in Sikh history and daily in the Sikh ardas or supplicatory prayer offered individually or at gatherings at the end of all religious services. Guru Gobind Singh, who had watched the battle from a nearby mound praised the martyrs' valour and blessed them as Chali Mukte, the Forty Immortals. After them Khidrana became Muktsar - the Pool of Liberation. Etymologically, mukta from Sanskrit mukt means 'liberated, delivered, emancipated,' especially from the cycle of birth and death. Mukti (liberation, emancipation) in Sikhism is the highest spiritual goal of human existence, and mukt or mukta is the one who has achieved this state of final beatitude. Mukta, also means a pearl, and the word would thus signify a title or epithet of distinction. It was probably in this sense that the five Sikhs, who on 30 March 1699 received the vows of the Khalsa immediately after the first five Panj Piare (q.v.), were blessed with the title mukta, plural mukte.
The term Chali Mukte is also used sometimes for the martyrs whom a huge arrny, in pursuit since the evacuation of Anandpur by Guru Gobind Singh during the night 5-6 December, caught up with and encircled at Chamkaur on 7 December, and who engaged the enemy in small sorties throughout the day with the result that the Guru with three other survivors was able to escape during the following night. While there is no unanimity over the names of the martyrs of Muktsar and Chamkaur Sahib, the five Muktas who comprised the first batch of Sikhs to receive amrit at the hands of the Panj Piare are given in Rahitnama by Bhai Daya Singh as Ram Singh, Fateh Singh, Deva Singh, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh. No other details of these five are available except that an old manuscript of Bhai Prahlad Singh's Rahitnama is said to contain a note associating Ram Singh and Deva Singh with the village of Bughiana, Tahil Singh and Isar Singh with Dall-Van and Fateh Singh with Kurdpur Mangat. According to Bhai Chaupa Singh, his Rahitnama or code of conduct was drafted by muktas. The text is said to have received Guru Gobind Singh's approval on 7 Jeth 1757 Bk / 5 May 1700. It appears that the title of mukta was bestowed subsequently also on persons other than the original five. The number of muktas is recorded variously in old Sikh texts. For instance, Kesar Singh Chhibbar, Bansavallnama Dasan Patshahlan Ka, mentions 14, and Kuir Singh, gurbilas Patshahi X, 25.
But muktas universally celebrated in the Sikh tradition are the forty martyrs of Muktsar who earned this title by sacrificing their lives for the Guru and who redeemed their past apostasy of having disowned the Guru and deserted him driven to desperation by the prolonged siege of Anandpur by the hill chiefs and Mughal forces by having their disclaimer torn by the Guru. They were led by Mai Bhago.