Ans. The forty emancipated ones were those brave Sikh warriors who attained to martyrdom at Mukatsar (earlier known as Dhab of Khidrana) and thus restored their faith to the Guru.
After having placed all their dead bodies on a funeral pyre, Guru Gobind Singh himself lit it. As long as the pyre kept on burning the Guru stayed there and the singing of hymns (from Guru Granth Sahib) continued.
At that time the tenth Master proclaimed:
“The forty have attained liberation; they are now free from the cycle of death and birth and have achieved the exalted status (of martyrs), a status which cannot be achieved by seers, rulers and yogis”.
The names and the detail of boons that the tenth Master bestowed upon the forty emancipated ones are as follows:
1. First of all Bhai Bhag Singh was given the rank of ‘Panj Hazari’ (commander of five thousand soldiers).
2. Bhai Dilbagh Singh, whose dead body was lying nearby, was also given the rank of ‘Panj Hazari’.
3. Bhai Maan Singh was declared the Raja of Kashmir.
4. Sardar Nidhan Singh was declared as “Bis Hazari” (commander of twenty thousand troops).
5. Bhai Gharbara Singh,
6. Bhai Darbara Singh,
7. Bhai Dayal Singh,
8. Bhai Nihal Singh
9. Khushal Singh were each given the rank of “Tees Hazari” (commander of thirty thousand troops).
Bhai Gharbara Singh and Bhai Darbara Singh were the descendents of Baba Mohri, the younger son of Guru Amar Das.
10. Bhai Ganda Singh,
11. Bhai Sumer Singh,
12. Bhai Singha Singh
13. Bhai Suchet Singh were each given the title of “Chalees Hazari” (commander of forty thousand forces).
14. Bhai Chamba Singh was declared the ruler of Lahore
15. Bhai Ganga Singh, the raja of the port of Soorat.
16. Bhai Sameer Singh
17. Bhai Sultan Singh were both given the state of Farukhabad.
18. Bhai Baiya Singh, “Panjah Hazari” (commander of fifty thousand forces).
19. Bhai Massa Singh, ruler of Qandhar.
20. Bhai Sarja Singh, Panjah Hazari.
21. Bhai Sadhu Singh, ruler of Multan.
22. Bhai Gulab Singh
23. Bhai Harsa Singh, Sava Lakhi (commanders of 1,25,000 troops).
24. Bhai Sangat Singh, ruler of Delhi.
25. Bhai Hari Singh
26. Bhai Dhanna Singh, rulers of Mein Doab.
27. Bhai Kahan Singh, chief of Sirhind.
28. Bhai Kirat Singh got the gift of discriminative wisdom.
29. Bhai Lachhman Singh
30. Bhai Budha Singh, rajas of the hills.
31. Bhai Keso Singh
32. Bhai Jado Singh, rulers of Peshawar.
33. Bhai Sobha Singh, king of Kabul.
34. Bhai Joga Singh, ruler of Rome and Syria.
35. Bhai Bhanga Singh, emperor of Iran.
36. Bhai Janga Singh, ruler of Kashi.
37. Bhai Dharam Singh, ruler of Balakh and Bokhara.
38. Bhai Karam Singh, king of Mecca and Medina.
39. Bhai Kala Singh, throne of Mughal empire.
40. Bhai Mahan Singh was declared the greatest Sikh of the Guru.
This is how the tenth Master expressed his intense love for his Sikhs.
These forty Sikhs belonged to the Majha area of Punjab. When the Mughal army sieged Anand Pur and the besieged Sikhs started starving because of non- existence of rations, these Sikhs asked the tenth Master to leave the fort as demanded by the Mughal general who had promised a safe passage to those who left the fort.
Guru Gobind Singh told them that the promises of the Mughal general were false and none of us would be safe if we leave the fort. When the forty insisted on leaving, the Guru asked them to give him a letter signed by all declaring, “neither you are our Guru, nor we are your Sikhs”.
They all signed such a letter and left for their homes. On reaching home their mothers and wives castigated them for their cowardice and renunciation of their Guru. All of them immediately returned to join the Guru and to beg his pardon. However, by then the Guru had vacated the fort and as he had anticipated the Mughal general had broken his promise and chased the Guru to capture him. When the forty Sikhs heard this they placed themselves between the Mughal army and the Guru in order to give the Guru enough time to escape. A fierce battle ensued in which all forty were martyred. The only Sikh who was mortally wounded but still alive, requested Guru Gobind Singh, who had watched the battle at a distance and came when the Mughal army had retreated, to tear that letter of renunciation. The Guru immediately took the letter out of his pocket and tore it. The Sikh, Bhai Mahan Singh, breathed his last in satisfaction.