Artist: Mani Dhaliwal
Title: Battle of Kartarpur
Medium: Oil on Panel
Commissioner: Canada
At the age of 14 Guru Tegh Bahadur adorned weapons and mounted a war horse to ride out and join his brothers and father, who were defending the city of Kirtarpur in Doaba against Mughal forces. When joining his brothers for the first time Guru Tegh Bahadur’s mother, Mata Nanaki, stood on the rooftop yelling at the young Guru to come back. Instead, she heard a fierce reply, “I am one who bears weapons. Abandoning the battlefield is not part of my Dharam”. In his first battle in 1635 Guru Tegh Bahadur rode out with his elder brother Suraj Mal and provided support to the troops with bow and arrow and matchlock rifle.