“Where there is light of knowledge, ignorance is dispelled.” (Guru Granth Sahib p.791)

Each year, Sikhs are reminded of their great past by festivals like Bandi Chhor Divas. Yet the darkness of ignorance continues to prevail.
Bandi Chhor Divas has a very different meaning in the Sikh tradition than the Indian Hindu festival of Divali. The day should remind the Sikhs of Guru Hargobind Ji’s miri objective of “liberation” as a human goal. Sikh freedom struggle of the 18th Century, the great sacrifices made by Sikh freedom fighters including the shaheedi (martyrdom) of Bhai Mani Singh Ji, to keep the flame of freedom from oppression alight in the hearts of the people of Panjab, are associated with this day.
Yet, sadly, the “light of knowledge” has not dispelled the darkness of myths in the minds of many Sikhs. For the Sikhs, Bandi Chhor Divas does not mark the return of some mythological son of King Dasrath, returning from exile having killed the demon King Ravan and freeing his wife Sita from his clutches (only to send the lady back to banobaas (exile) again!). Sikh preachers, steeped in Brahmanic lore and more concerned with generous chrravas (donations) on the day, continue to tell myths associated with the misty past rather than recite Sikh history made in the full glare of the New Age.
Bandi Chhor Divas tells the story of the Sikh struggle for freedom. The new egalitarian Sikh ideology was seen as a threat by both, Islam and Hinduism for different reasons. Following the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Guru Hargobind Ji was imprisoned at the famous fort of Gwalior by Emperor Jahangir but released following pleas from some influential people in October, 1619. Jahangir even agreed to Guru Ji’s pre-condition that fifty two rajahs in captivity at Gwalior should also be freed at the same time. Thenceforth the Guru became known popularly as the “Bandi Chhor” (The Liberator). When He arrived at Darbar Sahib lamps were lit.
Thenceforth, the Sikh struggle for freedom, which intensified in the 18th Century, came to be centred around this day. Another important Sikh event associated with Bandi Chhor Divas is the martyrdom in 1734 of the elderly Sikh scholar and strategist Bhai Mani Singh, the Granthi of Harmandar Sahib. He had refused to pay a special tax on a religious meeting of the Khalsa on the Divali day. Bhai Mani Singh’s and other Sikh martyrdoms gave further momentum to the Khalsa struggle for freedom and eventually success in establishing the Khalsa rule north of Delhi.