Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi marks the martyrdom site of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, who died while bravely resisting the forced religious conversions ordered by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. On 24 November 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was publicly beheaded near this very spot.
Before the authorities could mutilate Guru Ji’s body by quartering it and hang his severed head (“Sis” in Punjabi and Hindi)—as a public warning, Bhai Jaita secretly carried the sacred head from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib. Upon reaching Anandpur Sahib, he was honored with the name Bhai Jiwan Singh. A separate shrine, also named Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib, stands in Anandpur Sahib to commemorate this sacred act of devotion and bravery.

At same time, a devoted Sikh, Lakhi Shah Banjara, along with his son Bhai Nagaiya, retrieved the Guru’s body under the cover of a fierce dust storm. To perform the cremation in secret, he set his house ablaze. Today, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib stands at that cremation site.

The current Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib is built at the exact location where the Guru was martyred. Preserved within the complex are sacred relics including the trunk of the tree under which Guru Ji was executed and the well he used for bathing during his imprisonment. Just beside the Gurudwara stands the old Mughal-era Kotwali (police station), where Guru Ji was held captive and his companions were tortured. The nearby Sunehri Masjid in Chandni Chowk also adds historical context to the area.

Much later, on 11 March 1783, Sikh general Baghel Singh entered Delhi with his forces and captured the Diwan-i-Aam. After negotiations, the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II agreed to allow the construction of Sikh shrines at significant historical locations and allotted Baghel Singh a portion of Delhi’s octroi revenue to fund the work. Within eight months—from April to November 1783—Baghel Singh’s administration established Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib on this sacred ground.

However, due to political instability in the following century, the site became a point of contention between different communities. It alternated between being used as a mosque and as a Gurudwara, leading to long-standing legal disputes. Ultimately, the Privy Council in British India ruled in favor of the Sikh community, and the present-day structure was constructed in 1930. Gold gilding was later added to the domes, enhancing its grandeur. In the early 1970s, the historic Kotwali adjacent to the shrine was handed over to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.