April

Out of all my artworks, the portrait of 'Guru Gobind Singh Ji' is the most important drawing I have done, as prior to this drawing I had not done any Sikhi religious artwork. I decided to do this portrait of 'Guru Gobind Singh Ji' in Feb. 2014 as a gift for my local gurdwara in Leyton (London) from myself and my mum ‘Shkinder Kaur’.

It was for thanks and good luck for the years ahead as I was starting a new career as a freelance artist.

After finishing this portrait of 'Guru Gobind Singh Ji', I had an overwhelming urge to do more Sikhi artwork. It was almost like a dam had burst and my imagination was running wild with ideas. So over the following year, with the advice of my mum, I completed another 20 Sikhi art pieces, and a year later in Feb 2015, I decided to do another portrait of 'Guru Gobind Singh Ji'.

But this time with him holding his eldest son 'Baba Ajit Singh' as a baby. This depiction of Guru Gobind Singh Ji is at about the age of 22, when he had his first son 'Baba Ajit Singh', who is supposed to be about 3-4 months old in this drawing.

As Sikhs know, Guru Gobind Singh Ji had 4 sons, who were all martyred at a young age. So this drawing was quite emotional for me as it is a father and son piece and I was trying to capture the love between parent and child. It was meant to be a more informal and intimate portrayal of a father and son bonding.

All four of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's sons were martyred. Two of his sons, the eldest Baba Ajit Singh Ji and second eldest Jujhar Singh Ji were martyred while fighting at the battle of Chamkaur in 1704. They were just 18 and 14years old respectively.

A few months later in 1705 Guru Gobind Singh's youngest sons Sahibzade 'Zarowar Singh' aged 9, and 'Fateh Singh' aged 7 were executed by being bricked up alive by the Moghul rulers. Guru Gobind Singh Ji himself died a few years later in 1708 at the age of 41.

So, although this drawing is supposed to be of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and his eldest son Baba Ajit Singh Ji as a baby, it also symbolises his relationship with all of his sons.