Gurudwara Sri Data Bandi Chod Sahib stands on the hilltop of Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh. After Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji began raising a disciplined force of saint-soldiers and building the Lohgarh Fort at Amritsar, Emperor Jahangir grew wary of his rising influence and summoned him to Delhi. When Jahangir later fell ill, his minister Chandu bribed the royal physicians to recommend that a holy man pray for him at Gwalior Fort — and to name Guru Sahib as that holy man.

Jahangir asked Guru Sahib to stay and pray at the fort, and Guru Sahib agreed, worshipping there for two years and three months at what is now called Thada Sahib. During this time he met 52 Rajput rulers held captive in the fort, chained to separate pillars, and consoled them daily, promising that whenever he left, he would take them all with him.

When Jahangir’s health worsened again, and Sain Mian Mir Ji warned that holding a holy man captive endangered the empire, Jahangir agreed to release Guru Sahib — but Guru Sahib refused to leave unless all 52 rulers were freed too. Certain it would be impossible, Jahangir decreed that any prisoner who could hold onto Guru Sahib’s cloak could leave with him. The next morning, all 52 rulers were found holding onto the hem of his chola, each set free — and from that day, Guru Sahib became known as Data Bandi Chod, the Deliverer of the Imprisoned.