Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhnian is located close to the Lahore Railway Station, in Landa Bazaar, which was formerly
known as Naulakha Bazaar.
After Banda Singh Bahadur and his fellow Sikhs were massacred in 1716, a royal edict was issued, ordering all who professed the
religion of Nanac [Nanak] to be taken and put to death, wherever found. To give effect to this mandate, a reward was offered for
the head of every Sikh, and all Hindus were ordered to shave their hair off, under pain of death. The few Sikhs that escaped this
general execution fled into the mountains to the North East of Punjab.
After being refugees for many years, the Sikhs started extending their presence over most of the regions of Punjab, which included
their flocking to the holy city of Amritsar. When every single tactic of Abd-us-Samad Khan, administrator of Lahore, failed to
stem the surging tide of Sikhs, he was transferred to Multan in His son and successor, Zakariya Khan, took on the
administration of Lahore with much greater zeal, intending “to exterminate the whole nation of the Sikhs.” By the hundreds and
thousands, the Sikhs were brought in chains and executed daily in the streets of Lahore. The most favored site of these executions
was the Nakhas Chowk, also known as the Horse Market, where minars (towers) and pyramids of their heads were raised and the
headless bodies piled up and buried. This site eventually became known among Sikhs as the Shahid Ganj.

Zakariya Khan, the Viceroy of Lahore, died in 1745, leaving his two sons, Yahya Khan and Shah Nawaz Khan, battling against
each other for succession to his position. Shah Nawaz defeated his elder brother, Yahya, and declared himself the Viceroy. The
Afghan emperor at the time, Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani), immediately exploited the discord by assisting Shah Nawaz Khan.
Eventually, a decisive battle at Manipur (near Sirhind) led to the death of Qamaruddin Khan, the father-in-law of Yahya Khan;
however, it was his son, Moin-ul-Mulk (Mir Mannu), who became famous as a war hero after defeating the Afghan army of Ahmad
Shah Abdali on March 11, 1748. Following this victory, Mir Mannu was appointed Viceroy of Punjab by the Mughal Emperor,
Muhammad Shah, and his son, Ahmad Shah Bahadur. Soon after assuming this position, Mir Mannu stormed the
Ramgarh Fort (also called Ram Rauni) at Amritsar, where some 500 Sikhs had taken refuge. They were apprehended and sent in
shackles to Lahore, to be executed at Nakhas Chowk. However, the ongoing and sustained threat of Afghan invasion forced Mir
Mannu to make peace with the Sikhs. His Diwan, Kaura Mal, facilitated these peace talks. Immediately thereafter, Sikh troops
helped Mir Mannu in the Multan expedition of 1750 to repel Afghan (Durrani) invaders. As a token of appreciation for their
services, Sikhs were awarded the very place of execution at Nakhas Chowk, where they later constructed Gurdwara Shahid
Ganj.

In 1752, Kaura Mal succumbed to his wounds in a battle with the Afghans, and, after Lahore had surrendered to Ahmad Shah
Durrani (Abdali), the truce with the Sikhs ceased. Mir Mannu continued persecuting the Sikhs, under his new role as governor
for the Afghans. Sikh women were thrown into dungeons at the site of Shahid Ganj and were forced to grind grain by pushing
heavy millstones. Their infants and children were butchered, their severed limbs strung into garlands and hung about the mothers’
necks. Despite these atrocities, the resolute singh- nian stood resolutely in their beloved faith, giving their captors no
satisfaction. A local rhyme went like this:

Mannu saadi datri, assi Mannu de soye,
Jyon jyon Mannu vadd da, assi duun swaaye hoye.

Mir Mannu is our Sickle; we are fodder for Mannu to mow.
The more Mannu cuts us, the more our numbers grow.

When the Bhangi Sardars occupied Lahore, this gurdwara gained more prominence and reverence of the Sikhs. Subsequently, an
access path was opened through the Shahid Ganj complex, because of which Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Bhai Taru Singh and
Gurdwara Shahid Singh Singhnian became separated, each on either side of the Naulakha Bazaar road.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh profoundly revered this place of martyrs. The donations he granted for the Shahid Ganj Gurdwara included
Rs. 5 daily for Sukhe-di-deg, Rs. 25 daily for langar expenses, and Rs. 1,100 jagir in Tarn Taran. The Maharaja of Patiala also
contributed Rs. 100 per annum toward the langar. In addition to this, the Shahid Ganj Gurdwara was entitled to Chungi (duty tax)
of the grain markets of Lahore, at the following rates: one chatak (chhatank) for every donkey-load, two chataks for every bullockload, and half a seer for every camel-load. The British government confirmed the jagir of Rs. 1,800 per annum in the
name of Bhai Jiwan Singh, to be used for the expenses of Shahid Ganj Gurdwara during his lifetime, and to be reduced after his
death to Rs. 150 annually as “Perpetually Muaf” upon paying one-fourth of it as nazrana into the government treasury.
During the India-Pakistan partition, Shahid Ganj became a meeting-point where the Sikhs of Lahore would gather and then
leave together for Amritsar. The last group of pilgrims to do so assembled in the first week of September 1947.
The current building of Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhnian was reconstructed and renovated as recently as 2004. The
imposing, three-story, white structure is topped with a single, large ornate dome, and is adorned with beautiful small and
miniature domes all around. Thus. it stands out from the older buildings in the Landa Bazaar. The underground chambers of Mir
Mannu’s jail are open for pilgrims to visit.
Mir Mannu’s tomb was once located in the neighborhood of Gurdwara Shahid Ganj. At some point in history, before 1947,
local merchants occupied the final resting place of the once dreaded governor of Lahore. The name of one such firm was
displayed prominently on a large board affixed to the establishment-“Gurdit Singh & Co, General Merchants, and Rum
Agents
However, no trace of Mir Mannu’s tomb can now be found there, owing to new construction works in the area.