The cloak of fifty-two tassels
Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji was a brave and loving Guru. The Emperor, Jahangir, did not like how strong the Sikhs were growing, so he had Guru Ji arrested and sent to Gwalior Fort, a grim stone prison on a hill.
Inside the fort were many rajas, kings of small kingdoms, locked away in damp rooms with little food. They had lost all hope. Then Guru Ji arrived. Every morning before dawn He meditated on the Creator, and at daybreak He sat with everyone in sangat. Slowly, hope came back into the fort. Even the jailer, Daroga Hari Das, became Guru Ji's Sikh, and brought Him food from his own home.
Back home, the Sikhs missed their Guru terribly, but they did not give up. Baba Budha Ji led them around Sri Harmandir Sahib morning and night, reciting Gurbani. In towns and villages everywhere, Sikhs marched through the night with flaming torches, so that everyone would know their Guru was a prisoner. Some walked all the way to Gwalior and bowed before the fort walls.
At last, the Emperor ordered that Guru Ji be set free. But when the rajas heard, they begged Guru Ji to save them too. So Guru Ji sent a message: He would not leave the fort unless they were freed with Him.
The Emperor agreed to free the prisoners with shorter sentences. But for the 52 rajas held for life, he set a condition: only as many as can hold on to the Guru's robe may walk free.
So Guru Ji had a special cloak stitched, with fifty-two tassels. On the day He left, each raja took hold of one tassel, and Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji walked out through the gates of Gwalior Fort with all fifty-two kings walking free beside Him.
From that day the Sikhs have called Him Bandi Chhor, the one who frees the captives. Hari Das lit up his whole house with lamps. And when Guru Ji reached Amritsar, the whole city was lit with oil lamps to welcome Him home.