On October 28, 1619, Guru Hargobind affected the release of 101 kings and chiefs of small States who had been detained in Gwalior Fort Prison. Among these 101 kings (in prison), 49 kings had been given short jail terms but 52 kings had been detained there to serve long terms. When Jahangir, the Mogul emperor, ordered the release of Guru Hargobind, the latter impressed upon the emperor to release all the royal prisoners. Jahangir agreed to release 49 kings who had been serving short term prisons. Besides this, the emperor also agreed to release all those long term prisoners, who could hold the border of Guru Sahib’s cloak at the time of release of Guru Sahib. At this Guru Sahib got stitched a cloak with 52 stripes. Thus Guru Sahib could get all the 101 (including 52 long term prisoner) kings out of the jail. These kings included the rulers and princes of Sirmaur (Bilaspur), Handur and some other states etc.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)