In December 1764 Ahmad Shah Abdali's army came again to Amritsar. The main Sikh force was away. Baba Gurbaksh Singh of Leel, a Nihang, remained at the Harmandir with about thirty Singhs.
They did not withdraw. They fought the advance and all were killed at the parikrama.
The Afghan chronicler Qazi Nur Muhammad, who was with Abdali's army and wrote the Jangnamah, recorded the action. His account is hostile to the Sikhs throughout and he nonetheless describes their conduct in terms that are close to admiring, which makes it one of the few external descriptions of the eighteenth-century Khalsa written by an eyewitness on the other side.
Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Baba Gurbaksh Singh stands at the spot inside the Golden Temple complex.
Thirty men against an army, recorded by the enemy's own chronicler, is as close to independent verification as anything in this period gets.
Qazi Nur Muhammad's account is hostile throughout, and it is also the source that records their discipline, their conduct toward women, and this action. Hostile testimony is the strongest kind there is.
The main Sikh force had crossed the Sutlej for the winter, which is what the Dal Khalsa did each year. The thirty were what remained at Amritsar.
The shrine inside the complex marks the spot. Most visitors pass it without knowing what it is.