Anandpur was evacuated in December 1704 under an oath of safe conduct sworn on the Qur'an and the cow. The oath was broken as soon as the party was in the open.
At the Sarsa, a small river in spate in winter rain, the party was attacked while crossing at night. It was scattered.
The family was separated there. Guru Gobind Singh Ji went on with his two elder sons toward Chamkaur. Mata Gujri Ji and the two younger boys went another way and were betrayed at Sirhind. Mata Sundari Ji and Mata Sahib Kaur Ji were taken to Delhi by Bhai Mani Singh Ji.
A quantity of manuscripts was lost in the river at the crossing. What was in them is not known and the loss is one of the reasons the Anandpur period's literary output cannot be assessed.
Everything that happened in the following fortnight, Chamkaur, Sirhind, Machhiwara, follows from one night at a swollen rivulet.
Gurdwara Parivar Vichhora, the separation of the family, stands at the crossing.
The Sarsa is a small seasonal stream that runs into the Sutlej near Ropar. In December 1704 it was in flood when the party evacuating Anandpur reached it.
The oath that brought the party out of Anandpur had been sworn on the Qur'an and on the cow, so that neither side to it could later claim it had not been given. That is what the Zafarnama holds Aurangzeb to a year afterward.
A great deal was lost in the water, including manuscripts. A stream that is dry most of the year determined the shape of everything that followed that week.