On the orders of Mr Cowen, 49 Namdharis (without any summary trial or legality) were blown by cannons on 17 January 1872. Seven cannons boomed seven times – 49 Sikhs were torn to shreds for the freedom of their motherland. One Namdhari boy (aged 12) named Bishan Singh was beheaded (martyred) by sword on the same day at Malerkotla .
Many modern historians write that the Kukas were first tied to the cannons and then blown off which is wrong completely.Because the writer of Panth Prakash Giani Gian Singh ji was an eye witness to this gory incident, he writes in the Panth Prakash that he had read about the earlier martyrdom s of the Kukas but this he has seen for himself and has written about the events in the Panth Prakash.