Historical Gurdwaras in Foreign Lands

PAKISTAN

Sialkot

Gurdwara Babe di Ber

The District town of Sialkot was visited atleast twice by Guru Nanak Dev. The first time he stayed out side the town under a ber tree. He had a discourse with a Sufi saint Hamza Ghaus, who had shut himself in a domed room and was praying for the destruction of the town because one of its residents had gone back on his word to dedicate his son to the saint. Guru Nanak Dev argued him out of his resolve telling him how sinful it would be to punish the entire population for the fault of a single citizen. To illustrate his meaning, Guru Nanak Dev gave two pice to Bhai Mardana and told him to go inside the town and purchase one pice worth of truth and another pice worth of falsehood. Mardana roamed about the streets with his demand which nobody could meet because nobody would understand the strange requirement. At last one Bhai Mula gave Mardana two slips bearing respectively two terse statements, 'Life is false' and 'Death is true'. When Mardana brought back his 'purchase', the Guru explained to Hamza Ghaus, "Look, as there is an unwise one whose falsehood has angered you, so there is this wise one whose understanding of truthy and falsehood should please your saintly heart." Hamza Ghaus understood and gave up his harsh resolve. Guru Nanak then met Bhai Mula, who became his follower and accompanied him during his travels in Kashmir. On another occasion, Guru Nanak Dev again called on Bhai Mula, whose wife hid him inside the house lest the Guru should again take him away. She told the Guru that her husband had gone out of town. The Guru left after reciting a couplet which meant : "Friendship of shopkeepers is false; who knows, O Mula, where Death may befall."

Two historical shrines exist at Sialkot.

Gurdwara Babe di Ber - established by Sardar Natha Singh of Shahid Misl, who donated his entire life to it, is situated near the ber tree under which the Guru had stayed. It is outside the town across the Aik stream, along the sialkot-Pasrur road. The building was reconstructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It has a two-storey octagonal santum toped by a fluted dome and an all round verandah on the ground floor. It was with the occupation of this Gurdwara by the local Sikh Sangat on 5th October 1920 that the Gurdwara Reform Movement got momentum.

Gurdwara Baoli Sahib - The other shrine at Sialkot is Gurdwara Baoli Sahib in the western outskirts of the town near the Sialkot-Daska road. It represents the site where Guru Nanak Dev stayed during his second visit.