Historical Gurdwaras in India

State of RAJASTHAN

Nohar

1) Gurdwara Kabutar Sahib - Nohar is a tahsil in Ganganagar district and a railway station on the Hanumangarh-Sadulgarh (metre gauge) section of Northern Railway. It is also connected by road with Sirsa in Haryana, 80 kilometres to the north. Leaving Sirsa during November 1706, Guru Gobind Singh arrived at Nohar and camped near Chhip Talai southeast of the town. There were a lot of pigeons near a temple where people fed them with grain as a measure of charity. One of the Guru's Sikhs trampled a pigeon accidentally which led to an angry protest from the local inhabitants who practiced non-violence as a religious principle. The Guru, however, pacified them by having the bird treated by a barber-cum-surgeon. A legend grew that the Guru had revived the dead pigeon with his spiritual power. The barber family constructed a memorial platform which became an object of worship. A Gurdwara was established at this site in 1908 with the efforts of a Sikh tahsildar, Lal Singh, and a Sikh settler of Dhani Raiyan. With the arrival of more Sikh families after the partition, a new building was constructed. Sant Fateh Singh, during a visit to the Gurdwara in 1958, named it Kabutar Sahib. Baba Pritam Singh Sevawale of Sirsa acquired some space and constructed the present building complex including a spacious square hall with the square domed sanctum in the middle.


Sahwa

1) Suhava Sahib - Sahwa village (popular among the Sikhs as Suhava Sahib) in Churu district lies almost midway along Bhadra-Taranagar metalled road. Guru Gobind Singh stayed here for several days near a deep pond to the north of the village and, according to local tradition, celebrated the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev here. A local devotee, Daulat Ram, constructed a memorials platform here. He and after him, his descendants continued to maintain it until 1873 when a Punjabi Namdhari Sikh, Ram Singh, settled here permanently. He established a Gurdwara here to which Maharaja Rajinder Singh of Patiala made a grant of 150 maunds (about six tons) of wheat per year which was converted into an annual cash grant of Rs. 325 soon after. With this money Bhai Ram Singh started building the present building on the Baisakhi day in 1885. He and after him, his nephew and the latter's descendants continued as mahants of the Gurdwara until Baba Baghel Singh Sevawale of Sirsa acquired it from Mahant Harnam Singh in 1966 for further development, and separated it from the residential part of the former mahant's house. He also acquired about two acres of land half furlong north of the Gurdwara. This plot of land has since been enclosed and developed into a serai with Guru ka Langar. Further development continues under his successor Baba Pritam Singh.


Kolayat

1) Gurdwara Sahib Kolayat - Kolayat, an ancient town in Bikaner district, is linked to the district town, 52 kilometres away to the northeast of it, by rail and road. It is known for an Hindu temple dedicated to Kapil Muni. Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh visited Kolayat. It was here that Bhai Daya Singh and Dharam Singh rejoined Guru Gobind Singh after delivering the Guru's admonitory letter, Zafarnama to Emperor Aurangzeb at Ahmadnagar. There being no Sikh population at Kolayat, no memorial or shrine was set up in honour of the Guru's visit until 1968, when some Sikh colonizers lately settled in the area constructed Gurdwara Sahib Kolayat in a single room near the bank of an artificial lake northeast of the town. It is served by a Sikh farmer whose farmhouse-cum-residence is close by Sikhs from nearby villages and farmhouses assemble here to celebrate the birth anniversaries of Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh.


Narayana

1) Dadu Dwara - Narayana, a large village in Jaipur district, lies along the Phulera-Ajmer section of Western Railway, 71 kilometres from Ajmer and 65 kilometres from Jaipur via Phulera. A link road connects it to the Delhi-Jodhpur highway at Dudu. At Narayana is located the well-known centre of Dadupanthis, Dadu Dwara, founded by the Kabirpanthi saini Dadu, a contemporary of Guru Arjan Dev. Guru Gobind Singh visited Dadu Dwara during his travels through Rajasthan in 1706-07. It is said that on arrival the Guru saluted the samadhi of Dadu by raising his arrow to it. The Sikhs accompanying him at once objected, reminding the Guru that he had himself prohibited the idolatrous practice of bowing before such shrines and memorials. The Guru was pleased at the Sikh's vigilance to test which alone, he explained he had deliberately committed the faux pas; and he readily paid the fine imposed on him by his followers as a punishment for committing what was a breach of the religious code.

Guru Gobind Singh also held a discourse with Jait Ram, the Dadupanthi head priest during which he explained that while compassion is a desirable virtue, the practice of non-violence as a religious creed even against tyranny and injustice is sheer cowardice and no virtue. Memorial to the Guru's visit at Dadu Dwara is in the form of a marble-topped platform around a group of three banyan trees in the outer compound. It is maintained by the management of Dadu Dwara.


Pushkar

1) Gurdwara Singh Sabha - Pushkar or Pushkar Raj, a temple town around a natural lake, is 13 kilometres from Ajmer, to which it is connected by road. Pushkar was visited by Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh. The shrine commemorating the former Guru's visit was formerly called Guru Nanak Dharmasala but is not known as Gurdwara Singh Sabha and functions as a branch of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Ajmer. It is housed in a double-storey flat-roofed building near the bus stand. Guru Gobind Singh visited Pushkar during his travels in Rajputana in 1706. He was served by a priest named Chetan Das. The spot consecrated by the Guru's stay was called Gobind Ghat, but has now been renamed Gandhi Ghat. A stone slab under a kiosk still has Gobind Ghat inscribed on it in Gurumukhi, Devanagari, Persian and Roman scripts. Formerly a Gurdwara manned by Nirmala Sikhs also used to be here on the first floor of the gateway to the Ghat, but it is no longer extant. A Brahman priest at this Ghat, having full grown hair and donning a turban, has in his possession a hukamnama written on bhoj patra (leaf or bark of birch tree) claimed to have been given by Guru Gobind Singh to Mahant Chetan Das. Another hukamnama is in the name of five Gurdwaras at Amritsar including Sri Akal Takht Sahib. The priest also keeps an old hand-written copy of Guru Granth Sahib.

2) A registered body, Guru Gobind Singh Memorial Society established during early 1970s, has now built a proper Gurdwara dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh on the Jaipur Ghat, about a furlong from Grudwara Guru Singh Sabha.