Artifact
Chola Sahib
also Sri Chola Sahib Ji, Chola of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
A robe with Arabic writing, kept by Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Bedi descendants at Dera Baba Nanak and revered by Sikhs as worn by Guru Ji on the journey to the Middle East.[Src][EoS][Web]
- Held by
- Bedi family, descendants of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The custodian's booklet names Baba Sandeep Singh Ji Bedi, the 17th descendant, as carrying out its seva.
- Location
- Sri Chola Sahib, Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur district, Punjab
- Provenance
- By tradition
- Status: On display
- The custodian's booklet says the sangat has darshan on 4, 5, 6 and 7 March each year, with Akhand Paths beginning on 3 March. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (1992-98) says it is kept under glass in a family home some 50 metres from Gurdwara Langar Mandir Chola Sahib, attended in turn by three Bedi families. The Tribune (6 December 2018) says family members still display it and that a conservation effort had stalled over family disagreement.
The custodian's booklet gives the family's account. It says Guru Ji received the robe in Arabia from a descendant of Pir Dastgir, and that it carries the thirty sections of the Quran and the Arabic and Persian abjad. Citing the Bala Janamsakhi and the Suraj Prakash, it tells how a ruler it calls King Lajward ordered the robe taken off Guru Ji by force, could not have it removed, and in the end bowed at Guru Ji's feet.
The booklet says Guru Ji set aside the travelling clothes at Kartarpur, and passed six articles of them to Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji with the Guruship. They then passed from Guru to Guru as far as Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji. It places the cap at Kiratpur and the rosary, pothi and powe at Guru Har Sahai in Ferozepur district.
According to the booklet, Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji gave the Chola to Bhai Tota Ram of Balkh-Bukhara, who served at the Harmandir Sahib pool and asked for a gift to take Sikhi to his region. Near the end of his life he sealed it in a mountain cave. It says that about 260 years ago Baba Kabli Mal Ji, a descendant through Baba Lakhmi Chand Ji, was told in a dream to fetch it, opened the cave after reciting Japji Sahib, and brought it to Dera Baba Nanak on 21 Phagan (4 March).
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Baba Kabali Mall, of Guru Ji's family, obtained it from Baghdad, and that it came to Dera Baba Nanak on 1 March 1828 (20 Phagun 1884 Bk). A yearly fair in early March marks the event.
When the gurdwara passed to the SGPC during the reform movement, the family kept the robe.
Beside it is a two-sided embroidered kerchief. The booklet says Bebe Nanaki gave it at Guru Ji's wedding, and The Tribune also mentions it.
What is disputed
- Where it came from
The custodian's booklet says Guru Ji received it in Arabia from a descendant of Pir Dastgir, and that it later came from a cave in Balkh-Bukhara. The Encyclopaedia says a devotee at Baghdad gave it. The Tribune report says it was given at Mecca. None of these sources gives independent dating of the cloth.[Src][EoS][Web]
- When it reached Dera Baba Nanak
The Encyclopaedia dates its arrival to 1 March 1828. The booklet says Baba Kabli Mal Ji had his dream about 260 years ago, which would be much earlier, and it gives the arrival as 21 Phagan (4 March) with no year.[Src][EoS]
- The writing
The booklet says it carries the thirty sections of the Quran and the Arabic and Persian abjad. The Encyclopaedia describes Quranic verses and Arabic numerals in the form of charms, and The Tribune says the writing is believed to be Quranic. This site has not found an independent reading of the text.[Src][EoS][Web]
A sketch of the writing on the robe at Dera Baba Nanak said to have belonged to Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The date is uncertain and the source is a web article.
Unknown, Early to mid 20th century, uncertain. Public domain. Source
Gurdwara Sri Chola Sahib at Dera Baba Nanak, a modern photograph from 2019. The Chola itself is kept in a nearby family home, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism.
Harvinder Chandigarh, 2019.CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak, printed in the Mahan Kosh of 1930. Commons says the photograph probably dates from the 1920s.
Kahn Singh Nabha, c. 1920s. Public domain. Source
A later artist's imagining of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in a robe with Arabic-script writing and Japji verses. The Sikh Museum site suggests the Chola Sahib may have inspired it.
Unknown, 19th century. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh (as credited on the Sikh Museum site). Public domain. Source
