Gurdwara Sri Nanak Jhira Sahib

History

1. Bidar in Guru Ji's time

   The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Bidar served as the Bahmani capital when Guru Ji came, and a centre of Arabic learning since Mahmud Gawan founded his great madrasa in 1471-72. Surindar Singh Kohli places the town on Guru Ji's southern journey, on the way from Medak to Golconda.[EoS][Kohli]

2. The spring, by tradition

   As the Encyclopaedia tells it, Guru Ji stayed on the edge of the town beside a monastery of Muslim ascetics. They and their head, Pir Jalal-ud-Din, were drawn by the hymns sung to Bhai Mardana's rebeck. The tract was rocky and without water. Tradition says a spring of clear sweet water rose when Guru Ji lifted a stone at the Pir's request. It is called Amrit Kund, and the place took the name Nanak Jhira.

   Kohli and G. S. Randhir add a second divine, Yaqub Ali, and describe people asking for water because their wells were unfit to drink. They say Guru Ji touched the hillside with a wooden sandal or with a toe. The story is presented here as tradition, and no early source for it has been confirmed.[EoS][Kohli][Randhir]

3. To 1948

   Under Muslim care

   The place stayed in the care of Muslim priests for a long time. The Encyclopaedia says Mai Bhago, who had gone to the Deccan after Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, often visited it during her stay at Jinvara. Randhir notes that Bidar was the home of Bhai Sahib Singh of the Panj Piare.[EoS][Randhir]

4. 1948 to 1966

   The modern gurdwara

   The place became prominent as a pilgrimage centre after control passed to Sikhs in 1948, which a court verdict confirmed in 1950. A managing committee under Sardar Bishan Singh of Hyderabad began building. The main building, called Sri Harmandir Sahib, was finished in 1966, and Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was installed in it at Hola Mohalla.

   The central building has three storeys, with the divan hall on the first floor around a sanctum about 10 metres square. The spring is now a canopied square pool, which feeds a bathing tank 50 metres away.[EoS]

5. Today

   Institutions

   Later additions include a pilgrim block of 101 rooms, a hospital, a museum, langar and an engineering college, all named after or attached to the gurdwara. The committee draws members from Bidar and from other southern cities and from Bombay. Guru Ji's birthday and Hola Mohalla are the largest gatherings. Randhir says the museum is dedicated to the memory of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and shows Sikh history in pictures.[EoS][Randhir]

Images