Gurdwara Nanak Mata Sahib

History

1. Gorakhmata

   Before it took its present name, the place was a home of Siddh yogis, called Gorakhmata after their teacher Gorakhnath. Harbans Singh describes it as a wooded retreat where outsiders rarely went, one of several such centres of the order in northern India.[EoS][Singh]

2. c. 1515 by tradition

   The visit of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji

   The visit is told in the Puratan Janamsakhi and is firmly held in Sikh tradition. Fauja Singh and Kirpal Singh note that the Miharban and Bala accounts leave it out. In Var 1, pauri 27, Bhai Gurdas says in general terms that seats of the Siddhs came to bear Guru Ji's name, but he does not single out this place.

   As retold by Macauliffe and Harbans Singh, Guru Ji and Bhai Mardana sat under a pipal long withered with age, which then put out leaves. Bhai Mardana asked a yogi for fire on a cold night and was sent away. Surindar Singh Kohli adds later stories of a contest in miracles, which Guru Ji is said to have told the yogis to give up. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Guru Ji spoke to them in praise of the householder's life. G. S. Randhir dates the visit to 1515, and Kohli puts Guru Ji in the hills of the region in that summer. Neither passage cites an early source for the year.[Singh][Src][Macauliffe][Singh][Kohli][Randhir][EoS]

3. The soapnut tradition

   A separate site nearby, Gurdwara Reetha Sahib, keeps the story of bitter soapnuts made sweet for Bhai Mardana. Both the Encyclopaedia and Harbans Singh say this story is absent from the Janamsakhis. Sources disagree on how far away the site lies and on the order of the two visits.[EoS][Singh]

4. Time of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji

   Almast and Sri Guru Hargobind Ji

   An Udasi named Almast later kept a seat at the place. Macauliffe relates that yogis tried to take it back and restore the name of Gorakhnath, arguing that Guru Ji had only passed through as a traveller, and that they burned the pipal. He says Sri Guru Hargobind Ji then came and raised a platform by the spot, and it is said the tree grew back. Randhir tells the same story more briefly, and adds that the yogis then left for good.[EoS][Macauliffe][Randhir][Gill]

5. Today

   The present gurdwara

   A local Nawab gave a large grant of land in modern times. The Encyclopaedia describes a four-storey domed building in a large compound with quarters for staff and pilgrims, run by a committee of local Sikhs. Damming the Deoha stream formed the reservoir called Nanak Sagar. Kohli records that the old tree's site is known to older residents as Panja Ji.[EoS][Kohli][Web]

Images