Goindwal as a Sikh centre
Akbar's visit to Goindwal
Sikh chronicles say the emperor ate in the langar and offered land; no Mughal record of it was found.
The Mahima Prakash, as quoted in the Encyclopaedia, says that servants laid out silks for Akbar's walk to Guru Ji and that the emperor pushed them aside with his own hands and went barefoot. Macauliffe adds that he came on his way to Lahore with an escort of Mughal and Pathan soldiers and learned that no one could see Guru Ji without first eating from the kitchen. He sat down and ate the coarse rice.
Impressed, he offered land for the kitchen. Guru Ji declined it, saying that his lands and rent-free holdings came from the Creator and that each day's gifts were spent that day. The Mahima Prakash and Macauliffe both then say that the land was granted to Bibi Bhani instead.
How do we know?
Several traditional accounts tell this story, without close independent support.
Is it corroborated? In the sources read here, no. The Akbarnama passage translated by Moosvi records Akbar at Goindwal in November 1598, with Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, and says nothing about an earlier visit, though that is one passage and not a search of all Mughal records. All the accounts here go back to Sikh writers. Macauliffe gives no date, and it may be a memory coloured by the well-recorded 1598 visit.
- ScholarshipAttributes the visit and the barefoot walk to Sikh chronicles and the Mahima Prakash.[EoS]
- Later traditionTells the full story including the refused grant and the villages made over to Bibi Bhani.[Macauliffe]
- ScholarshipCredits Bhai Ballu with suggesting the grant to Bibi Bhani, following the Mahima Prakash.[EoS]
- ScholarshipAccepts the visit without question and says it raised Guru Ji's standing and brought new followers.[Gupta]
