Mecca, Medina and Baghdad
Vali Qandhari and Panja Sahib
A hilltop recluse refused water to Mardana and hurled a boulder, which is said to have stopped against Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's palm.
As Bhai Santokh Singh and the later tradition tell it, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Mardana halted, tired and thirsty, under a hill at Hasan Abdal. At the top lived a Muslim recluse, Vali Qandhari, who kept the only water. Mardana climbed up and asked for some. Told who his master was, the Vali said that so great a holy man should be able to look after his own follower.
Mardana came down. Guru Ji sent him up a second time to ask with humility, and again he was refused. Then Guru Ji touched the hillside with his stick. Water sprang up at his feet, and at the top the Vali's own pool began to fail.
In anger the Vali sent a great rock rolling down the slope at them. Guru Ji raised his hand. The stone stopped against his open palm and took its print. The mark is shown today at Gurdwara Panja Sahib, the gurdwara of the holy palm, and the Vali's grave is on the hill above.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
McLeod also notes old reports that the hand-mark stood out in relief while it is now recessed. The gurdwara's importance as a place of Sikh memory does not depend on the story's date.
- Later traditionTells the story and says it was popularised by the Bala Janamsakhi and Bhai Santokh Singh's Nanak Prakash.[EoS]
- Later traditionRepeats the story, crediting Santokh Singh, and traces the gurdwara to the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.[EoS]
- ScholarshipLists it among stories to be rejected, points to Buddhist and other earlier legends at the same site, and notes how late the story appears in the Janamsakhis. (pp. 77-79)[McLeod]
