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Guru Nanak’s Travels in Gujarat
Balwant Singh
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World Sikh News presents this as an
accompanying piece to Gurpreet Singh Anand’s travelogue to
Gurdwara Lakhpat Sahib Ji. The author of this piece is a former
Indian Administrative Officer offers a peep into the travels of
Guru Nanak Sahib in
Gujarat
and how Guru Sahib established Sangats. This article is
extracted from his detailed presentation of Sikhs in
Gujarat
made at the
Institute of
Sikh Studies Seminar on Sikhs outside Punjab a few months back
in Chandigarh. |
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 Guru
Nanak Sahib established ‘Sangats’ wherever he went. Historians say
that there were Nanak Baris or Dharamsals in the places visited by
Guruji in
Gujarat
but it will require deep probing to locate these Nanak Baris or
Dharamsals now. At that time, the local people might have been
impressed by the teachings but with the flux of time, most of these
sangats disappeared. It seems that the sangats established by Guruji
remained active upto the time of Guru Gobind Singhji and perhaps
sometime thereafter. Bhai Mohkam Chand travelled all the way from
Dwarka (Gujarat)
to Anandpur Sahib to become one of the Panj Piara –the beloved one.
He must have travelled with a Jatha. In Dwarka Beyt (Island) there
was a small piece of land of about 600 metres described as Nanak
Shahi in the revenue records but as there was no claimant, it was
made gauchar (i.e. common grazing Government land). Now about 300
meters of this land has been purchased from Government and with the
efforts of Baba Lakha Singh Kotawale, a magnificient Gurdwara has
been constructed in the memory of Guru Nanak Dev and Panj Piara
Mohkam Singh. The adjoining lands have also been purchased and
eighteen rooms with modem facilities have been constructed for
yatris. Dwarka Beyt is a small island in the Arabian Sea near Dwarka
town in Jamnagar district, which can be visited by motor boat. There
is not even one Sikh in the island. Granthis and Sevadars are
provided by Baba Lakha Singh. The Gurdwara is now attracting a good
number of Sikhs and Sehajdhari Sindhis from all over Gujarat on
Gurpurab days.
If we follow the
chronological details of the first missionary journey worked by
Prof. Sahib Singh, Guru Nanak paid visit to Gujarat in 1514-15 said
Dr. Fauja Singh in his article "Religious Cultural Heritage of the
Punjab" contained in "Sikhism in Punjab's Heritage" (Page 14) edited
by Dr. Wazir Singh. S. Surinder Singh Kohli in his book "Travels of
Guru Nanak" published by Punjab University mentions large number of
places visited by Guru Nanak in Gujarat like Patan, Idar, Surat,
Bharuch, Rajpipla, Baroda, Cambay, Ahmedabad, Dakor, Kheda, Wadhwan,
Palitana, Junagadh, Veraval, Somnath, Porbandar, Dwarka, Dwarka
Beyt, Anjar, Mandvi, Bhuj, Lakhpat, etc. It is also mentioned that
opinion is divided as to the port from where he embarked a ship for
Aden. Some say that the Guru boarded from Dwarka and others think it
was Surat. There are at least three Gurdwaras namely Gurdwara Nanak
Wadi in the centre of Vadodara (Baroda), Gurdwara Chadar Sahib,
Bharuch and Gurdwara Sahib, Lakhpat in the remote arid area of Kutch
District which are historical Gurdwaras. All these Gurdwaras are in
the memory of the visit of Guru Nanak Dev.
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Guru
Nanak Sahib is known to have visited Patan, Idar,
Surat,
Bharuch, Rajpipla, Baroda, Cambay, Ahmedabad, Dakor, Kheda,
Wadhwan, Palitana, Junagadh, Veraval, Somnath, Porbandar,
Dwarka, Dwarka Beyt, Anjar, Mandvi, Bhuj, Lakhpat in present-day
Gujarat. |
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Gurdwara Lakhpat
Sahib: Lakhpat is a village and the name of Tehsil (sub-division) of
District Kutch situated at the shore of creek of sea on the border
of Sind, Pakistan. It is a remote desolated village at a distance of
140 kilometres from Bhuj, the district headquarter of Kutch. The
village is situated within an old fort having massive thick walls.
The majority population of the area is of Muslims. It is said that
Lakhpat was a flourishing port in olden times. Guru Nanak Sahib
stayed in this village and is said to have boarded the ship from
here for going to
Mecca.
He stayed in a Haveli type house. The present building of the
Gurdwara is said to be more than 200 (some say 400) years old. A
pair of wooden sandals which is said to be of the Guru is kept here.
Due to its heritage importance, the building was taken over by
Archaeological Department of the Government of Gujarat in 1992.
This old haveli type building was badly damaged during the
earthquake of 2001.
Mrs. Gurmeet
Rai, the conservation expert moved the Archaeological Survey of
India to sanction Rs. 22.00 lacs and with the permission of the
Government of Gujarat, the building was repaired with great care
under her supervision in 2003 and restored to its original status.
Mrs. Gurmeet Rai and the Government of Gujarat were awarded in 2005
the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for maintaining this heritage
building. Consider it in the context of what has been done in
Punjab
where all the vestiges of the Guru period historical buildings/signs
have been cruelly demolished to make way for almost identical marble
edifices.
The small
village house in Sultanpur Lodhi where Guru Nanak once lived was
destroyed to make way for a marble Gurdwara with shops on the front
side. I had seen this house in early 1970, it was completely in tact
at that time. The sevadar pointed to the room where Sri Chandji was
born. What a soul satisfying experience it would have been to see
the house of Guru Nanak again and again. The latest to fall prey to
this cruelty is the architecturally beautiful heritage house of Bebe
Nanki at Sultanpur Lodhi. It appears that the concept of
archeological preservation is alien to those who manage the holy
Guru period historical places and sites, thereby making the Sikhs
not to take pride in their heritage. Unlike in Gujarat where the
ancient sites, heritage holy Hindu, Jain and Muslim religious
places, including Gurdwara at Lakhpat are assiduously protected and
preserved, the SGPC offered every site of deep sentimental value to
the Sikhs to the "Kar Sevaks" and they quickly accomplished the job
with the Punjab Government remaining a mute spectator.
Reverting to
Lakhpat Gurdwara Sahib, to maintain its heritage importance, no
change can be made in the building nor can any structure be erected
near this building. The Gurdwara was being looked after by a local
Udasi Sehajdhari. Baba Lakha Singh Kotawale persuaded the Udasi to
handover the possession. With the dedicated service of S. Ujagar
Singh of Rajkot and the Sikhs of Gandhidham (Kutch) a bare facility
for langar and convenience of Yatris has been created and a vast
walled compound has been provided. Land has also been purchased
nearby for future needs. Though the building of the Gurdwara is
under the control of Gujarat Archeological Department, the actual
possession is with the Sikhs through the Granthi and Sevadars and
there is no restriction on the visit of devotees. There is regular
recitation of Gurbani morning and evening. One can find old books in
Sindhi on Gurbani in the Gurdwara. Guru Nanak’s son, Baba Sri Chand
is also said to have visited this place. Surprisingly the water of
the well in the compound of the Gurdwara is sweet unlike in the rest
of the desert where the underground aquifers have salty water which
is also why it is believed to be a sacred place. The well is as old
as the haveli. The pilgrimage to Gurdwara Lakhpat Sahib in the
desert part of
Kutch
district and Gurdwara in the island of Dwarka Beyt in Jamnagar
district with poor transport connections will be arduous but will be
at the same time spiritually satisfying.
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As no
effort was made to preach in Gujarati or Hindi language, the
Sangats disappeared with the lapse of time. It seems that
sometime later some Udasis visited some of the places earlier
visited by Guru Nanak and prepared hand written "Birs" in
Gujarat. A set of two manuscripts -"BIRS" is kept at village
Vanod. |
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As no effort was
made to preach in Gujarati or Hindi language, the Sangats
disappeared with the lapse of time. It seems that sometime later
some Udasis visited some of the places earlier visited by Guru Nanak
and prepared hand written "Birs" in Gujarat. A set of two
manuscripts -"BIRS" is kept at village Vanod. I visited village
Vanod, about 150 km from Ahmedabad on
April 26, 2009
along with my friends. Vanod is an interior village in Taluka
(Tehsil) Dasada, District Surendernagar. The two "BIRS" are in the
possession of Shri Jagdishbhai Mohandas Kababat. One "BIR" seems to
be the copy of the other, each having more than 600 pages. Though
these appear to be complete copies of Guru Granth Sahib with
Ragmala, however it will require a detailed study in this respect.
These are stated to have been written by Udasi Brahmdasji about
200-250 years ago in the village itself. The name of the writer or
the date has not been mentioned. The whole house of Shri Jagdishbhai
seems to be a temple complex having Hindu idols and is stated to
have been constructed by the Udasi who died there itself and his
samadh is also is the house. Shri Jagdishbhai, himself an elderly
person, who with his family is the present occupant of the house,
says that at the time of his grandfather also these 'birs' were
there and possibly even earlier to that. These are written with a
"kalam" (ebw) in continuous letters. The method of preparing the ink
is also mentioned. The thick paper of the 'birs' have become quite
brittle so that it is difficult to turn the pages, Unless these are
microfilmed or digitized, this treasure may be lost for ever. These
are kept in a small room. On the wooden door of the room, the name
'Udasi Prem Das' is carved in Gujarati. It might have remained an
Udasi dera for long. Shri Jagdishbhai and the villagers who do not
know to speak Punjabi or read Gurmukhi, show deep respect to the
'birs' and are not willing to part with these. S. Surinder Singh
Kohli in his book mentioned above has stated that Guru Nanak visited
Wadhwan and Patan among many other places. If we see geographically
as per present day connections, both these towns are located in
opposite directions (about 90 km and 70 km respectively) of village
Vanod and this shows the possibility of Guru Nanak having visited
this village and started Sangat. The Udasi Saints might have come to
this village because of this. It can also be surmised that the
Udasis who prepared hand written copy from another 'bir' might be
writing 'birs' and leaving one behind. In this case, the Udasi is
said to have left his body in the village itself and thus both the
'birs' might have remained here. It is also possible that hand
written 'birs' may be lying in some other unknown places also.
When I first
came to Gujarat (carved out of old Bombay State in 1960 and four
times bigger than present Punjab) in 1965, I was rather surprised to
see Sindhi Gurdwaras or Mandirs named, "Guru Nanak Darbar" even in
small towns. A large number of Sindhis migrated to Gujarat from the
adjoining Sind province after Partition. They were devotees of Guru
Nanak Dev and Guru Granth Sahib. During the last 45 years, I find
that many of these Guru Nanak Darbars have disappeared. The new
generation has titled towards mainstream Hinduism. They cannot read
Guru Granth Sahib as they do not know Punjabi. However, still there
are some devout Sindhis who maintain their Gurdwaras, Guru Nanak
Darbars, or Mandir where regular reading of Guru Granth Sahib and
Kirtan is done. A few of the Sindhis are Kesadharis. During the last
few years about 60 Sehajdhari Sindhis have become kesadhari in
Bhavnagar, a district headquarter, about 200 km from Ahmedabad.
Balwant Singh is
a former IAS officer living in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat.
Photos courtesy:
Gurpreet Singh Anand
13
January 2010
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