AHRAURA

AHRAURA, a small town in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, 40 km south of Varanasi (25°20\’N, 8205-81 E). has a Sikh shrine called Gurudwara Bagh Shri Guru Tegh BahadurJi Ka. Guru Tegh Bahadur visited Ahraura in 1666 in the course of his journey in the eastern parts. It is said that he told a devotee, Bhai Sadhoji, to plant a tree. This was the beginning of a garden which still exists. From this garden (bagh), the Gurdwara derives its name. A closet called Nivas Sthan marks the room in which Guru Tegh Bahadur is said to have stayed.

The shrine is registered as Shri Guru Singh Sabha and is managed by a local committee. There is a handwritten copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, transcribed in 1799 Bk/AD 1742, kept in the private house of the granthi. A small slip, supposed to contain Guru Tegh Bahadur`s autograph, is pasted on it. Another handwritten pothi with a similar autograph, is in the possession of another individual, Hira Singh. He has even built a gurudwara named Gurdwara Guru Gobind Singh Ji Daskhati Sahib in honour of the pothi, but keeps the volume in his house and displays it in the Gurdwara only on special occasions.

References :

1. Fauja Singh, Guru Teg Bahadur. Yatra Asthan, Prampravan te Yad Chinn. Patiala, 1976