JINWADA

JINWADA, pronounced Jinvara, 11 km from Bidar (17″55`N, 77″32T.) in Karnataka is situated along the road connecting Bidar to BarauliAuradh, a Talluqa headquarters in Bidar district. Gurdwara Tap Asthan Mai Bhago at Jinwada honours the memory of Mai Bhago, revered as a saint, who fought in the battle of Muktsar. From Muktsar onwards, she constantly remained in the train of Guru Gobind Singh s followers and travelled with them to the Dcccan. After the Guru`s passing away at Nandcd, MaT Bhago retired further south.

She settled down at Jinwada, the seat of two chieftains, Bala Rao and Rustam Rao, whose release from captivity at Satara is attributed to a miraculous intervention by Guru Gobind Singh. She lived to attain a ripe old age. Her hut was just outside the walls of the village fortress. The fortress is now nothing but a ruined enclosure of hewn stones, but Mai Bhago`s hut is still extant. The Sikhs took it over from one Gulab Rao, in 1948, when they secured possession of NanakJhira.

The hut is now a single flat roofed room, vvitli a verandah in the front. The Guru Granlh Sahib is seated in the centre and is attended by a granthi supplied by Gurdwara Sri Nanak Jhira, Bidar. Plans are afoot to raise a new building. As an inaugural measue, a 16metre high Sikh flag, donated by Takht Sachkhand Sri Haxur Sahib, Nandcd, was unfurled ceremoniously on 26 November 1977.