IKULAHA

IKULAHA, a village 6 km south-west of Khanna (30°42`N, 76°13`E) in Ludhiana district, is sacred to Guru Hargobind, who visited it on his way from Ghurani and Dhamot to Saunti. The shrine which commemorates the visit was raised much later. The construction work was started in 1907-08 by Bhai Rala Singh, who resigned his job in East Africa to return to his village for this purpose, but the building was not completed until 1933. By then the supervision had passed into the hands of a revered lady, Man Gulab Kaur. The shrine is known today as Gurdwara Guru Sar Patshahi Chhevin.

It has a flatroofed divan hall where the Guru Granth Sahib is installed. Close by, there is a Manji Sahib in the form of a small square domed room on a raised platform, with another room in the basement. The Manji Sahib marks the site where the Guru is believed to have sat and from where he addressed the devotees. A new 100feet high Nishan Sahib was raised near the Manji Sahib on 3 May 1978. Besides the daily services and the important Sikh anniversaries, an annual festival is held on 20 Baisakh (early May) to mark the day on which Guru Hargobind is believed to have visited the village in 1632. The Gurdwara is managed by a local committee, the Naujawan Sabha, i.e. the village youth, taking an active interest in its affairs.