TULAMBA

TULAMBA, commonly pronounced Talumbha, an ancient site now also known as Makhdumpur, a rail/road station along the LahoreMultan highway in Multan district of Pakistan, was where Guru Nanak met Shaikh Sajjan, who, according to the Janam Sakhi tradition, was a thug living in apparent piety. Sayan maintained a mosque as well as a temple for use by Muslim and Hindu travellers and seemed to welcome anyone for a night`s lodging and meal.

Many unsuspecting wayfarers gstrangulated them during the night. As Guru Nanak travelling through southwest Punjab once arrived at hiratefully accepted his hospitality and fell into the trap laid out by Sajjan, who to rob them of their goods s house on the highway, he welcomed him with his customary courtesy, but all cunning thoughts soon vanished from his heart. He bowed at the Guru`s feet and turned a disciple, giving away all the goods sinfully gathered.

Sayan converted his house into a dharamsala, i.e. a place of religious assembly, and became a zealous disseminator of Guru Nanak`s teaching. Later, Bhai Jodh, a Sikh of the time of Guru Har Rai (1630-61), who preached the Sikh faith in this area, made Tulamba his centre. His descendants raised a giirdwara here in 1913, but it had to be abandoned during the 1947 exodus caused by Partition.

References :

1. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Guru Khalsa [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970
2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Grantli. Amritsar, 1927-35
3. Vir Singh, Bhai, ed., Puratan Janam Sakhi, Amritsar, 1971