KARTARPUR

KARTARPUR. village on the right bank of tlie River Ravi in the present Sialkot district of Pakistan and usually called Kartarpur Ravl to distinguish it from another town of tlie same name in Jalandhar district of Indian Punjab, is sacred to Guru Nanak (14691539) to whom it owed its origin and who settled here at the end of his long peregrinations in India and abroad to prcacli the word of God. Guru Nanak spent the last two decades of his life with his wife and children at Kartarpur which became the principal seat of the Sikh faith. It was here that Bhai Lahina, later Guru Arigad, came to receive instruction and it was here that, after nominating (Guru) Arigad his spiritual sucessor, he passed away on Assu vadi 10, 1596 Bk/7 September 1539. Most of the habitation was washed away by the everencroaching Ravi whereupon the Guru`s descendants and followers moved to Dera Baba Nanak, a new town they had raised on the other side of the river. The threestoreyed tall building ofGurdwara Kartarpur Sahib Ravi PatshahT I erected later at Kartarpur can still be seen from the high embankment marking the IndoPakistan boundary north ofDcra Baba Nanak, but it has been inaccessible to visitors and pilgrims from India since the partition of 1947. 1. Kohli, Surindar Singh, ed., Jnncniisakhl Bhdi Kaln. Chandigarh, 1975
2. Vir Singh, Bhai, ed., Purdtanjanam Sdkhi. Amrilsar, 1982
3. Gian Singh, Giant, Twankh Gurduarian. Amritsar, n.d.
4. Tara Singh, Sri Gur Tirath Sangi-ahi. Amritsar, n.d.
5. Harbans Singh, Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith. Bombay, 1969