KHADUR SAHIB

KHADUR SAHIB, an old village 19 km cast ofTarnTaran (31°27`N, 74″56`E) in Amrilsar district of the Punjab, is sacred to the first three Gurus. Guru Nanak is said to have visited Khadiir once to meet his disciple, Bhai Jodha, a Khaihra Jatt. It was through Bhai Jodha`s example that Bhai Lahina (later, Guru Angad) was led to seek Guru Nanak`s precept. Guru Angad`s father, Baba Pheru, liaving left his ancestral place, MaltcdiSarai, and the temporary abode at Harikc, had made Khadur his home. Baba Pheru`s sister Mai BharaT was already married in Khadur; his son, Bhai Lahina, was now married here in 1519. After the anointment of Bhai Lahina as Guru Angad in 1539, he, following Guru Nanak`s instructions, returned to Khadur, which became the centre of the Sikh faith. He stayed here till his death in 1552. It was at Khadur thai Amar Das served him as a disciple and was in turn himself anointed Guru. Khadur Sahib has several gurudwaras commemorating the holy Gurus. GURDWARA TAPIANA SAHIB, 200 metres north of the village, marks the site where Guru Nanak, accompanied, according to local tradition, by Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana, preached to a gathering of devotees. It was here again that the events of Guru Nanak`s life arc said to have been recorded, in the form of aJanam SakhT, as narrated by Bhai Bala. A small platform near the Gurdwara marks the spot where Bhai Bala`s mortal remains were cremated. The Gurdwara comprises a square hall on a high plinth. The Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a canopied throne of white marble. A lotus dome with an ornamental goldplated pinnacle and an umbrellashaped finial tops the hall, which also has a squareshaped domed kiosk above each of its corners. In front of the hall, in the middle of a oneacre brickpaved compound, is the sarovar. GURDWARA TAP ASTIIAN SRI GURU ANGAD DEV Ji, opposite Gurdwara Tapiana Sahib, marks the site where Guru Arigad used to sit in meditation. It is a square domed hall with domed cubicles at top corners. The central dome has a goldplated pinnacle, an umbrellashaped finial and a khandd at the apex. GURDWARA DARBAR SAHIB ANGITHA SAHIB, within a highwalled compound entered through an old twostoreyed gateway, comprises a square domed sanctum with a circumambulatory passage and a hall in the front. The sanctum marks the site where Guru Angad`s body was cremated. Close by is a square domed marble pavilion called Killa Sahib or Khaddi Sahib. This was a weaver`s pit, khaddi in Punjabi, where Baba (later Guru) Amar Das, carrying a pitcher of water for Guru Arigad during a pitch dark night, stumbled against a killa or peg. An old well near the gateway, is called Bibi AmaroJi da Khuh, or the Well of Bibi Amaro, Guru Angad`s daughter, whose hymnsinging had inspired Baba Amar Das to seek spiritual solace at the feet of Guru Angad. GURDWARA MAT BHARAl, about 100 metres to the west of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, constructed where Mai Bharai`s house once stood, marks another site consecrated by Guru Angad. According to Sikh chronicles, Guru Angad, as he arrived at Khadur, from Kartarpur where Guru Nanak had anointed him his successor, decided to go into undisturbed meditation for some time. He did not go to his own house, but shut himself up in a small room in Mai Bharai`s house and locked the door from inside. Sangats that went to Kartarpur to sec the new Guru were led to Khadur by BhaT Buddha who, risking the Guru`s displeasure, tore a hole into one of the walls of the room in Mai Bharai`s house. He bowed at the Guru`s feet and announced how the Sikhs waited outside for a sight of him. Guru Angad came out of his temporary seclusion to meet the disciples. The new building of Gurdwara Mai Bharal, constructed during the 1980`s, is a highccilinged hall with a gallery at midheight. Its walls are lined with streaked marble slabs. The sanctum at the far end of the hall is topped by three storeys of square pavilions and a dome all covered with white gla`/ed tiles. GURDWARA MALL AKHARA, at the northern edge of the village, marks the site where wrestling bouts for the youth were held in the time of Guru Arigad. Mallakhdrd literally means wrestlers` pit. Here the Guru also taught children Gurmukhi letters. Even now young scholars are trained here in reciting the Guru Granth Sahib. The present building is a square domed hall within a lowwalled compound. GURDWARA THARA SAHIB GURU AMAR DAS, a small domed room, is built on a high plinth in the middle of a marblefloored platform. The Thara, platform in Punjabi, marks the spot where Baba (Guru) Amar Das used to sit in meditation when he was not physically engaged in serving Guru Arigad or his Sikhs. All these gurudwaras arc managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee through a local committee. 1. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Gurduarian. Amritsar, n.d.
2. Tara Singh, Sri Gur Tirath Sangrahi. Kankhal, 1975
3. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-33