Ancestral village of Guru Nanak in Tarn Taran lies in state of neglect

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 25

When governments and Sikh institutions are celebrating 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the ancestral village of Baba Nanak, Pathewind Pur (Lohar), near Jama Rai village in Tarn Taran district is being ignored.

Several historical sources such as Janam Sakhis and Gur Partap Suraj Parkas Granth have references that the village belongs to ancestors of Guru Nanak Dev, where Mehta Kalyan Das (Mehta Kalu), father, and Shiv Ram, grandfather of the Guru born and brought up.

As per historians, there are several evidences that Rai Bhoi was one of the Rajput feudal lords who got land in “Kali Bar” from Lodhi Kings after converting to Islam in 1430. He left the Jama Rai village in Tarn Taran and moved to the Sheikhupura area, where he founded Talwandi village, which later became Nankana Sahib after the birth of Guru Nanak.

Guru Nanak’s father Mehta Kalyan Das was a native of Pathewindpur which was located in the neighbourhood of Jama Rai village. While shifting to Talwandi (Rai Bhoi Di Talwandi), Rai Bhoi hired Mehta Kalu as the estate officer of his 40,000-acre land, got from Lodhis.

Dr Kulwinder Singh Bajwa, former head of Department of History Punjabi University, said: “The major historic reference is Gur Partap Suraj Parkas Granth by Santokh Singh in which he had written a detailed story of the village. Besides, Kesar Singh Chibber’s Bansawali Nama (1763) has some references. Most of the places associated with Guru's history was neglected till the British Raj. Our secondary sources were clueless about many of such places but still we have many references. Universities and colleges should initiate research projects about historical towns such as Sultanpur Lodhi, Dera Baba Nanak and Pathewind Pur.

Sarabjit Singh Dhotian, a Sikh preacher, who penned a booklet on the history of the village, said: “Guru Nanak’s sister Bebe Nanaki was married at the nearby town of Sultanpur Lodi, which is a few miles from Pathewind Pur. Once, while heading towards Sultanpur Lodhi, Guru Nanak visited the village to meet his relatives."

“Relatives of Guru Nanak from the Bedi clan were worried that Guru Nanak would claim his property in the village. They misbehaved with the Guru and asked him to immediately leave the village. He cursed the village that it would be abandoned. After some years, Bedis quarrelled with each other and left the village deserted, said Dhotian.

The historians claimed that the sixth Guru, Hargobind visited the village and narrated the story to Sikhs. Afterwards, some Sikhs started residing there and established a gurdwara. There is an old account of cyclist Dhana Singh Yatari, who visited the village and gurdwara Dehra Sahib in 1931. He told about an old well which still exists near the gurdwara building.

“Pathewind Pur is ignored by governments and Sikh historians. Baba Lakha Singh Kota Wale is going to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of the Guru to highlight the historical relevance of the village," said Sarbajit Singh Dhotian.