Guru Nanak was a great traveller. For over 20 years, the founder of the Sikh faith walked around the Indian subcontinent. His extended travels, called Udasis , were driven by a desire to understand the faith systems prevalent in the 15th century. They took him eastward to Assam and to the Arabian Peninsula in the west, up north to Tibet and down to Sri Lanka. Today, the places he rested at, stayed overnight or just stopped by host gurdwaras.

There are over 80 of them in Punjab alone, and I spent weeks criss-crossing the state to identify and photograph them for a book. There were those unmatched in prominence, grandeur and footfall. There were the remotely located, charmingly modest and atmospheric. Some were massive complexes in marble; some were circled by lush fields; many others were tucked away in wooded thickets or hidden in narrow alleys. I found them uniformly cloned in bustling cities, dusty amorphous towns and further afield in sleepy villages.

Here are three places of worship that are inextricably linked to the legacy of Guru Nanak, whose 550th birth anniversary was celebrated by devotees around the world on November 12 this year.

Gurdwara Ber Sahib, Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala)

Both Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace, and Kartarpur Sahib, where he died, are in Pakistan. This added to the significance that Sultanpur Lodhi enjoys among Sikhs in India. The Gurdwara Ber Sahib is a splendid building in white, with a massive marble dome. Ornate silver doors led me into a hall with high ceilings. Here, I settled into a quiet corner while a stream of adherents and non-adherents, heads covered, steadily inched forward, patiently awaiting their turn to supplicate. Some stepped out into the expansive courtyard, making their way to the ancient beri (ziziphus tree) that lends its name to the shrine.

BLinkIMG6217

Come together: Guru Nanak Dev sought to end long-held social differences by asking his followers to sit together and eat simple meals in each other’s company(langar)

 

It marks the site where the young Guru would sit at dawn in reflective meditation before going to work. The tree continues to provide shade and succour to the faithful. I, too, sat on the spotless steps beside it, imagining the surrounds when the greatest thinker of his time would have walked the short distance to the river for his daily ablutions. One fine morning, he did not resurface after his bath — only to emerge three days later, a few miles from where I sat, to pronounce: “There is no Hindu, there is no Mussalman”. These utterances, emphasising the oneness of mankind, were to become the credal message of the religion he went on to establish. Sultanpur Lodhi is also where Guru Nanak composed the opening stanza of the morning prayer Japji Sahib . Called Mulmantra , it is widely acknowledged as the essence of Sikh thought.

Gurdwara Nankiana Sahib, Mangwal (Sangrur)

That Sangrur has a colossal Guru Nanak footprint was a surprising revelation to me; the district has 18 shrines associated with him. At Nankiana Sahib, I was greeted by the evening prayer wafting across the tranquil waters of its enormous sarovar . The strains got louder as I joined other visitors on the parikrama leading to the gurdwara. Watchful parents kept a tight hold on frisky wards eager to peer at schools of water-cleansing carp in the holy tank. The itinerant Guru is said to have visited Mangwal on one of his eastward Udasis from Saidpur (now in Pakistan), urging its residents to live a life free of superstition.

A humanist above all, Guru Nanak advocated the existence of one God — invisible, timeless and formless. Caste, creed and gender were inconsequential, he preached. He sought to end long-held social differences by asking his followers to sit together and eat simple meals (langar) without distinguishing between rich or poor, man or woman, high-born or otherwise. It was this practice of langar, cooked and served by volunteers, which held me in good stead when hunger and fatigue struck.

Gurdwara Nanaksar Sahib, Sarangwal (Hoshiarpur)

Hemmed in by a thick forest, this small, flat-roofed gurdwara left an indelible impression, as much for its picturesque location, as for its refreshingly unassuming look. An amiable volunteer distributed parshad and insisted I — the only visitor that morning — have tea before I leave. I did, sipping leisurely in uninterrupted quietude. Under, perhaps, the same falahi (acacia) tree Guru Nanak sat when he was here for his discourse with resident Siddhs.

In the weeks I traced the Guru’s footsteps; I also met and talked to many Sikhs. Most live by the Guru’s bani (word), some treat him as a friend; some have fallen prey to superstition and others to mindless rituals. Social and cultural differences exist, too. But, by and large, Guru Nanak’s flock continues to do him proud.

Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu is a freelance writer based in Chandigarh

comment COMMENT NOW