ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>HEM KU&#7750&#7788 S&#256HIB GURDW&#256R&#256 SR&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="HEM,KUFl,SHIB,GURDWR,SR*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279HEM KU&#7750&#7788 S&#256HIB, GURDW&#256R&#256 SR&#298, lit. Receptacle of Ice, situated in the Himalayas at a height of about 15,210 feet above sea level and located in Chamol&#299 district of Uttar Pradesh, is dedicated to Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh in his autobiographical work, <i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i>, has said that before his birth he had been meditating on the Mah&#257 K&#257l (God) at a place which he described as "Hemku&#7751&#7789 Parvat adorned with seven peaks where earlier the king Pa&#7751&#7693&#363r&#257j (a character in the epic <i>Mah&#257bh&#257rata</i>) had practised austerities." The exact spot was not known until Pa&#7751&#7693it T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh Narotam (1822-91), well-known Nirmal&#257 scholar, determined its location after referring to the Mah&#257bh&#257rata <i>texts</i> (1. 119) alluded to in the <i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i>. Later Sant Sohan Si&#7749gh of &#7788ehr&#299 Ga&#7771hv&#257l actually surveyed the area and found the place in 1934, and with the financial assistance and encouragement from Bh&#257&#299 V&#299r Si&#7749gh (1872-1957), the Sikh savant, constructed a modest 3-metre square shrine in 1936. After his death on 13 February 1939, Havild&#257r Modan Si&#7749gh, an ex-army sergeant, served the place with extraordinary devotion for the next 21 years. He not only maintained the shrine at Hemku&#7751&#7789, but also established Gurdw&#257r&#257s Gobind Gh&#257&#7789 (height 6,000 feet) and Gobind Dh&#257m (height 10, 500 feet) to serve as base camps for pilgrims visiting Gurdw&#257r&#257 Hem Ku&#7751&#7789 S&#257hib. Before his death in December 1960, Havild&#257r Modan Si&#7749gh also set up Sr&#299 Hem Ku&#7751&#7789 S&#257hib Management Trust. The Trust, with headquarters at K&#257npur, has also replaced the building at Hem Ku&#7751&#7789 Sahib with a new and more spacious one, and has also constructed two more <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> along the route -- one each at Sr&#299nagar (Ga&#7771hv&#257l) and Josh&#299 Ma&#7789h -- and has been running Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar and rest camps at all these places for the pilgrims.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gurdw&#257r&#257 Hem Ku&#7751&#7789 S&#257hib stands on the bank of a sweet-water lake (circumference roughly 2.5 km) in a narrow valley surrounded by high mountains capped by seven peaks (<i>sapta&#347&#7771&#7749ga</i>). The place is inaccessible during winter. Even in summer it is visited only during the day, the pilgrims coming back to Gurdw&#257r&#257 Gobind Dh&#257m because lack of enough oxygen at that height makes an extended stay at the top shrine impossible.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i><BR> <li class="C1"><i>Itih&#257s, Guide... Sr&#299 Hemku&#7751&#7789 S&#257hib</i>. Kanpur, 1979<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>