ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>LAKHNAUR </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="LAKHNAUR"> <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">&#65279LAKHNAUR, 10 km south of Amb&#257l&#257 City (30º-23'N, 76º-47'E), was the ancestral village of M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299, mother of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Returning in 1670 to Pa&#7789n&#257 after his long eastern journey, Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur asked his family to travel straight to Lakhnaur, while he himself made a detour and went to Delhi before re-joining them there. M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 accompanied by her four-year-old son, Gobind Si&#7749gh, named Gobind R&#257i at birth, and escorted by her brother, Kirp&#257l Chand, and other Sikhs, arrived at Lakhnaur on 13 September 1670, and stayed here for about six months with her elder brother, Bh&#257&#299 Mehar Chand, and Bh&#257&#299 Je&#7789h&#257, the local <i>masand</i> or <i>sa&#7749gat</i> leader. It was here that a Muslim divine, Sayyid Sh&#257h Bh&#299kh or Bh&#299khan Sh&#257h, of &#7788hask&#257, then residing at <u>Gh</u>u&#7771&#257m, an old town about 30 km southeast of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, came, guided by his spiritual vision, to pay homage to Gobind Si&#7749gh. Bh&#299khan Sh&#257h, in order to know the aptitude and religious leanings of the future Gur&#363, offered two small earthen pots containing sweets to him, writing one in his own mind for Hindus and the other for the Muslims. Gobind Si&#7749gh placed his hands one on the either pot, and, having sent for another one, placed it between the two, thus signifying that not only would he show equal respect to the Hindus as well as to the Muslims, he would add a third one to the number. The Sayyid convinced of the divine light in the child paid his respectful obeisance to him. Another Muslim mystic, P&#299r 'Araf D&#299n, is also mentioned as having bowed before him perceiving the manifestation of heavenly grace in his earthly presence.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Water in the wells in Lakhnaur was brackish and lukewarm. The only well having sweet and cold water was outside the village and it had long been in disuse as its walls had caved in. At M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299's instance, a new narrower well was dug within the old ruined one, thus reviving this source of cold sweet water. The well, used by the villagers to this day, is reverently called M&#257t&#257j&#299 da Kh&#363h or M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299 da Kh&#363h (The holy mother's well) .</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The place where the Gur&#363 had stayed was maintained for a time by someone from M&#257t&#257 Gujar&#299's paternal line, and later by one B&#257b&#257 Harba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh who is said to have looked after it for sixty years. This was a period of great turmoil for the Sikhs. The persecution campaign against them reached its climax in the Great Holocaust of 1762. The Muslim chief of Ko&#7789 Kachh&#363&#257, near Lakhnaur, had also participated in this massacre. During the retaliatory operations launched by the Sikhs in 1763-64, Ko&#7789 Kachh&#363&#257 was razed to the ground and its debris transported to Lakhnaur to construct a shrine in the form of a large <i>havel&#299</i>. After the British occupation of the Punjab in March 1849, the rulers of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 acquired Lakhnaur and a few neighbouring villages from the British, surrendering some territory of their own in exchange. After 1947, the historic shrine in Lakhnaur was first placed under the Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) Dharm Arth Board and later, consequent upon the merger of PEPSU with the Punjab, under the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The main building of the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> is constructed on a high plinth in the centre of the <i>havel&#299</i>. It is itself in the form of an inner <i>havel&#299</i> consisting of the shrine proper in the centre, a narrow compound, and rooms along three of the walls. A flight of steps leads to the inner shrine which has a square sanctum with a high lotus dome and four smaller decorative domes at the corners. The whole interior, including the cupola is tastefully decorated with designs and patterns in colour. The exterior, too, is adorned with round pilasters, door-sized niches, alcoves, and a wide curved coping. Sikhs gather here in large numbers on the first of each Bikram&#299 month, when special <i>d&#299v&#257ns</i> take place. An annual fair on the occasion of Dussehr&#257 commemorates the special ceremony held on this day in 1670 when offerings were made to Gobind Si&#7749gh by his maternal uncle, Mehar Chand, and Bh&#257&#299 Je&#7789h&#257 the <i>masand</i>, and other Sikhs.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1">Shahi, Joginder Singh, <i>Sikh Shrines in India and Abroad</i>. Faridabad, 1978<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>