ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>NANK&#256&#7750&#256 S&#256HIB (31º -28'N, 73º -35'E)</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="NANKF,SHIB"> <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">&#65279NANK&#256&#7750&#256 S&#256HIB (31º -28'N, 73º -35'E), named after Gur&#363 N&#257nak (1469-1539), who was born here on Bais&#257kh <i>sud&#299</i> 3, 1526 Bk/ 15 April 1469, is a sub-divisional town in Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 district in Pakistan. Its old name was Talva&#7751&#7693&#299 R&#257i Bhoe K&#299 or Talva&#7751&#7693&#299 of R&#257i Bhoe, a Muslim R&#257jp&#363t of Bha&#7789&#7789&#299 clan and retainer of the Delhi rulers of early fifteenth century. His descendant, R&#257i Bul&#257r, the chief of Talva&#7751&#7693&#299, was contemporary of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. The first 15 or 16 years of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's life were spent at Talva&#7751&#7693&#299. Later, he shifted to Sult&#257npur Lodh&#299, in present-day Kap&#363rthal&#257 district of the Punjab, where his sister B&#299b&#299 N&#257nak&#299 lived. From there he set out on his long preaching odysseys, visiting his parents at Talva&#7751&#7693&#299 only now and then, his last visit to his native place being in 1510. Several shrines in the town, raised long after his death, mark places where he was born, where he played with other children, where he studied and where he tended cattle.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>GURDW&#256R&#256 JANAM ASTH&#256N</i>, commemorating the birthplace of Gur&#363 N&#257nak is the premier shrine at Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib. A room first built here by his son, B&#257b&#257 Lakhm&#299 D&#257s (1497-1555), more probably by his grandson, B&#257b&#257 Dharam Chand (1523-1618), was known as K&#257l&#363 k&#257 Ko&#7789h&#257, lit. house of (Mahit&#257) K&#257l&#363, father of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. Later it came to be known as N&#257nak&#257ya&#7751, lit. Home of (Gur&#363) N&#257nak. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ranj&#299t Si&#7749gh (1780-1839), at the instance of Ak&#257l&#299 Ph&#363l&#257 Si&#7749gh and B&#257b&#257 S&#257hib Si&#7749gh Bed&#299, constructed the present building, a domed square sanctum with a pavilion in front standing on a spacious, raised platform, and made an endowment of about 20,000 acres of land for the maintenance of Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar. The management remained with Ud&#257s&#299 priests until the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee took it over after the gruesome events of 20 February 1921. With the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 and the migration of Sikh population from Pakistan, the management of all Sikh <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> in the newly created State, including those at Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib, passed to the Waqf Board. The Government of Pakistan later allowed 15 Sikhs to stay in Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib to perform the daily services in the shrines. In 1968 the number was reduced to 5. Now only a <i>granth&#299</i> or scripture-reader and a few Sindhi Sikhs stay at Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n. Batches of pilgrims from India are occasionally allowed to visit with special permission from the Pakistan Government.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 PA&#7788&#7788&#298 S&#256HIB, within town, marks the place where stood Gur&#363 N&#257nak's school. The child N&#257nak, a quick learner, soon became proficient in Hindi, Persian, arithmetic and accounting. The Gurdw&#257r&#257 is a small square room with a fluted lotus dome above it and ornate masonry work on the exterior. It is also called Gurdw&#257r&#257 Maulaw&#299 Pa&#7789&#7789&#299.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 B&#256L L&#298L&#256, about 300 metres southeast of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n, marks the field where Gur&#363 N&#257nak used to play in the company of other children. Gur&#363 Hargobind during his visit to the town is said to have marked the site. D&#299w&#257n Kau&#7771&#257 Mall, a Hindu noble (d. 1752), after his victory over Mult&#257n with the assistance of the Sikhs in 1748, built this Gurdw&#257r&#257 and brick-lined two sides of the nearby tank originally got dug by R&#257i Bul&#257r. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh had the building renovated and the tank enlarged and properly lined. Of the land donated by him, about 3,000 acres were allotted to Gurdw&#257r&#257 B&#257l L&#299l&#257. After the 1921 tragedy at Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n, the custodian <i>mahants</i> of this shrine voluntarily handed it over to the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee in exchange for suitable maintenance allowance for their families. The Gurdw&#257r&#257 was reconstructed during the 1930's and 1940's under the supervision of Sant Gurmukh Si&#7749gh Sev&#257v&#257le (1849-1947). The new building on the bank of the adjoining <i>sarovar</i> is a multi-storeyed domed edifice.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 KI&#256R&#256 S&#256HIB, about two kilometres to the east of Gurdw&#257r&#257 B&#257l L&#299l&#257, commemorates an event connected with the early years of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. While tending his father's herd of cattle, it was common for him to let the animals roam freely while he himself sat engrossed in meditation. Once a peasant complained to R&#257i Bul&#257r that N&#257nak's cattle had damaged the crop in his field, but when the field was inspected, no damage was discovered. The people considered it a miracle and that particular field came to be reverently called Ki&#257r&#257 (lit. field or plot) S&#257hib. A shrine was raised here which was reconstructed by Sant Gurmukh Si&#7749gh Sev&#257vale during the decade preceding the partition of 1947. The new building comprises a square, domed sanctum and a circumambulatory verandah built on a raised plinth.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 M&#256L J&#298 S&#256HIB stands one-and-a-half kilometre east of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n. <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299s</i> record an anecdote stating how Gur&#363 N&#257nak was one day sleeping on the ground under a <i>m&#257l</i> tree, also called <i>v&#257&#7751</i> (<i>Quercus incana</i>) and how in the afternoon as R&#257i Bul&#257r and his men were passing by they noticed that while all shadows had lengthened and shifted eastward, the shade of that particular tree stood still over the sleeping N&#257nak. The <i>B&#257l&#257 Janam S&#257kh&#299</i> has a slightly different version saying that as the shadow of the tree shifted, a cobra was seen spreading its hood over Gur&#363 N&#257nak's face protecting it from the sun. R&#257i Bul&#257r, impressed by the miracle became a devotee. The Gurdw&#257r&#257 on this site was first built by D&#299w&#257n Kau&#7771&#257 Mall and renovated during the time of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 TAMB&#362 S&#256HIB, about 300 metres east of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n, was raised by a Niha&#7749g Sikh about the middle of the nineteenth century. It stands near a huge <i>va&#7751</i> tree spreading its branches like a tent (<i>tamb&#363</i>, in Punjabi). Tradition recounts how Mahit&#257 K&#257l&#363 once gave his son, Gur&#363 N&#257nak, some money for buying merchandise from Ch&#363h&#257&#7771k&#257&#7751&#257, a nearby market town. Gur&#363 N&#257nak, however, spent the money feeding a group of hungry <i>s&#257dh&#363s</i>. Coming back empty-handed and apprehensive of his father's wrath, he is said to have hid himself under the tent-like tree by the side of which now stands Gurdw&#257r&#257 Tamb&#363 S&#257hib.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 CHHA&#7788&#298 P&#256TSH&#256H&#298, about 200 metres east of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Janam Asth&#257n, is dedicated to Gur&#363 Hargobind (N&#257nak VI) who visited Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib in 1620-21. This, too, was built and managed by Niha&#7749g Sikhs and came under the control of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee in 1921.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Narotam, T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sr&#299 Guru T&#299rath Sangrah&#299</i>. Kankhal, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> &#7788h&#257kar Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Gurdu&#257re Darshan</i>. Amritsar, 1923<BR> <li class="C1"> Khan Mohammad Waliullah Khan, <i>Sikh Shrines in West Pakistan</i>. Karachi, 1962<BR> <li class="C1"> Sahi, J.S., <i>Sikh Shrines in India and Abroad</i>. Faridabad, 1978<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Narai&#7751 Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>