ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SI&#256LKO&#7788 (32º-30'N, 74º-32'N)</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="SILKOl"> <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">&#65279SI&#256LKO&#7788 (32º-30'N, 74º-32'N), an ancient town now in Pakistan, was visited by Gur&#363 N&#257nak more than once during his travels across the country. According to <i>Gi&#257n Ratan&#257val&#299</i>, better known as <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299 Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh</i>, supported by local tradition, as he once arrived here travelling from his native Talva&#7751&#7693&#299, via Saidpur, and took his seat under a <i>ber</i> tree southeast of the town across the Aik stream, he learnt that a S&#363f&#299 faq&#299r, Hamz&#257 <u>Gh</u>aus, had laid the town under a curse of destruction and was undergoing a <i>ch&#257l&#299s&#257</i>, or forty-day self-mortification, for the accomplishment of the doom he had invoked on the citizens. The reason for his wrath was the failure of a Khatr&#299 inhabitant, Ga&#7749g&#257, to fulfil his promise to present the first-born of his three sons he owed to his (faq&#299r's) own blessing. Gur&#363 N&#257nak reasoned with Hamz&#257 <u>Gh</u>aus that he must not blame the sins of one person upon the entire populace among whom there might be some good and wise men. To make a test, the Gur&#363 sent his companion Bh&#257&#299 Mard&#257n&#257 into the town to purchase one farthing's worth of truth and one farthing's worth of falsehood. Mard&#257n&#257 went from shop to shop showing the slips the Gur&#363 had given, but no one understood the strange request until one shopkeeper, M&#363l&#257 by name, took the slips from him and writing on their back the words "Life is false" and "death is the truth", returned these to Mard&#257n&#257 who brought them back to where Gur&#363 N&#257nak and Hamz&#257 <u>Gh</u>aus had been waiting for him. These answers mollified the faq&#299r and pleased the Gur&#363, who went to meet M&#363l&#257. M&#363l&#257 felt heartily rejoiced to see the Gur&#363 and turned a disciple. He gave up his business and accompanied Gur&#363 N&#257nak on his travels through Kashm&#299r and parts of Afghanistan.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to <i>Miharb&#257n Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, Gur&#363 N&#257nak, during his stay at Kart&#257rpur after his long travels, visited Si&#257lko&#7789 once again to see Bh&#257&#299 M&#363l&#257. This time, records the <i>Miharb&#257n Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>, he was accompanied by a band of bare-bodied ascetics. M&#363l&#257, at the suggestion of his wife, who had from a distance seen the Gur&#363 approach, hid himself in a dark room at the back of the house. As the Gur&#363 arrived and enquired about M&#363l&#257, the latter's wife replied that he was not at home and had gone out of town. Gur&#363 N&#257nak left after uttering a couplet : <i>n&#257li k&#299r&#257&#7771&#257 dost&#299 k&#363&#7771ai k&#363&#7771i p&#257i; mara&#7751u na j&#257pai m&#363li&#257 &#257vai kitai th&#257i&#8221 </i> (False is the friendship of shopkeepers; one never knows, O M&#363l&#257! where death may befall one) (GG, 1412). Bh&#257&#299 M&#363l&#257 died soon after. Although the <i>Meharb&#257n Janam S&#257kh&#299</i> says that he was struck by remorse and was pardoned and blessed by the Gur&#363 before his end, popular tradition attributes M&#363l&#257's death to a snake-bite he suffered in his place of hiding itself.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There were two historic <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> in Si&#257lko&#7789 both affiliated to the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, which were abandoned at the time of the 1947 exodus.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 B&#256BE D&#298 BER marks the site where Gur&#363 N&#257nak had stayed under a <i>ber</i> tree, still preserved, at the time of his first visit to the town. In 1913 when the <i>mahant</i> or priest-in-charge, Harn&#257m Si&#7749gh, died, the government recognized a minor as his successor and appointed an apostate, Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh, as <i>sarbar&#257h</i> or manager. This was resented by the Sikhs who, organizing themselves into <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sev&#257k Jath&#257, challenged the arrangement and sought management of the shrine to be transferred to a committee chosen by it. As the law court dismissed the Jath&#257's suit, it launched an agitation which took the form of meetings and processions to press its viewpoint. In face of the mounting protest, the government relented and withdrew on 5 October 1920 the case against Sikh leaders who were being prosecuted, and extended recognition to the 9 member committee which had already occupied the Gurdw&#257r&#257. This could be counted as the first episode in the long-drawn campaign for the reform of the management of Sikh shrines in the Punjab.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;GURDW&#256R&#256 B&#256OL&#298 S&#256HIB, named after an open well with steps descending to water level (<i>b&#257ol&#299</i>, in Punjabi), marks the house of Bh&#257&#299 M&#363l&#257. This shrine too was abandoned following partition of the Punajb in 1947.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith</i>. Bombay, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Kohli, Surindar Singh, <i>Travels of Guru Nanak</i>. Chandigarh, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Narotam, T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sr&#299 Gur&#363 T&#299rath Sa&#7749grahi</i>. Kankhal, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u> Gurdu&#257ri&#257&#7749</i>. Amritsar, n.d.<BR> <li class="C1"> V&#299r Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, ed., <i>Pur&#257tan Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Santokh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Prat&#257p S&#363raj Granth</i>. Amritsar, 1927-35<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>