PLACE OF INTEREST
The Gurdaspur District lies in the north-west corner of the Punjab, on the Indo-Pak frontier along the India side if the River Ravi. There are a good number of place of historical and religious interest in this area which are described below in alphabetical order:
Achal.- Situated at a distance of about 6 km form the tahsil head-quarters at Batala, this small locality comprises two ancient temples and a gurdwara. The temple dedicated to the Shiva’s son Kartikeya, also called Achleshwar Maharaj, is particularly famous. It is situated on the bank of large pucca tank, in the centre of which stands another temple dedicated to Shive. The place is said to date back to the time of the Kaurvas and Pandvas.
During his visit to the Punjab in 1598, Emperor Akbar passed by Batala on his way to Govindwal (in Tahsil Tran Taran, District Amritsar) to meet Guru Arjun Dev. In this connection, Sujan Rai Bhandari of Batala writes in his Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh: “When His Majesty Left Lahore and reached the neighborhood of Batala, he came to know that a fight had taken place in the house of Achal between Musalman fakirs and a group of Hindu sanyasis. This Muslim fakirs prevailed and, by way of retaliation, they demolished the temple of the place. His Majesty King kabar to do justice against the excesses committed, put many of them into prison and ordered that the demolished temples should be built anew.”1
Once Guru Nanak Dev, accompanied by his disciples including Bhai Lehna (who later on succeeded him as Guru Angad Dev), visited Achal on the occasion of the Shivaratri fair which brought vast multitudes to this otherwise small place for six days of religious pilgrimage, festivity, music, vaudevilles, acrobatic displays and carousal. Mendicants, ascentics and holy men came in large numbers. Predominant among them were the Yogis and Siddhas. A discourse took place between Guru Nanak Dev on the other hand and the Yogis, Siddhas, etc. on the other. The prominent among the Yogis were Pavan Nath and Bhangar Nath2. A gurdwara is built there in the memory of the Guru’s visit to the place.
Bahrampur. – Situated in Tahsil Gurdaspur, Bahrampur is connected by road with Dinanagar and Gurdaspur. It is 8 km from the former place and 11 km from the latter. There are 2 high schools, a civil dispensary, a veterinary dispensary and a post office with telephone facility. Its population was 3,565 in 1971 as against 3,027 in 1961.
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1. Sujan Rai Bhandari, Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (Persian),
(1918 edition), p. 425 (referred to by Hari Ram Gupta in his History of Sikh
Gurus (New Delhi, 1973, pp. 93, 106)
2. The discourse between Guru Nanak Dev and the
Yogis, Siddhas, etc. held at Achal, is desctibed by Meharban in his Janamsakhi,
II, pp. 69-70. It is reproduced in an
article entitled ‘Guru Nanak at Kartarpur’ by Harbans Singh, published in the Sikh
Review, Vol. XXI, No. 240, November 1973, pp. 11-21
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Bahrampur near Dinanagar sprang into prominence. It was founded by Haji Dahram Khan, at one time Chakladar or Governor of Jammu and Kangra, which were under the control of the then Bahrampur District. A fine old were under the control of the then Bahrampur District. A fine old mosque, now falling into ruins, built in 1684 by Haji Rajab Ali, and a large Idgah are perhaps the only memorials of the palmy days of Bahrampur. It was here that in Shsh Jahan’s (1627-1658) time that the forces under prince Murad assembled for the campaign against Raja Jagat Chand of Nurpur, and hence they marched to Pathankot before attacking Nurpur, Man and Taragarh. The town is also noteworthy, as the first position of any consequence obtained by the well-known Adina Beg who was Governor of Bahrampur, a post to which he was raised by Zakariya Khan, the Viceroy of the Punjab, during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719-1748).
Bahrampur was originally surrounded by a wall about 8 feet wide with four burjs (minarets). There were six gates, out of which two still exist. The wall has disappeared though its remnant with a burj in a dilapidated condition still exist in the south-west of the village. There still exist a few old temples, viz. Mandir of Nandas, Devi Shivala, Sitla Mandir, Shivan-da-Mandir, etc.
Barath. – In Pathankot Tahsil, Gurdwara Barath Sahib in village Barath is situated at a distance of about 12 km from Pathankot and about 3-4 km from the railway station Sarna on the Pathankot-Batala-Amritsar branch line.
It is said that Tripta, the mother of Guru Nanak Dev, belonged to the village Barath. Baba Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak Dev, is said to have lived at this place for a considerable period. The present Gurdwara Barath Sahib is reised over the particular place where he resided. Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Ajran Dev and Guru Hargobind are said to have visited this place to pay their respects to Baba Sri Chand. Adjacent to the smadh of Baba Sri Chand in the Gurdwara is a pillar where Guru Arjan Dev is said to have waited for having a glimpse of Sri Chand when the latter was in meditation. A baoli also exists nearby.
A big fair is held at the place every year on the birthday of Baba Sri Chand (who was born at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala District). Fairs are also held here on every Amawas.
Batala. – Headquarters of the sub-division/tahsil of the same name, Batala is connected both by rail and road with Amritsar on the one side and Pathankot on the other, being 38 km from the former and 69 km from the latter. It is also connected both by rail and road with Qadian. By road, Batala is also connected with Fatehgarh Churian, Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur, Kahnuwan, Harchowal, Srigobindpur and Jullundur.
Batala is a class I municipality. Its population was 76,488 in 1971 as against 51,300 in 1961. There are 12 primary schools, 2 middle schools, 10 high/higher secondary schools, 4 degree colleges, Government Training Institute (I.T.I., government Polytechnic, Community Development Training Centre, Regional Foundry Research Centre (run by the Government of India), Quality Marking Centre, a civil hospital, a maternity hospital, a veterinary hospital, two police stations, a post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange and a rest house.
The town of Batala was founded by Rai Ram Deo, a Bhatti Rajput from Kapurthala, during the time of Bahlol Khan Lodi in 1472 A.D. The country between the Satluj and Chenab at that time was to a great extent lying waste, owing to disastrous floods and the ravages of Jasrat Gakhar, and the revenues of the province were formed to Rai Ram Deo by Tahar Khan, the viceroy, for nine lakhs of tankas. Ram Deo became a disciple of Sheikh Muhammad Kadiri of Lahore, and was converted to Islam. The spot first upon for the city was considered unpropitious, and so, on the adviceof astrologers, it was exchanged for that on which the present town now stands, whence the name Batala, from “batta” or “vatta”, exchange. The tomb of Ram Deo, consisting of a brick building, with a sloping dome supported on enormously thick walls constructed of bricks laid in mud, still exists to the south-east of the town, and judging form the slope of the dome, the date of its foundation may be ascribed to the later Pathan or Lodi times. In 1567 A.D., in Akbar’s (1556-1605) time, Shamsher Khan, an eunuch, and the Karori of Batala built a fine tank to the north-east of the town in 1573 A.D. (925 A.H.), and planted gardens in the suburb known as Anakali, where his tomb still stands close to the tank which bears his name. The city was enriched with a bazaar and shops constructed in Aurangzeb’s (1658-1707) regin by Mirza Muhammad Khan, who received the title of Wazur Khan, with a Jama Masjid by Kazi Abdul hak, and a fine garden in three terraces constructed by Amar Singh, Kanungo. Batala at that time enjoyed a great reputation for learning and piety. The saints Shahab-ud-din, Bukhari, Shah Ismail Shah Niamatullah and Sheikh Allahdad lived here.
During the region of Farrukhsiyar (1713-1719), Sayad Muhammad Fazal Gilani established a college here, which attracted students from distant parts of the country. This was, however, destroyed by Banda Bahadur; and the town soon lost its reputation for learning and piety, which had gained for it title of Batala Sharif.
Batala was also the centre of the petty welfare constantly waged between the rival Sikh misals of the Kanhayas and Ramgarhias. From 1798 to 1811, the former misal was ruled by Sada Kaur, the widow of Gurbakhsh Singh Kanhaya. This remarkable woman is till remembered at Batala, which she appears to have administrated with great energy and tolerable success. To the south of the city, close to wall, still exist the remains of her citadel, consisting of present of a very lofty mound, and there are two smaller our-works, said to have been constructed by heron the west and north of the town. She appears to have again been given a grant Batala and Pathankot, as in 1820 she was called upon by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to make over half of her possessions for the support of alleged grandsons, Sher Singh and Tara Singh. At first she refused, but eventually Ranjit Singh, as usual, got her into his power by guile, and then sent a force, which took over all her estates and personal property. She was after this kept in confinement till death in 1832, and Batala and adjoining territory was assigned to Sher Singh. This prince lived here almost entirely until his accession to the throne in January 1841, and the old people of the country round Batala and Kahnuwan used to be full of stories of his prowess as a mighty hunter. His palace at Anarkali (in which the Baring Union Christian College, Batala, is housed), built somewhat in the Italian style, is an imposing pile its way, and commands a fine view of all the country round. He also converted Shamsher Khan’s mosque, in the centre of the large tank at Anakali, into a pavilion, which still exists. The Hansali Nullah which once carried water to the Golden Temple, Amritsar, flows through this town and drains off the flood waters.
There is the historic Gurdwara Kandh Sahib at Batala where a part of the scared wall still exists in a glass case. Guru Nanak Dev came to this place with his marriage party comprising deformed and maimedpersons. This caused an offence to the relatives of his bride and some of them conspired, out of anger, to push this wall on the marriage party. History has it that, with the spiritual power of the Guru, this wall stood up the onslaught. A gurdwara has been constructed at this place.
There is a Sati Lakshmi Park which house the smadh of Lakshmi Devi, the wife of Vir Haqiqat Rai of Sialkot.
The Punjab occupies an important place in India’s Industrial development while Batala gets the first place in making iron products and small-scale manufacturing units, thus forming the backbone of Punjab in the technical field.
Small-scale industries of Batala manufacture machine tools and agriculture implements. Plano-miller is a machine which is just being manufactured by a unit in Batala, though there is a queue of other machine s, viz. planer, lathes shapers, drilling machines, etc. Besides being situated on the border line, the efforts of the entrepreneurs and the skilled efficiency of labour has enable Batala to occupy a prominent place in the industrial development of the Punjab. The era of economic stability and prosperity is enhanced by rapid industrialisation of the city after the partition. No doubt the partition gave a serious setback to the local industry because some of the efficient workers migrated to Pakistan. It took some span of time to recover and revive the agricultural implements manufacturing industry whereas the machine tool industry was in its nascent form. At present both of them are at the peak of their prosperity. More than seven hundred small-scale units are engaged in manufacturing machine tools and agricultural implements, etc.
Small-scale units occupy a prominent place in industrial progress. Batala is already reporting machine tools as well as agricultural implements.
There is a Co-operative Sugar Mill at Batala.
Dera Baba Nanak.- Situated in the left bank of the river Ravi in the Batala Tahsil, Dera Baba Nanak is connected by road with Gurdaspur, Batala, Fatehgarh Churian, and Ajnala (in Amritsar District). Before the partition of the country in 1947, Dera Baba Nanak railway station was situated on the Amritsar-Sialkot railway line, but therefore it became a railway terminus. The town has, thus, suffered much on account of a stoppage of traffic to Sialkot (in Pathankot). It is a class III municipality. Its population in 1971 was 5,338 as against 5,288 in 1961.
There are a higher secondary school for boys and a high school for girls, a civil dispensary, a veterinary hospital, a police station, a post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange and a rest house.
After his long travels during the ‘Fourth Udasi’, Guru Nanak Dev came to the village to the village of Pakhoke where his fatehr0in-law, Mul Chand, lived. Mul Chand was the Patwari (a revenue official) of this area and was greatly respected by the people. The Guru’s wife, Mata Sulakhani, along with her two sons-Sri Chand and Lakhmi Das-was also there. As soon as the news, that the Guru was camping at well outside the village, reached Ajita Randhawa, the local chieftain, he along other devotees presented himself at the Guru’s feet and sought enlightenment him. It was also at this place that Mata Sukakhni along with her two sons requested the Guru to live with his family and, provide them the opportunity to serve him. This very place was later on selected as the site for founding the town of Dera Baba Nanak by Sri Chand and the Guru’s other descendents.
The village of Pakhoke is situated on the left bank of the River Ravi. People from far away places came for a glimpse of the Guru and for being enlightened by the spiritual discourses given by him. Doda Chaudhary, another village chief, offered to donate as much land on the right side of the river as the Guru required and requested him to build a dharmsala there. Guru Nanak Dev constructed a dharmsala at this place and, thus, founded the town of Kartarpur in 1521. Kartarpur, which is now in Pakistan, is situated at a distance of about 3 km from Dera Baba Nanak. For 18 years, from 1521 to 1538 A.D., Guru Nanak Dev stayed at Kartarpur. He brought his wife, sons and the aged parents to this place. Families of Bhai Mardana and other devotees also settled down at Kartarpur. To provide Honest and other hard-earned living, the Guru set up a modest farm on the lands donated by his devotees. Here the Guru practised the integrated view of life and spirituality to which he gave expression and his emphasis was upon duty being inalienably related to religious life. It was at Kartarpur that the Guru found his successor in Bhai Lehna who became Guru Angad Dev.
After the death of Guru Nanak Dev in 1538, his descendants, the Bedis, continued to reside in Kartarpur until the encroaching river started sweeping away the place. They, then crossed the river and laid the foundation of the town which they called Dera Baba Nanak after the name of their holy ancestor.
Gurdwara Darbar Sahib
During the period 1744 to 1754, the Bedis, descendants of Guru Nanak Dev, purchased lands and laid the foundation of the town of Dera Baba Nanak. There they built a kutcha temple on the spot where Guru Nanak Dev used to sit or offer his prayers to God. Diwan Nanak Bakhsh, wazir to the Nawab of Hyderabad, Deccan, offered a sum of Rs 50,000 for the building of a brick temple. Subsequently, Raja Chando Lal contributed a large sum of money to its construction. In 1765, the construction of the temple was begun through the agency of Bedis. The work was finished in 1787. In 1825, Maharaja Ranjit Singh offered a handsome contribution for the completion of the work, and it was completed in 1827. Rani Chand Kaur (widow of Maharaha Kharak Singh), during her regency from November 1840 to January 1841, caused a portion of the temple to be decorated with gold leaf. The shrine is called Darbar Sahib.
Gurdwara Tahli Sahib
There is also a second temple, known as Tahsil Sahib, from a large tahsil or shisham tree, which stood close to it. This temple was erected by Baba Sri Chand, the son of Guru Nanak Dev. In 1869, the temple was carried away by the Ravi, and in place of it the people constructed another on the other bank of the river in a village (Malukwali or Kaliwal/Mulowali) near the Fatehgarh Churian road, but it was again moved to the present building situated at a short distance outside the town to the north.
Gurdwara Chola Sahib
The town of Dera Baba Nanak also contains a precious relic in the shape of a chola (coat), once worn by Guru Nanak Dev. It is said to have been presented to the guru when he visited Mecca and is inscribed with thousands of Arabic words and figures. The chola is now kept preserved in Gurdwara Chola Sahib an a large number of people visit the place every year to have a glimpse of the relic.
Baisakhi, Diwali and Puranmashi (full moon night) in the month of Kartik (October-November) are some of the important fairs held at Dera Baba Nanak every year.
Dhariwal. – The town lies on the Amritsar-Pathankot road and the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot railway branch lines. By road, Dhariwal is 59 km from Amritsar and 48 km from Pathankot. It is 12 km from Gurdaspur, the tahsil and district headquarters. The Upper Bari Doab Canal and the G.T. Road each bifurcates the town into halves. It is a class II municipality. The population of the town was 9,985 in 1971 as against 9,601 in 1961.
There are a primary school, a middle school for girls, 4 high schools for boys and two for girls, a degree college for girls, the Salvation Army Mac Robert Hospital, a civil dispensary, a veterinary hospital, a police station, a post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange and the Canal Rest House.
Dhariwal is a big market for paddy and wheat. There are 8 rice-shellers in the town. The place came into prominence with the establishment of the New Egerton Woollen Mills here in 1880. The products of the mill are marketed under the name of the town Dhariwal.
There is the historical Gurdwara Burj Sahib raised in the memory of the visit of Guru Arjun Dev. A big mela is held here every month on the Amavas day. Dhariwal is also an important centre of the activities of the Christian missions.
Dhianpur. – To the left of the road from Batala to Dera Baba Nanak, Dhianpur is a well-known shrine of Bairagis of the Ramanandi sect. The population of the village was 1,496 in 1971 as against 1,184 in 1961. It falls in the Batala Tahsil.
The dera of Dhianpur was originally founded by Baba Lal Dayal, popularly known as Baba Lal Ji, of the Ramanand’s sect. He is said to have lived in the time of Emperor Shah Jahan (1627-1658) whose eldest son Dara Shikoh used to have frequent religious disputations with the saint Lal Ji. The doctrine of monotheism was the favourite topic of their discussions, so much so, in fact, that Dara Shikon is said to have adopted his opponent’s views and was, therefore, regarded by the Muhammadans as a heretice. In the main building of the dera, there are wall paintings depicting saint Lal Ji and Dara Shikoh engaged in conversation on religious topics. A jagir of about 500 acres of land is attached to the dera for its maintenance.
The present guru is the fourteenth in the line of succession on the gaddi. A story goes that the twelfth guru in the lineage, Baba Harnam Das, on one night in a dream received blessings from devi (a goddess) to the effect that any barren women taking bath in the baoli, situated in the premises of the dera, would be blessed with a child; and that any woman whose children do not survive or who suffered from repeated abortions would be cured thereby. Under this belief, quite a good number of women visited the dera.
The people from far and near visit the place. Fairs are held every year on the Baisakhi day and on Saturdays and Sundays falling in the month of Magh Sudhi.
Dinanagar. – The town lies on the Amritsar-Pathankot road and the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot railway branch line. By road, it is 24 km from Pathankot and 12 km from Gurdaspur, the tahsil and district headquarters. It is a class II municipality. Its population was 10,607 in 1971 as against 9,599 in 1961.
There are 2 primary schools, a middle school for girls, a high school for girls, 2 higher secondary schools for boys, a college for women, a Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya, a municipal library, a municipal hospital, a veterinary hospital, a free Ayurvedic dispensary, a police station and a police post, a post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange and the P.W.D. (B & R) Rest House. The Government Sericulture Farm, Dinanagar, is under the Industries Department, Punjab, Chandigarh.
The town was originally named Adina Nagar after the name of its founder Adina Beg who founded it in 1730 on the banks of Hansli or Shah Nahar as his residence and cantonment. Adina Beg was made Governor of Behrempur Zakriya Khan, Subedar of Labor, and subsequently placed in charge of the Jullundur Doab. He seems to have exercised his government mainly from this town. During the Sikhperiod, it formed a favourite summer resort. Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia was the chief proprietor and jagirdar of the estate. The Hansli canal flowed close by, and baradaries were built of its banks in the middle of shady mango groves. Bathing ghats used to extent along its banks, but these were dismentaled on the absorption of the Hansli in the Bari Doab Canal. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s ladies’ apartments are now utilised as an office for the municipal committee and the house occupied by General Ventura is now a rest house. Dinanagar once formed the headquarters of the district, which were subsequently removed to Gurdaspur.
Established in 1938, the Dayanand Math is an important institution at Dinanagar. It maintains the Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya which runs classes for Pragya, Visharad and Shastri examinations. It also runs an Ayurvedic pharmacy, a free Ayurvedic dispensary and a library.
A fortnightly Urdu paper, Dohra Pul, is published from Dinanagar.
There are a good number of mango gardens in and around Dinanagar. The chief agricultural products marketed here are paddy and wheat. The important industrial products are : conduit pipes, rubber belts, tonga rood strips (wooden) and takhtis (wooden boards for children to write on). A cattle fair is held there every month.
The Sewa Sadan Lepar Colony at Dinanagar was established in 1972. Among the old religious places in the town, mention may be made of Bhutnath Mandir, Kali Mata Mandir, Sitla Mandir and Shivala Bhaiyan (built by Munshi Jai Kishan Das in 1844).
Dorangla. – Situated at a distance of 16 km from Gurdaspur, the tahsil and district headquarters, the village of Dorangla is connected by road with the former. Dorangla is the headquarters of the block of the same name. Its population was 2,730 in 1971 as against 2,724 in 1961.
There is a high school and a middle school and a civil dispensary and a veterinary hospital.
Before the partition of the country in 1947, it used to be prosperous village lying on the road connecting Gurdaspur and Shakargarh, and was a trading centre for the merchandise of Shakargarh Tahsil (transferred to Pakistan in 19747).
Fatehgarh Churian. – Situated at a distance of 26 km north-west of Batala, the tahsil headquarters, Fatehgarh Churian is connected by road with Dera Baba Nanak, Batala, Amritsar and Ajnala. It lies on the Amritsar-Verka-Dera Baba Nanak railway branch line. It is a class III municipality. The population of the town was 7,590 in 1971 as against 6,439 in 1961.
There are 3 primary schools, 2 high schools and a higher secondary school, an arts and crafts school, a primary health centre, a veterinary hospital, a municipal library and a panchayat samiti library, a police station, a post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange and the Canal Rest House.
The town was founded by Sardar Fateh Singh Kanhaya who built bere a fort named Fatehgarh. As a large number of churigars (bangle makers) lived at this place, their name also got associated with the town which came to the called Fatehgarh Churian. Maharaja Ranjit Singh contracted the marriage of his con Kharak Singh with Chand Kaur, a grand-daughter of Sardar Fatech Singh. She built here a beautiful temple with a pucca tank, which still stands. It is said that there was a pucca tunnel connecting the temple and the fort, built for the convenience of Chand Kaur who daily went to the temple for worship.
After the partition of the country, in 1947, a large number of weavers settled here. They are given guidance and assistance by the Punjab Khadi Mandal, Adampur (District Jullundur).
There is one Government Milk Chilling Plant.
Ghuman. – In Batala Tahsil, the village Ghuman is situated on the Mehta-Srigobindpur road, at a distance of about 9 km from Srigobindpur. Its population was 3,464 in 1971 as against 2,767 in 1961.
During the Sikh period the taluka of Ghuman formed part of the possessions of the Ramgarhia Sardars, from whom it was seized by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816. Afterwards, it was made over in jagir to Kanwar Nau Nehal Singh but was escheated to government on his death in 1841.
There is temple of Baba Nam Dev, the miracle-working saint of the Muhammadan ascendancy. Nam Dev was contemporary of Firoz Shan Tughlak (1351-1388). He belonged to Maharashtra. In the latter part of his life, visiting holy places, Nam Dev reached the Punjab. He settled at Ghuman and finally died hers.
Gurdaspur. – The headquarters of the district of the same name, Gurdaspur lies on the Amritsar-Pathankot road and the Amritsar Batala Pathankot railway branch line. It is also connected by road with Talwara (Hoshiarpur District), Srigobindpur, Dera Baba Nanak and Dorangla. Gurdaspur is 71 km from Amritsar, 33 km from Batala and 38 km from Pathankot on the Amritsar-Pathankot road. It is class II municipality. The population of the town was 32,064 in 1971 as against 27, 665 in 1961.
There are 2 primary schools, 6 high schools (4 for boys and 2 for girls), 2 higher secondary schools, (one for boys and the other for girls), a Government Girls’ Normal School, a Government College, a Government Polytechnic, a civil hospital, a police hospital, a T.B. hospital, a Border Security Force dispensary, a free private dispensary, a veterinary hospital, 2 police stations, a P.W.D. (B & R) Rest House and a Sainik Rest House. Besides, there is one serai.
The town of Gurdaspur derives its name from Sri Guriya Ji, who, according to the revenue records, purchased a village in the earlier half of the seventeenth century, and named it after himself. Shri Gurija Ji was a learned man and a saintly disposition. He is stated to have shifted from Paniar (a village abour 8 km north of the town of Gurdaspur) to a site about 16 km towards Pathankot. This place was a forest, and he took the permission of the then ruler to settle down in a part of it, naming it as Gurdaspur. This other Gurdaspur is situated at a short distance from the railway station Parmanand (on the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot railway branch line) in the Pathankot Tahsil.
The revenue records show that Guriya Ji had two sons : Naval Rai and Pala Ji. The descendants of Pala Ji in habit the other Gurdaspur village (popularly known as Gurdaspur Bhaian), while the descendants of Naval Rai developed this Gurdaspur town, the district headquarters. Naval Rai’s son Deep Chand was renowned figure of his day. He was a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh and was associated with his religious activities. Deep Chand is referred to by his descendants as Guru Gunj Baksh, a title which is supposed to have been conferred upon him by the Tenth guru. He had a following of his own and, right till the partition of the country in 1947, people from as far away as Kabul used to come and pay homage to the shrines associated with him. His smadh is situated outside the town, off the road to Batala. The old residents of Gurdaspur pay homage to it on important family functions. On the Diwali evening, the smadh is lit up with earthen lamps (deepaks) offered by the devotees.
The descendants of Deep Chand reside in the heart of the town. The residence of the head of the family came to be known as ‘Rangmahal’, and there is an old temple next to it. Because of this religious background, the descendants are referred to as ‘Mahants”. Deep Chand had two sons: Saran Das and Narain Das. They came to be known as the Bari Sarkar and the Chhoti Sarkar, respectively. The Bari Sarkar had his residence at the Rangmahal. The construction of a separate residence for the Chhoti Sarkar was initiated about middle of the eighteenth century, but somehow it did not progress beyond the coming up of a wide wall comprising a set of arches. The wall to this day is intact, and vibrates considerably, on being shaken by any one sitting on the top of it. For this reason, it is known as the Jhulna Mahal.
Swami Dayanand, founder of the Arya Samaj, visited Gurdaspur about 1876 and established its branch there.
The old Mughal route to Kashmir passes through the town. The boat-ferry (pattan) at Naushehra on the River Beas, linked it with Delhi, through the Hoshiarpur area, on the east, while another ferry at the Trimmu pattan on the River Ravi linked it with Jammu through the Sialkot District (now in Pakistan). In spite of this important situation, Gurdaspur remained unimportant as a trading or manufacturing centre. A few rice-shellers, saw mills, incubator manufacturing units, etc. have come up but the importance of the place is mainly due to its agricultural produce. The area produces excellent varieties of litchi and mangoes. High quality Basmati rice of this area is comparable with the best anywhere. Sucrose contents of sugarcane grown here is considered to be amongst the highest in the northern India. It is also an important vegetable producing area. The Regional Research Station, Gurdaspur, carries on research on crop improvement.
There is an institution named Kala Kendra where music-both vocal and instrumental, dancing and painting are taught. It has a building of unique design with an open-air theatre on its roof.
The Upper Bari Doab Canal branches off at a distance of about 5 km east of the town. The works provide a pleasant landscape where people go out for picnics during summer. There is also a sports stadium in the town.
About 6 km to the west of the town of Gurdaspur lies the old village of Gurdas Nangal, known as Bande-wali Theh, where Banda Bahadur put up his last fight against the Mughals in 1715.
The Government Poultry Farm at Gurdaspur is the biggest in the State. Training is poultry farming is also imparted there.
Jakhbar.- This tiny village, near Narot Mehra in Pathankot Tahsil, which is the home of a Shaiva establishment bears a very descriptive name, Jakhbar Jogian (Jakhbar of the Jogis) or Jakhbar. The first part of the name is explained locally with reference to the small temple of a celebrated and bountiful Jakh (Sanskrit, Yaksha), which is topped by an enormous tree, bar (banian), and stands at the eastern edge of the village; the second part refers to the Nath Jogis, around whose monastery or dera the village has apparently grown. The significance that the village possesses it owes wholly to the Jogis, and neither to its size which is negligible nor to its situation which is obscure. Jakhbar, in fact, occupies a remote corner at the north-western end of the district which touches on the one hand the State of Jammu and Kashmir and on the other the country of Pakistan.
The village of Jakhbar itself has little of interest ourside of the jogi establishment and the shrine of the Jakh ; it is an overgrown hamlet which clusters around the considerable complex of buildings that house the jogis. It is dominated by the dera of the jogis much in the same manner, one might think, as the local population is by the mahant who occupies the Jakhbar gaddi. The dera is enclosed on its eastern side by an enormous wall of masonry which lends it an air of grandeur not wholly possessed even by the foremost jogi monasteries elsewhere. The huge gate at one end of the wall is overlooked by a stucco dvarpal, stern if somewhat lonely guardian of the establishment, holding rigidly and appropriately, an English musket, for the date of this part of the construction is said to be the middle of the nineteenth century.
The wall has several extremely interesting designs in what might be called brick-inlay, the elephants and peacocks and chess-players being formed to like silhouettes with thin black bricks against the usual red ones. Above the gateway and the passage is set of rooms, now occupied by the junior mahant, from which a balcony projects on the vacant space below on what is the tiny square of the village. On the inside, one emerges through the passage into an open space, at the left the which is a large masonry platform over grown with flowers ; this is the smadh of Baba Udant Nath, the founder of the Jakhbar gaddi ; and the unusual fact of there being no structure above the rather austere platform is explained by the tradition preserved at Jakhbar that Udant Nath chose the time to “Surrender his life” himself and did not die in the normal manner. A little further down in this open space is a covered shed which now houses some cattle but did once serve as the ‘chamber’ of the wazirs of the establishment. The present use to which the structure is being put is appropriately indicative of the low opinion now held at the dera of the wazirs, for the story is that one of the wazris proved disloyal enough to induce the then mahant to abolish the very institutions of then wazirs completely. The smadhi and the wazirs’ chamber are features which, among, others, proclaim the true character of a jogi monastic establishment of some magnitude, and what the Jakhbar gaddi has by way of structures in the inner courtyard confirms emphatically the nature of this considerable dera. At one end is the large kitchen, bhandar khana, with an inscription which dates the present construction to A.D. 1879, in the period of Mahant Madho Nath. The ‘gaddi ghar’ or the seat of the rurling mahant is a spacious but austere double-storeyed structure and next to it is a part of the building now in a dilapidating condition which had a painted ceiling with an inscription dating it back to the period of Mahant Dhaja Nath in the early years of the nineteenth century. One part of the structure appears to be the oldest in the establishment and is said to belong to the sixteenth century ; in this is the small shrine in which the dhuni (constant smouldering fire), which distinguishes every jogi establishment, slowly burns. In this part of the structure also are little temples of Shiva, the Devi and Bhairava, holy deities of the jogis, and at one end are several sets of rooms to accommodate the pilgrims and the resident jogis alike.
To the west of the complex of building just describes, is another open space with a number of smadhs of former mahants and in one corner the lonely smadh of the wazirs with faint traces of frescoes still lingering on the ceiling of its dome. All the smadhs are regularly worshipped as a part of the daily ritual at the dera, their presence so close to the living quarters realizing partly the jogi ideal of living in a cremation ground.
The jogi of Jakhbar belong to the Kanphata sect; the very appearance of the present mahant, the venerable octogenarian Baba Brahm Nath, and his enlightened and genial disciple, Shanker Nath, proclaiming emphatically their religious affiliation. In the manner of the strictest of the Kanphatas, they wear large mudras in their ears and carry on their persons the scared symbols of the faith : the seli (consisting of a string of black woolen thread), a bead, the nad (a little whistle made of horn) and the rudraksha mala (the rosary made of the fruit of the elaeocarpus gantitrus). The texts read and recited at the dera include hand-written copies of the works scared to the Jogis, many of them inscribed at Jodhapur for Mahant Chanchal Nath, according to their colophons. The names of Gorakh Nath and Machhandar Nath are hallowed names of the dera ; and legend brings to profuse references to Raja Gopi Chand and Bhartrihari, and to Purann Bhagat and Raja Rasalu.
The strong impression that one receives at Jakhbar, however, is that this gaddi of the jogis has become a little isolated from the general organization of the Kanphatas over the years. This may have been due to the general indifference of the mahants to outside matters which is a point that often emerges from any discussion with Baba Brahm Nath, or again to the relative lack of importance of the sub-sect to which this gaddi belongs. The only organizational fact prominently mentioned at Jakhbar is that this gaddi belongs to the Ganganathi panth. The Ganganathis do not happen to be the most prominent of the twelve sub-sects in which the Kanaphatas are according to tradition divided ; the Jakhbar gaddi has consequently gone almost completely unnoticed so far.
Every tradition preserved at the place land every materail object that could lend substance to the legend, points to the fact that the gaddi was founded by Udant Nath, also referred to as Pir Bhaur Nath. ‘Pir’ beign an epithet which in spite of its strongly Muslim association is always used for the heads of jogi monastic establishments. The date of Udant Nath is not specifically mentioned, except on a nineteenth century portrait in oils of the ascetic where it is given as A. H. 989, possibly following the tradition preserved at Jakhbar ; but he is referred to always in association with Emperor Akbar (1556-1605). The contemporaneity of the two is sought to be proven in several ways and a number of stories are to be heard at Jakhbar that tell of the deep reverence in which Udant Nath was held by the Mugal Emperor.
Nothing is known of the guru of Udant Nath and no names come to us to bridge the long period of five or six centuries that must have elapsed between Gorakh Nath and the Jakhbar ascetic. The history of the Jakhbar gaddi begins suddenly with the second half of the sixteenth century.
The time of the death of Udant Nath is not known to the tradition of Jakhbar, but the documents indicate that he was alive in 1597 and had been succeeded by 1606. One important event took place before Udant Nath’s death, the settlement at Jakhbar. He is said originally to have lived at the small village of Bhoa where the documents clearly indicate the first grant of land to the jogis was made by the Mughal Emperor. The Bhoa grant, however, was ill-fated, for it happened to be on the bank of the wayward Ravi, and seems to have been submerged under water soon after the jogis received it.
It is perhaps reasonable to assume that their choice of a place for settling down fell on a spot close to the nearby shrine of the Jakh, which must have then stood in a field as so many Jakh shrines still do, because of the sanctity of the site and the large number of people who must have resorted to the Jakh for gaining boons and favours. The shrine was not far from the rather large village Narot Mehra from which, at a later time, an area of land equivalent to that held by the jogis at Bhoa was carved out of to be given to them following imperial orders. Gradually, we are led to believe, the new home of the jogis became the nucleus of a settlement which kept on growing, though not very much, with the years and is the Jakhbar Jogian of today.
The jogis of Jakhbar do not marry and it is a spiritual not a natural heir who succeeds to the gaddi. It is not clear as to who succeeded Udant Nath who must have had several disciples. The names of a very large number of mahants who came after Udant Nath are listed in a genealogical table of the gaddi which was compiled at the time of the preparation of the British record of rights in 1865 by the then Mahant Chanchal Nath. But the accuracy of this table is a little open to question. However, the tree of succession, considered correct according to the present tradition at Jakhbar, is as under :
Bhaur Nath (Udant Nath), Kanchan Nath, Tind nath, Surat nath, Anand Nath, Hira Nath, Lal Nath, Shardha Nath, Subuddha Nath, Mayya Nath, Gomati Nath, Dhaja Nath, Chanchal Nath, Madho Nath, Tani Nath, Sohan Hath, Brahm Nath and (the present mahant) Shankar Nath.
Whether it was for reasons of the practice of hath yoga by the Jogis or their personal piety, the Jakhbar gaddi seems always to have wielded great influence. The antiquity of a gaddi is always a factor with the people paying it homage, and in this matter the Jakhbar dera has been looked upon with deep reverence. Apart from the gaddi of Tilla which is associated with Gorakh Nath himself or with Lakshman Nath, his disciple, this appears to have been the most ancient of the jogi monasteries in the Punjab.
The Shivarati festival is celebrated at Jakhbar on a considerable scale.3