ADAM

Discover the rich heritage of Narayana, key center of the Dadupanthi sect, half a km from Naraina railway station. Explore its spiritual legacy today.

MUKARRAMPUR. locally called Makaroripur, is 14 km from Sirhind (SOWN, 76°23`E). The village has five different historical shrines. GURDWARA PATSHAHI CHHEVIN, NAUMI ATE DASVIN is the principal Sikh shrine of Mukarrampur. The site is sacred to three of the Gurus. According to local tradition Guru Tegh Bahadur was here on the fullmoon day ofHar 1732 Bk which corresponds to 28 June 1675. Guru Gobind Singh is also believed to have stayed here for two days when, as a child, he was being escorted from Patna to Anandpur. Guru Hargobind, too, is said to have visited the village in the course of a journey through this part of the countryside. The present building was constructed during the 1940`s. Standing on a high plinth, it comprises a square hall, with a domed sanctum in the centre and a verandah around it. The Gurdwara is managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee through a local committee which looks after other shrines in the village as well. Special divans take place on every fullmoon day. The major festival of the year is held on the fullmoon day in the month of Har. GURDWARA SAHIB PATSHAHI 9 is situated inside the village. It is said that, while Guru Tegh Bahadur was staying under a ber tree outside the village, a couple, Mat Mari and her husband Rup Chand, supplicated him to visit their humble dwelling. The Guru granted their wish. This Gurdwara marks the site of the couple`s house. The present building, constructed in 1975, has a domed square sanctum, within a rectangular hall. GURDWARA PAHILl PATSHAHI, a mound called Isarkhel Theh, about one kilometre from the village, marks the site where Guru Nanak is said to have once stayed. The present building constructed in the early 1970`s, within a walled compound, has a square hall, with the sanctum in the middle of it. BUNGA SAHIB and SHAHiD GANJ. Both these shrines, inside the village, are connected with Banda Singh Bahadur`s attack on Sirhind in 1710. The main battle was fought at Chappar Chin, near presentday Chandigarh, but, as the Sikhs pressed on towards Sirhind, the retreating imperial troops put up some resis tance at Mukarrampur. The Mughal force was defeated, but several Sikhs fell in the action. A memorial was raised in their honour inside the village. This has since been replaced by the present Shahid Garij, a small domed square room in which the Guru Granth Sahib is seated. The Buriga Sahib, on the outskirts of the village, is of recent construction and is dedicated to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. It consists of a single domed square room, in which the Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a low platform.

MADHO SINGHANA is a village 15 km south of Sirsa in Haryana. Guru Gobind Singh after leaving Sirsa towards the South made his first halt here. As the village was totally populated by Muslims, no memorial shrine existed until a lone Nihang Singh established a gurdwara during the 1970\'s along the road leading to Ellenabad.

KOTHA GURU, famous old village of the Punjab, announces its antiquity through the existence on its outskirts of a deserted ancient mound. This bulbous mountain of sand dominates the entire skyline of the village concealing within its folds many a layer of distant history. Once upon a time this sprawling old mound was the scat of the Mans, still called in those parts by their old name of "Manhas." The modern period of the village begins with the acquisition of the village site from the Mughal emperor Jaharigir by Baba Prithi Chand of the line of the Sodhis. The earlier name of Kothe Prithi Chand Kc was changed to Kotha Guru by Guru Gobind Singh. The story is also current about the Mughal official SulhI Khan who met with a painful death in a burning fire. He had allowed his horse to run loose over the halfburnt bricks of a kiln. The fact is attested by a line in the Guru Granth Sahib itself (GG, 825). In the time of Baba Prithi Ghand`s son Miharban, the place became a centre of learning and many weighty manuscripts emanated from here. Among them were the Costs of the Bhagats and BJiagat Barn Pammdrtha and Polhi Sac)i Khand which is aJanam Sakhi or life story of Guru Nanak. Miharban`s son and his younger brother wrote commentaries on the sacred texts. Sodhi Abhay Singh who lived in Kotha Guru wrote his monumental Harjas Granth. Sodhi Faujdar Singh was another charismatic character. He had been allowed by the Maharaja of Patiala to keep with him as a special privilege a body of 100 horsemen. In the Singh Sabha days, Pandit Indar Singh of Kotha Guru became famous for his learned commentary on an old Sanskrit text "Aushnash Simrti."