JAVAND SINGH MOKAL

NARAYANA, wellknown centre, Dadu Dvara, of the Dadupanthi sect of sadhus founded by saint Dadu (15441603) of the Bhakti movement, half a kilometre from Naraina railway station and 71 km from Ajmer (26° 27`N, 74° 42`E). Guru Gobind Singh visited this Dadu Dvara in the course of his travels through Rajasthan in 1706. He was received by Mahant Jait Ram, then head of the cloister. The Guru saluted the samadh of Dadu with his arrow to which the Sikhs took exception. They said that this was contrary to his own teaching which forbade the Sikhs to bow before idols, graves and samadhs. The Guru explained that he had done it intentionally in order to test whether his Sikhs were vigilant enough to ensure strict observance of Sikh rules of conduct by all, high and low. The Sikhs imposed a fine on the Guru for this breach of religious discipline which the Guru readily paid. A platform called Thara Sahib was later constructed around the group of three banyan trees consecrated by the Guru`s brief sojourn under them. It is a marbletopped stone structure just outside the entrance to the Dadupanthi temple.

NALUCHHI, a village three kilometres west of Muzaffarabad in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, had a gurudwara commemorating Guru Hargobind who had visited the village during his visit to Kashmir in 1620. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had made out to it a land grant worth Rs 3,000 annually. Baisakhi was observed as a religious festival in the gurudwara until its evacuation in the wake of invasion by Pakistansupported tribal raiders in October 1947.

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.

MORINDA (SOWN, 76°29`E), also called Baganvala, an old village in Ropardistrict of the Punjab, has a historical shrine called Gurdwara Shahidgarij. On 7 December 1705, as Guru Gobind Singh along with his two elder sons and a handful of disciples, was locked in an unequal battle with the besieging hordes at Chamkaur, his aged mother, Mata Gujan, and the two younger sons, betrayed by their domestic servant, Garigu, were taken into custody at Kheri (now Saheri) and brought to Morinda byJani Khan and Mani Khan, the Rarighar headmen. They were despatched the next day to Sirhind where they were bricked alive in a wall and then executed on 13 Poh 1762 Bk/ 12 December 1705 (27 December now according to new calendar). The place where they were interned at Morinda is now marked by Gurdwara Shahid Garij. At the end of 1763, the Dal Khalsa, before advancing on Sirhind, attacked and destroyed Morinda. Jani Khan and Mani Khan and their entire male progeny were killed. The Gurdwara, in the western part of the town, is said to have been built by Raja Bhup Singh of Ropar, who also donated a plot of gardenland to it. The present buildings are in a walled compound entered through a doublestoreyed gateway. The divan hall, with a square sanctum in the middle, stands on a raised base. Buildings for the langar and for residential accommodation are in a separate enclosure. The Gurdwara is administered by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.