GHUMAN

GHUMAN, village 10 km west of Sri Hargobindpur (30°41`N, 75°29`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. Namdev (1270-1350), the muchrevered saint of Maharashtra, some of whose hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, lived in this village for a considerable time. Most of his years until the age of 55 were spent at Pandharpur, in Sholapur district of Maharashtra. Then he journeyed extensively through north India and returned to Maharashtra after 18 years. During this period, he also visited the Punjab and, according to tradition, made Ghuman his seat of residence.

The temple at Ghuman which, according to local tradition, has existed since the fourteenth century was renovated by Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (d. 1802), and the tank attached to it repaired by Sada Kaur (d. 1832), head of the Kanhaiya misland motherinlaw of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The main shrine, called Darbar Sahib Baba Namdev Ji, is an octagonal domed room, with marble floor and projecting windows and balconies. In the centre of it is a stone fixed on a marblelined platform under a marble pavilion, hexagonal in shape.

A brass sheet shows the embossed figure of Bhagat Namdev in a sitting posture reviving a dead cow. Next to this shrine is the samddh of Baba Bahur Das, the principal disciple of Namdev in the Punjab. The Guru Granth Sahib is seated in a separate rectangular room commemorating Guru Hargobind`s visit to the shrine. The temple is managed by Sri Namdev Darbar Committee of Ghuman. An annual fair is held on 1 and 2 Magh (mid-January) in the belief that Namdev died here at Ghuman on 2 Magh 1406 Bk.