KARHA SAHIB, a village 11 km west of Pehova (29"59`N, 76°35`E) in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, was visited by four of the Sikh Gurus. Guru Nanak came here during his travels to the eastern parts. Chaudhari Kalu of this village became a follower and is said to have constructed a bdoK his honour. The second of the Sikh Gurus to visit this village was Guru Hargobind. The local tradition places Guru Tegh Bahadur`s visit during his last journey to Delhi, but it is more likely that he passed through this village in the course of one of his earlier travels across the area. Guru Gobind Singh was here in 1702 when he visited the shrines established here in memory of the earlier Gurus. Bhai Udai Singh, the ruler ofKaithal (d. 1843), got three gurudwaras constructed in the same compound and made land grants for their maintenance. These simple structures were replaced by more elegant buildings during the early 1970`s by Sant Jivan Singh of Pehova. The three shrines are sometimes jointly called Triveni Sahib. Two identical shrines in the northern and southern parts of the walled compound are dedicated to Guru Nanak and Guru Tegh Bahadur, respectively. Gurdwara Patshahi Chhevin is in the centre to the east, thus forming the apex of the triangle. The entire compound has a marble floor. The Gurdwaras are affiliated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, but arc for the present managed by the successors of Sant Baba Jivan Singh Scvavalc.
DHERA SINGH, BHAI (1890-1921), was born on 29 August 1890, the son of Bhai Jaimal Singh and Mai Jivan Kaur, a peasant couple of Pandori NiJjarari, in Jalandhar district. On the opening of the Lower Chenab Canal Colony in West Punjab, the family settled in Chakk No. 91 Dhannuana in Lyallpur district. Dhera Singh, though illiterate, was an anointed Singh. He never married and led a simple life of honest hard labour until his martyrdom as a member of the jatha that was massacred in the walled compound of Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib on the morning of 20 February 1921. See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE
DIKKH, village 12 km to the north of Maur Kalan (30° 4`N, 75° 14`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited it during his travels in these parts. According to Sakhi Pothi, an humble Sikh entreated the Guru to come and put up in his house. The Guru accepted his invitation. He blessed his host who had served him with complete devotion. The Sikh, who was childless, had four sons thereafter.A memorial platform raised in honour of the Guru, about 200 metres west of the village, was later buried under sand; but, as memory of the Guru`s visit survived, it was uncovered again and a singleroom gurdwara established on the site in 1917.
TALVARA, locally known as RampurTalvara because of its close proximity to a village called Rampur, lies near Sri Hargobindpur (31041`N, 75029`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. It claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Damdama Sahib, dedicated to Guru Hargobind, who is said to have preached here after the batttle of Ruhela, as Sri Hargobindpur was then called. The Gurdwara has a domed sanctum, octagonal in shape, in the middle of a walled compound entered through a two storeyed gateway, with residential suites on either side.
- 1
- 2
