Travel

Preparing For The Great Gurpurab in Patna

by MONA MEHTA

 

 

 

The sky was overcast and it was a cold and windy January morning, as we darted barefoot across the marbled courtyard into the Takht Sri Harmandar Sahibi in Patna, Bihar, India.

The spot where the gurdwara stands marks where Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru, was born.

The hall where the morning prayer session was on was full with the sangat that congregated here from far and near.

United Kingdom businessman Peter Singh Virdee chose to take the nine-day trip on the luxury train, the Deccan Odyssey, visiting all the Sikh Takhts with his family.

There was also Sarabjeet Singh who arrived with 13 others, two days ahead of the gurpurab, the Guru's birth anniversary, after a 48-hour truck ride from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, to do seva.

If for Peter and his family the journey was about touching base with their roots, for Sarabjeet it was about doing seva (volunteer service).

HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS ON DISPLAY

The jathedar was displaying the Guru's relics, mostly from his childhood. The sangat looked on with awe as the sevadars brought out gold-encrusted ivory slippers of Gobind Rai, as he was known as a child. The slippers were then restored reverentially inside the glass box.

The Ninth Master, Guru Tegh Bahadar, was in Patna during his tour of the East when he decided to leave his expectant wife, Mata Gujri, in the care of the sangat here.

Gobind Rai was born here on December 22, 1666. After spending several years here, he moved to Anandpur, Punjab, succeeding his father as the next Guru, upon Guru Tegh Bahadar's martyrdom..

On April 13, 1699, on Vaisakhi Day, Guru Gobind established the Khalsa Panth by initiating the Punj Pyaras to Amrit. A decade later, at Nanded, he proclaimed the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, as the perpetual Living Guru.

The Patna gurdwara houses the Guru's cradle, his silken frock, a copy of the Adi Granth signed by him, and other relics. It also has three pieces of the wooden spinning implements that belonged to Bhagat Kabir, whose verses are included in the Guru Granth Sahib.

The gurdwara was gearing up for the January 5 birthday celebrations. As the diwan concluded, the sevadar made announcements regarding the celebrations. A kavi darbar was scheduled, as in every celebration here, as part of the festivities.

Circumambulating the gurdwara, we could see a series of rooms where the sangat or the faithful were engaged in seva, such as preparing parshad. We were told, for example, that several quintals of laddoos had already been readied for distribution.

In the lane behind the gurdwara, trucks full of sevadars were pulling in. Many, like Sarabjeet, had arrived from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, laden with langar supplies for the non-stop langar which would serve the masses over the next few days.

"We've brought 10 canisters of ghee, 40 quintals of wheat flour, 20 tons of potatoes," Sarabjeet rattled off, returning to his cosy bed of straw in the back of his truck.

THE SANGAT EATS TOGETHER

Sarabjeet and friends were to be assisted by a team of 60 men and women from their sangat and were expected to arrive next day by train.

"Together we will feed around 10,000 devotees throughout the day," he said, deep devotion evident in the way he went about organising things for the big event.

But why come all the way from Punjab, driving for 48 hours in the bitter cold during the harsh winter? Sarabjeet rubbishes the allusion to needless effort. "Our Bhai Sahib - the local gurdwara caretaker - has been visiting Hazur Sahib, Nanded, situated on the banks of the River Godavari in Maharashtra, for the past 15 years, to host such day-long langar services. He makes us prepare several sweets, and a range of food items that we would feed the devotees with a lot of affection. We are planning to do the same here at the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh, for the first time. We are looking forward to this," he says.

FAITH CELEBRATED

Such was the fervour among the organisers and the congregants who were flocking to the Patna Sahib Gurudwara, that we were swept away with the intensity and faith. And in their own way, every one of them seems to have made the journey here to celebrate their faith.

 

[Courtesy: Times of India. Edited for sikhchic.com]

January 4, 2011

 

 

read other articles in Travel