Gurdwara

Gurdwara

A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....

 (Sikh place of worship) Manji Sahib (also known as Alamgir Sahib) is located near the village of Alamgir, Bhogpur

Alamgir, Bhogpur

Alamgir village comes under the Bhogpur development block of Jalandhar. Jalandhar is a district in the Indian state of Punjab.- About :Alamgir lies on the Jalandhar-Pathankot road. The nearest railway station to Alamgir is Kala Bakra station at 2 km from it....

, Ludhiana district

Ludhiana District

-Rainfall:The rainfall in the district increases from the southwest toward the northeast. About 70% of the rainfall is received during the period of July through September...

, Punjab, India. Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...

, tenth guru of the Sikhs, stayed here for a short while. Upon reaching Alamgir, Guru Gobind Singh is reported to have shot an arrow into the ground; a spring appeared from that place (now known as Tirsar). He was also presented with a horse here by a devoted follower.

Early Sikhism

Sikhism

Sikhism

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...

 was founded in the early 16th century AD by Guru Nanak Dev

Guru Nanak Dev

Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...

. He was born in Talwandi

Talwandi

Talwandi is a town and Union Council of Kasur District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Chunian Tehsil located at 30°53'60N 74°7'60E and has an altitude of 175 metres ....

 (a village in the Punjab) in 1469 at a critical period of Indian history

History of India

The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...

. The Lodi rulers lived in luxury, not caring for affairs of state or the welfare of their subjects. Their weakness and sloth allowed the Babbars to conquer them. Guru Nanak protested against the foreign domination and warned the rulers that if they ignored the people's grievances, they would receive the punishment they deserved. He challenged the fanaticism

Fanaticism

Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby...

 and intolerance of contemporary Muslims. During his visit to Mecca, he made the Qadi

Qadi

Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...

s realize that God's house is everywhere, not only at the Kaaba

Kaaba

The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...

. Guru Nanak also denounced the ritual and caste prejudices prevalent among the Hindus, demonstrating to them the fallacy of feeding Brahmins at the time of the performance of the Sharaadha. At Hardwar, he amusingly exposed the folly of offering water to the hair of ancestors.

Guru Nanak spent his first 30 years at Talwandi and Sultanpur as a householder. The next 22 years were spent as a missionary; for his final 18 years he stayed at Kartarpur with his followers, establishing dharamshalas (spiritual retreats). Wherever he went, he urged people to perform acts of charity and serve the poor and the needy. Guru Nanak preached the equality of man, treating Hindus and Muslims alike. He visited their shrines, explaining the true way of spiritual life. He opposed the distinctions of caste

Caste system in India

The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jātis....

, referring to himself as a member of the lowest caste

Dalit

Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...

. Guru Nanak insisted on Grahstha (living a householder's life), believing the path of renunciation (sannyasa

Sannyasa

Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly...

) a way of escapism

Escapism

Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life...

 and defeat. People must perform their worldly duties, while keeping their spirit detached from worldly things. Knowing his end was approaching, Guru Nanak tested his disciples and passed his mantle to the most worthy, Guru Angad Dev

Guru Angad Dev

Guru Angad Dev Ji was the second of the ten Sikh Gurus. He was born in the village of Sarae Naga in Muktsar district in Punjab, on 31 March 1504 and given the name Lehna shortly after his birth as was the custom of his Hindu parents. He was the son of a small successful trader named Pheru Mal...

, in 1539.

Guru Gobind Singh

The tenth of the Sikh gurus

Sikh Gurus

The Sikh Gurus established Sikhism from over the centuries beginning in the year 1469. Sikhism was founded by the first guru, Guru Nanak, and subsequently, all in order were referred to as "Nanak", and as "Lights", making their teachings in the holy scriptures, equivalent...

, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) lived during a dangerous time. His father (Guru Teg Bahadur

Guru Teg Bahadur

Guru Tegh Bahadur became the 9th Guru of Sikhi on 20 March 1665, following in the footsteps of his grand-nephew, Guru Har Krishan. Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi....

) had sacrificed his life to protect freedom of religion

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

 for Hindus, who were being threatened with conversion or death by Muslim rulers. The abduction of women and pillage of goods were rampant, but the people were too terrorized to resist. In the midst of this situation, Guru Gobind Singh gained stature as both a holy man and a soldier: a leader of firm spiritual principles and intense devotion to God with, at the same time, fearless dedication to protecting all people from oppression and injustice. In 1699 he initiated five men from the lower castes as his Five Beloveds, blessing them with great courage and closeness to God. They became models for the Khalsa

Khalsa

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 ("the order of the pure") which he established to serve on the front lines against injustice. The Khalsa were held to a strict moral and spiritual discipline

Spiritual practice

A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of cultivating spiritual development. A common metaphor used in the spiritual traditions of the worlds great religions is that of walking a path...

 and, under Guru Gobind Singh's inspiration, helped to turn the tide against Mughal

Mughal (tribe)

The term Mughal is simply a Turkic word and many groups in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh use the term Mughal to describe themselves...

 oppression in India. In addition to his spiritual and military leadership Guru Gobind Singh was an intellectual, and had many poets in his court. He was inspired to write many spiritual compositions (including Jaap Sahib

Jaap Sahib

Jaap Sahib is the morning prayer of the Sikhs. The Prayer or Bani was composed by the tenth Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh. This Bani is one of 5 Banis that a Sikh must recite everyday and is recited by the Panj Pyare while preparing Amrit on the occasion of Amrit Sanchar , a ceremony held to admit...

) but did not include them in the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib

Guru Granth Sahib

Sri Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Granth, is the religious text of Sikhism. It is the final and eternal guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs, compiled and composed during the period of Sikh gurus, from 1469 to 1708...

. His writings have been collected in a separate volume, the Dasam Granth

Dasam Granth

Dasven Patshah Da Granth or Dasam Granth , often called Sri Dasam Granth Sahib with respect, is a scripture of Sikhism, containing some of the texts attributed to 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Although the Dasam Granth is commonly confused with the Guru Granth Sahib, there is no overlap in...

.

Guru Gobind Singh instructed his followers to regard the Guru Granth Sahib as their teacher after his death. He is revered at Gobind Sadan, for he is one of the two figures who began appearing in vision to Baba Virsa Singh when he was a boy and who continues to guide his work.