Gurdwara in memory of warrior Banda Bahadur opened in Rajouri

A historical gurdwara was on Sunday inaugurated at the birthplace of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the great warrior and deputy of Guru Gobind Singh, in Rajouri.

In May 1710, Banda Bahadur had fought and won the battle at Sirhind, Punjab, against the mighty Mughals and had established the first Sikh state in India.

The Sikh community alleged that the government had not given due respect to the great warrior.

Celebrating the tricentenary of the victory of the battle of Sirhind at Rajouri in 2010, the top-brass of the Sikh community had decided to construct a historical gurdwara in the memory of Banda Bahadur at his birthplace.

In June 2016, the construction work for the gurdwara was started by Baba Harbansh Singh (Delhi Wale) and the ‘kar sewa’ was executed under the supervision of a team headed by Baba Jasbir Singh Veera assisted by Baba Bachan Singh and Baba Mohinder Singh.

The gurdwara has been constructed at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.

On Sunday, a grand inaugural function was organised by the Rajouri district Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (GPC) headed by Bhupinder Singh and Chatti Patshahi GPC headed by Jasbir Singh.

The newly constructed gurdwara was inaugurated by Trilochan Singh, chairman, state GPC, in the presence of Baba Harbansh Singh, Baba Bachan Singh, Baba Jasbir Singh and a large number of devotees.

Was Guru Gobind’s deputy

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (Lachhman Das) was born in Rajouri town on October 27, 1670, in the house of Rajput Ram Dev. he left his house at the age of 15 and became a disciple of Bairagi Janki Parsad, who later took him to Punjab and renamed him as Madho Das.

He later shifted to Nasik (Maharashtra) and then Nanded where he erected a small cottage and took to a life of austerities and tantric practices in solitude, by dint of which he soon became widely known and greatly respected in the area and become a Mahant of large monastery.

In 1708, Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru, came to Madho’s monastery to reclaim the misdirected energies of the ascetic and make them flow into the channels of the Khalsa brotherhood to utilise his energy for the liberation of the suffering humanity under the Mughal rule.

In September 1708, Guru Gobind Singh conferred the title of Bahadur on Madho and made him his deputy with full political and military authorities and also provided the advisory council of five Khalsas and 25 soldiers as bodyguard.

Guru Gobind Singh also provided a prescript (Hukamnama) written by him instructing the Sikhs to join Banda Bahadur in his national war against the Mughal tyranny. The Guru also gave him his own sword, a green bow and five arrows from his quiver.