Sikher Mandir and Guru Nanak’s Well

Sikher Mandir and Guru Nanak’s Well Dhaka

About half a mile beyond the Idgah we arrive at a cross-road, one road going northward to join the Mirpur Road. Here at a distance of about 50’ from the crossroad, was the village of Sibpur. On the outskirts of this village lay Sikher Mandir and Guru Nanak’s well. Today they are not traceable. The story of Guru Nanak’s visit to this place is told in the words of Guru Bakhsh Singh:-                           
Guru Nanak had left his home and travelled on foot with single companion through Hindustan and Bihar to Kamrup, visiting all the sacred places, Hindu and Muhammedan enroute. From Kamrup he turned his steps south and was on his way to the temples of Kali and Jagannath Puri. The temple of Dhakeswari, one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in olden times, lay on the way and was not simply to be passed by. Guru Nanak, therefore, broke his journey here and landed at the northern-most ghat at Rayerbazar. The place was probably inhabited by poor people of potter class as at present; for, it is among these people that the tradition of the Great Teacher’s visit survives and a sort of devotion still lingers, though the memories have long since grown vague and dim. A well commemorates this visit to the present day. Out in the waste near Jafarabad, half hidden in bramble growth a well and a heap or two of debris are the only visible signs of the Sikh monastery that once flourished here. To judge from the signs the temple originally consisted of a well and a small square building with arched doorway and a vaulted root to which were added later a tank and a baradari on the edge of this tank. The well is known as Guru Nanak’s well and there is a local tradition that Guru Nanak drank from the well. The Sikh story, a little rationalised, is that he dug a hole for drinking water with his pointed stick. However that may be, the place became sacred in the eyes of the Sikhs, and Sikh ascetics soon followed to establish a monastery there…. Miraculous properties have been attributed to the water of the well ever since the visits of the Guru, and people from the villages in the neighbourhood gather together there once a year in the month of Chaitra for a picnic now, but perhaps continuing in howsoever changed a form, an annual fair and yagya held in connection with the Sangat.”
This story of Guru Nanak’s visit is not corroborated by any authentic source. No fair is now held. The tank has now been turned into a field. The well, which measured 20’ in diameter and 30’ deep, was built of brick. Near it stood a small modern building — a rectangular hail with a vaulted verandah.

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