VAISAKHI FEATURE India travel to Pakistan on four occasions every year – Baisakhi, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev. Pakistani authorities normally clear the tall grass from time to time, enabling the devotees from India to view the shrine with the help of a telescope. The Indian devotees, especially the Sikhs, had been demanding a visa-free “khule darshan” (free obeisance facility) Over centuries, the at the gurdwara for all faiths, in Pakistan’s Shekhupura river Ravi shifted district, now Nankana Sahib. from India and overseas, all course and the part The original structure of the seven days a week by crossing the international border from Dera Kartarpur Sahib was once of the farm where Baba Nanak town in Punjab’s destroyed by floods. It was Gurdaspur district. reconstructed by Bhupinder Guru Nanak passed Keeping in mind the Singh, the then scion of away in 1539 is on huge sentiment of people of Patiala and grandfather the other side of the of current Punjab Chief Punjab, India first proposed the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in 1999 Minister Amarinder Singh. river in Pakistan, when the then Prime Minister The shrine was closed while Gurdwara Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus to people coming from ride to Lahore. However, it did across India’s border after Dera Baba Nanak not make much progress before the partition in 1947. The is on the Indian side gurdwara was opened to last year when the proposal was renewed and given a push by pilgrims after repairs and of the border where restoration in 1999, and Sikh India. Guru Nanak used to Pakistan agreed to the jathas have been visiting the meditate daily. proposal and foundation stones shrine regularly ever since. were laid for the corridor on both A 500-year-old well, sides of the border in November gurdwara is preserved a chola believed to have been built 2018. The construction of (robe) which Guru Nanak during the lifetime of Guru the corridor was completed in received as a gift while Nanak Dev, was discovered visiting Mecca, the SGPC near the Kartarpur gurdwara October, ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak added. in April. The well was The founder of Sikhism discovered while digging the Dev. In November, the gurdwara was opened to Indian pilgrims. was born on April 15, 1469, enclosure of the shrine. at Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi Sikh ‘jathas’ from
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2020 VAISAKHI