Bassi Pathanaਬੱਸੀ ਪਠਾਣਾ

History

Bassi Pathana traces its origin to 1540, when it was established as a settlement of Pathans — hence its enduring nickname, the 'City of Pathanas'. The ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, visited the town, and the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, also came here; a historic gurdwara honours both visits, and after the Guru's visit the town came to be called simply 'Bassi' by many. Through the Mughal and Sikh periods it remained a qasba of the Sirhind region, its Pathan families prominent in local administration and landholding.

The town's modern fame is industrial and remarkable: in the 1920s Bassi Pathana became Asia's first market for sewing machines, and in 1925 Pt. Ramjidass manufactured India's first sewing machine here, along with its key parts. Workshops and small factories grew around the trade, giving the old Pathan city an unexpected second identity as a manufacturing town — one that persists today in its small industrial estates.

Geography & people

Bassi Pathana lies in Fatehgarh Sahib district, between Sirhind and Morinda, on the roads linking the district's towns. The 2011 census counted 20,288 residents in the municipal council, with Hindus and Sikhs in nearly equal numbers and a literacy rate of 79 per cent. Punjabi in its Puadhi form is spoken. Small industry — the descendant of the sewing-machine trade — still employs the town, and the surrounding farmland of the Sirhind plain keeps its grain market busy at harvest time.

Places of interest

The historic gurdwara of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh is the town's spiritual centre. Old havelis, including the haveli associated with Hafiz Muhammad Halim, line the older streets — the Salim Haveli is among the photographed landmarks. The town also has a temple of Sant Namdev and the Brahamghat shrine, where local tradition tells of the sage Rishi Ajgaiwanand's long meditation. Together the shrines and havelis give Bassi Pathana an old-city character unusual for a town its size — a walkable and compact heritage core to explore on foot.

Notable people

Pt. Ramjidass, who built India's first sewing machine at Bassi Pathana in 1925, is the town's industrial pioneer — his workshop made this small Punjab city the cradle of Asia's sewing-machine industry. Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh, whose visits are commemorated at the town's gurdwara, are its spiritual luminaries. The Pathan families who founded the town in 1540 and held it for centuries are its original notables, remembered in its very name.