Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahibਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਲੋਹਗੜ੍ਹ ਸਾਹਿਬ

Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib is the historic shrine at Dina village in Moga district, Punjab, where Guru Gobind Singh Ji rested on his way from Chamkaur towards Muktsar in December 1705, and from where the Zafarnama, his famous Persian letter to the emperor Aurangzeb, was sent on its way south. Local Sikhs served him here at real risk to themselves, and refused an order to arrest him.

What is Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib?

Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib stands in Dina, a village in the Nihal Singh Wala area of Moga district, on the Guru Gobind Singh Marg, the route that follows the Guru's 1705 journey across Malwa. Its full name is remembered locally as Zafarnama Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib, Patshahi Dasvin: the shrine of the Tenth King, named for the letter of victory. Pilgrims come here for the halt itself, for the story of the hosts who sheltered the Guru, and for the letter that was dispatched from this countryside to the Mughal court in the Deccan. The shrine has a sarovar, and daily services are held alongside the major Sikh anniversaries. It is one of a close group of Marg shrines in this part of Malwa, near the Kangar shrine linked to the same journey.

The road from Chamkaur to Dina

In December 1704 the Guru left Anandpur Sahib after a long siege, and in December 1705, by the usual dating of these events, he was moving through Malwa after the battle of Chamkaur and his celebrated passage through Machhiwara in the blue dress of Uch da Pir. Discover Sikhism records that he discarded that blue dress at Dina: until then, very few people knew that the wandering pir was the Tenth Master himself. At Dina he was received by two brothers, Chaudhri Shamir and Chaudhri Lakhmir. They were grandsons of Rai Jodh, a local chief who had fought on the side of Guru Hargobind Ji at the battle of Mehraj in December 1634, so the Guru was being sheltered by a family with an old bond to the Guru's house. From Dina, the Guru gathered support locally: the accounts say he enlisted several Sikh warriors of the Brar clan here before continuing westwards.

The hosts who would not give him up

The best loved part of the Dina story is not a battle but a refusal. When Wazir Khan, the faujdar of Sirhind, heard that the Guru was at Dina, he ordered the chaudhris to arrest him and send him to Sirhind. Shamir, after consulting his brother, refused: in the telling preserved by Discover Sikhism, he answered that just as the authorities honoured their own pir, the brothers were bound to the service of their Guru, and they could not carry out the order. It was a dangerous answer to give a powerful official, and it is remembered at Dina as the measure of the village. The Guru, in that same telling, chose to stay not at the chaudhris' house but at the home of Bhai Desu, a Tarkhan carpenter. Bhai Desu had made a fine bed with his own hands and had kept it, unused, in hope; the Guru rested there, and the local sangat began coming for darshan and for the regular diwans he held during the stay.

How long did the Guru stay at Dina? The sign at the gurdwara claims three months and thirteen days, and local tradition repeats that figure. Scholars are more cautious: Harbans Singh, in The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, states that the Guru stayed only a few days, and the standard accounts of the journey describe a short halt here before he moved on towards Kotkapura and Khidrana. This page reports both, because both are part of the record: the longer figure is the shrine's own tradition, and the shorter one is what the encyclopedia gives.

What is the Zafarnama, and was it written at Dina?

The Zafarnama, the Epistle of Victory, is Guru Gobind Singh Ji's letter in Persian verse to Aurangzeb, 111 verses long, written after Chamkaur. In it the Guru charges the emperor with breaking the oaths sworn for the Sikhs' safe passage out of Anandpur, recounts the battle of Chamkaur, affirms his faith after the loss of his father, his mother and all four of his sons, and invites Aurangzeb to come and meet him at Kangar, assuring him that the Brar tribe, under the Guru's command, would not harm him on the way. Its best known teaching is that when every other way of putting a wrong right has failed, taking up the sword can be righteous. On the place of writing, the sources are close but not identical, and this page follows them exactly: All About Sikhs says the Guru wrote the Zafarnama at Dina, while noting that the place named in the letter itself is Kangar, about 2 km south of Dina. Wikipedia, following the encyclopedia and modern scholarship, says the letter was written at Kangar and dispatched from there or from nearby Dina. What is not in dispute is the dispatch: the Guru entrusted the letter to Bhai Daya Singh Ji and Bhai Dharam Singh Ji, two of the original Panj Piare, rather than to Mughal couriers, because he wanted it delivered in person and wanted to know the emperor's reaction. That is why Dina and Kangar, two small Malwa villages a short walk apart, hold one of the most famous letters in Sikh history between them.

The shrine today and its fairs

The commemorative shrine at the halt is Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib, served by its own local secretary and sangat, with a sarovar recorded by Discover Sikhism. Besides the daily services and the observance of the major Sikh anniversaries, a religious fair is held here every year at Maghi, on 13 to 14 January, and the Prakash Divas of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and of Guru Gobind Singh Ji are celebrated with enthusiasm. A jor mela and a nagar kirtan are also organised on a large scale. For many visitors the visit is paired with nearby Marg stops: Kangar to the south, where the letter names its meeting place, and the shrines towards Kotkapura and Muktsar that continue the same December 1705 road. The full route is set out in our guide to the Guru Gobind Singh Marg.

How do you reach Lohgarh Sahib, Dina?

Dina is in Moga district, and the gurdwara stands in the village, 15 km south of Nihal Singh Wala on the Barnala to Nihal Singh Wala road. All About Sikhs gives the approach distances as 6 km from Salatwatpura, 12 km from Nihal Singh Wala by the road description in its entry, and 13 km from Bhadaur: treat these as local road distances and follow the Marg signposting once you are in the Nihal Singh Wala area. The postal address is Village Dina, Tehsil Nihal Singh Wala, District Moga, Punjab 143531, as given by the gurdwara's own listing. Dina village itself has its own entry in this Kosh: see Dina, Moga. Visitors following the whole pilgrimage road should also read the Gurdwaras in India hub, which lists Lohgarh Sahib with every other Marg shrine.