Gurdwaras in Eminabadਏਮਨਾਬਾਦ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ

Gurdwaras in Eminabad are the three historic Sikh shrines of Eminabad, a small town in Gujranwala district, Punjab, Pakistan, the Saidpur of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time. This guide gathers every Eminabad shrine in the Jugti Kosh: Rohri Sahib, the pebble shrine where the Guru was arrested in 1521, Chaki Sahib, the millstone shrine of his captivity, and Bhai Lalu di Khoi, the house and well of the carpenter whose honest labour the Guru praised. Eminabad is one chapter of our hub for Gurdwaras in Pakistani Punjab and of the country guide to Gurdwaras in Pakistan.

Why is Eminabad sacred to Sikhs?

Eminabad holds two of the best loved episodes of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's early teaching, and both happened in one small town. According to the Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi, after leaving Sultanpur and before setting out on his long travels, the Guru came here with Bhai Mardana Ji, and Bhai Lalo, a carpenter of the town then called Saidpur or Sayyidpur, became his Sikh. The Guru stayed at the carpenter's house, and it was here that he taught, in a single acted parable, that honest work honestly shared is worth more than wealth taken from the poor.

The town's second episode is darker. A hymn of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in the Guru Granth Sahib suggests that he was in Eminabad when Babur's army sacked Saidpur in 1521, and the Janam Sakhis say he was taken prisoner with many of the townspeople and given a stone mill to ply. The shrines of Eminabad therefore carry both halves of the Guru's witness: his teaching on honest labour, and his lament and protest at the suffering of ordinary people in war.

Bhai Lalo and the lesson of honest labour

The story every Punjabi child hears begins at Bhai Lalu di Khoi, the gurdwara that grew from Bhai Lalo's house, named for its khuhi, the narrow well that survived even after the old house crumbled; it is here that Guru Nanak Dev Ji first met him. When Malik Bhago, an official of the town, feasted the holy men and was refused by the Guru, who preferred the carpenter's plain bread, tradition says the Guru squeezed the two men's breads before the court: blood dripped from the rich man's buttered loaf and milk from Lalo's dry one. Bhai Lalo's house became a dharmsala for the Guru's local followers, and the well, renewed in later years, still holds drinking water.

What happened at Eminabad in 1521?

In 1521 Babur's forces took Saidpur by assault, and Guru Nanak Dev Ji, who had returned to visit Bhai Lalo, was among the captives. Two shrines keep that week. Rohri Sahib, about half a kilometre north west of the town, marks the hard bed of small stones, rori in Punjabi, on which the Guru sat in prayer when he was arrested, a scene Bhai Gurdas Ji recalled in Vaar 1. It was the town's premier gurdwara: a three storey brick building with a large sarovar, endowed in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time, and famous before Partition for its week long Vaisakhi fair. Chaki Sahib, inside the town, preserves the memory of the great millstone the prisoners were made to turn: the Janam Sakhis tell that the Guru's millstone turned by itself as he sang, that Babur came to meet him, and that at his asking the prisoners were freed. Its present building is a simple flat roofed room in a brick paved compound.

The three shrines today

Eminabad came under Sikh rule in the 1760s under Sardar Charat Singh Sukerchakia, and its historic gurdwaras were administered by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee from 28 February 1922 until Partition in 1947. Rohri Sahib's multi storey building was set on fire by a mob soon after 15 August 1947; the Government of Pakistan later stemmed the decay with repairs and a boundary wall, and the Vaisakhi festival is still held there, drawing people from Gujranwala and the villages around. The two town shrines, Chaki Sahib and Bhai Lalu di Khoi, stand quietly in Eminabad's streets, kept as heritage on the pilgrim road between Lahore and Nankana Sahib.

All Gurdwaras in Eminabad

• Gurdwara Rohri Sahib, Eminabad - the pebble shrine where Guru Nanak Dev Ji was arrested during Babur's sack of Saidpur in 1521
• Gurdwara Chaki Sahib, Eminabad - the millstone shrine of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's captivity, inside the town
• Gurdwara Bhai Lalu di Khoi, Eminabad - the house and well of Bhai Lalo, where Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught honest labour

How do pilgrims visit Eminabad?

Eminabad stands about five miles south of Gujranwala and about thirty five miles north of Lahore, a short stop off the Grand Trunk Road corridor. Organised jathas travelling between Lahore and Nankana Sahib pass through the Gujranwala country, and Rohri Sahib, half a kilometre outside the town, is the natural first halt, with the two town shrines a short walk apart inside Eminabad itself. Visitors should ask locally about access, as these are quiet heritage shrines rather than large working gurdwaras, and the Vaisakhi gathering at Rohri Sahib is the town's great Sikh occasion.

What was Eminabad called in Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time?

Saidpur, also written Sayyidpur. The town took its present name later; in the Guru's day it was the Saidpur of Bhai Lalo and of Babur's 1521 invasion.

How many gurdwaras are in Eminabad?

Three historic gurdwaras: Rohri Sahib, Chaki Sahib and Gurdwara Khuhi Bhai Lalo, called Bhai Lalu di Khoi in the Jugti Kosh. All three have full Jugti entries.

Which is the most important gurdwara in Eminabad?

Rohri Sahib, the premier gurdwara of the town, marking the bed of pebbles where Guru Nanak Dev Ji sat when Babur's soldiers arrested him in 1521.