Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh, Peshawarਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਭਾਈ ਬੀਬਾ ਸਿੰਘ, ਪੇਸ਼ਾਵਰ

Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh is an ornate Sikh shrine in Jogiwara, in the Hashtnagri quarter of Peshawar's old city in Pakistan. Built in the Sikh era and named for Bhai Biba Singh, a Sikh nobleman of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's court, it is famed for its carved woodwork, mirror inlay and attached haveli. Unused for worship after Partition, its prayer hall reopened in March 2016 after long renovation. It stands with Gurdwara Bhai Joga Singh among the anchors of Peshawar's Sikh heritage in our guide to Gurdwaras in Pakistan.

What is Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh, Peshawar?

It is one of the most richly decorated gurdwaras of the Sikh period in Pakistan: a prayer hall and samadhi complex in Chaka Gali, Hashtnagri, whose Ranjit Singh era wood and glass work heritage writers describe as close to royal treatment. Local tradition dates its founding to the time of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, which would make it some 300 years old, while detailed reporting on the surviving wooden building puts it at about 200 years. Both accounts are given honestly below.

History: a shrine of the Sikh era

After the Sikh army retook Peshawar in 1834, the city's first Sikh governor, General Hari Singh Nalwa, ordered a shrine built in the Jogiwara locality of Hashtnagri. Heritage writer Bobby Singh Bansal, whose research was reported by The Express Tribune, says the nobleman Bhai Biba Singh carried out the work on Nalwa's behalf during Maharaja Ranjit Singh's reign, and built an impressive haveli for himself beside it, later attached to the shrine. At the rear stands a samadhi, believed to mark Bhai Biba Singh's own burial place, following a Sikh era custom of owners resting within their own houses. An older tradition in the community holds that a gurdwara stood on this site from the days of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, which is why the shrine is often called 300 years old; the exact date of construction is not established.

Fire damaged the building in 1927. The Sikh community restored the main hall, though the langar hall stayed in poor condition. At Partition in 1947 most local Sikh families moved away to other Pakistani cities, and the shrine was abandoned for decades.

Architecture: wood, mirror and marble

The main entrance is a decorated archway carried on marble pillars, with a carved jharokha, a projecting bay window, above it aligned with matching windows on the top floor. Inside, the large open hall rests on carved pillars with rich cornices and lattice work on the balcony panels. Its ceiling carries wood and glass inlay, with mirror work set in red in triangular and circular patterns. Writers on Sikh heritage note that places of worship of the period were rarely this ornate: Bhai Biba Singh's shrine was decorated like a palace, which is exactly why its survival matters, and why its crumbling woodwork worries conservators.

Closure, a school, and the 2016 reopening

The gurdwara was not used for worship from Partition onwards. Until 2005 it housed a vocational training centre for girls; after that year's earthquake the building was declared dangerous and the school was moved out. The Evacuee Trust Property Board began restoration in January 2012. On 30 March 2016, ahead of Vaisakhi, the worship hall reopened to devotees for the first time in nearly seven decades. The board's chairman, Siddiq-ul-Farooq, said the massive renovation was complete and Indian Sikhs would be welcome to visit, and community leaders called the reopening a moment of great joy for Peshawar's Sikhs, who until then had relied mainly on the city's other gurdwaras.

In 2018 a marble Palki Sahib, the palanquin on which the Guru Granth Sahib Ji rests, made in India under Baba Seva Singh, reached Lahore through the Wagah border on its way to this gurdwara. In October 2020 the Peshawar High Court struck down an Evacuee Trust Property Board auction of a portion of the gurdwara premises, accepting a petition by Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee member Sahib Singh and five members of the gurdwara committee, who showed the portion lay inside the shrine's own boundary wall.

Why is Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh at risk?

Reopening the hall did not finish the conservation task. Reporting in The Express Tribune in May 2016, months after the reopening, described the attached haveli's Ranjit Singh era wooden structure as dilapidated and in desperate need of repair, with fears that a weakened roof could collapse, and community members urging the government to fund proper restoration. The shrine is therefore two stories in one: a working gurdwara returned to its community, and a fragile architectural jewel of Sikh era Peshawar that still needs a full preservation effort.

How do you reach Gurdwara Bhai Biba Singh?

The gurdwara stands in Jogiwara, Chaka Gali, Hashtnagri, inside Peshawar's old city, within walking distance of the Hashtnagri Gate area. Most overseas pilgrims visit in organised groups arranged with the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the Evacuee Trust Property Board, and other visitors should check local arrangements and security advice first. As at any gurdwara, visitors cover their heads, remove their shoes, and wash their hands and feet before entering the prayer hall.