Gurdwara Mehdiana Sahibਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਮਹਿਦੀਆਣਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ

Gurdwara Mehdiana Sahib, in the village of Mehdiana just outside Mallha near Jagraon in Ludhiana district, is known across Punjab as the School of Sikh History. Sikhs believe this quiet pond side ground is where Guru Gobind Singh Ji rested with his Sikhs on the Malwa journey after Chamkaur, and where the sangat asked him to write the Zafarnama, his letter to the emperor Aurangzeb. What makes the place unlike any other gurdwara is what grew up around that memory in the 1970s: a 25 acre complex of life size coloured sculptures that walk a visitor, scene by scene, through three centuries of Sikh martyrdom and courage.

Why is Mehdiana Sahib called the School of Sikh History?

The name is earned by the sculptures. Around the main building stand life size figures in painted plaster, arranged as episodes: Bhai Mati Das sawn in two, Bhai Dayala boiled in a cauldron, the younger Sahibzade bricked into a wall at Sirhind, Bhai Mani Singh cut apart joint by joint, Banda Singh Bahadur executed, Subeg Singh and Shahbaz Singh broken on the charkhari wheel, Sikh women and children suffering under Mir Mannu, and, in deliberate contrast, Bhai Kanhaiya serving water to wounded men of both armies. Twenty paintings by the artist Kirpal Singh hang at the site, and the statues themselves are credited to the sculptor Tara Singh. A child who cannot yet read a history book can walk this ground and understand what the faith cost. That was the stated aim of the man who built it: to teach that self respect is worth more than safety, and that the religion was preserved by sacrifice, not by comfort.

The Guru at the Dhaab: rest, and the Sangat is bigger than the Guru

The tradition of the place is precise about the setting. After Chamkaur, the Guru travelled on horseback through Raikot, Lamme Jattpure and Manuke, gathering support across Malwa, and halted at Mehdiana's dhaab, a natural pond, in open country where the nearest habitation stood two to three miles away. There the party cleaned their teeth with twigs, bathed, and rested. In meditation the Guru was pressed by Bhai Daya Singh, speaking for all the Sikhs, to say what should happen next, when families were scattered and the Khalsa seemed broken. The exchange remembered here turns on humility: the Guru answered that he had only repaid a debt, that a Singh should keep faith, and, in the line this shrine has made famous, that the sangat is bigger than the Guru. He listed how he had acted on the sangat's word at every turn, sending his father to Delhi at the Kashmiri Pandits' plea, leaving Anandpur and leaving Chamkaur garhi when the sangat asked. By evening, on the sangat's request, he had resolved to write the Zafarnama.

Was the Zafarnama written at Mehdiana?

Not quite, and the shrine's own accounts are careful about it. The decision and the resolve belong to Mehdiana: here the sangat asked, and here the Guru prepared his mind. But there was nowhere to stay at the pond, so that night he moved to the village of Chakkar, and the next day travelled by Takhtupura and Madhe to Dina, where he stayed with Lakhmir and Shamir. The letter itself was composed in those following days, in the tellings at Chakkar and at Dina, and was carried south to Aurangzeb at Aurangabad by Bhai Daya Singh and Bhai Dharam Singh. Mehdiana therefore claims the request, not the writing desk, and pilgrims hold that a place blessed by that resolve answers prayers. Jugti tells the Dina side of the story at Gurdwara Lohgarh Sahib, the Zafarnama shrine on the same route.

Jathedar Jora Singh Lakha and the building of the complex

For most of its history Mehdiana was only a marked pond in the fields. Into the late 1960s the complex still looked like forest, dense trees and scrub around a small place of worship, with no village within two or three miles. In 1972 Jathedar Jora Singh Lakha took the site in hand. Under his direction the grounds grew from a few acres to about 25 acres, the present multi storeyed main building rose with its coloured domes and meenakari enamel work, a sarovar and gardens were laid out, and the sculpture park that gives the shrine its fame was created. The complex also runs the Dasmesh Public School for children of the surrounding villages, put at about 500 pupils in the SikhiWiki account, and a museum of paintings tracing the Guru's journey. Honesty requires a closing note: recent accounts report parts of the complex looking dilapidated, blaming its isolated position and private ownership for a shortage of funds, a fragility visitors may notice alongside the colour.

What can a visitor see at Mehdiana Sahib?

The visit falls into three parts. First the shrine itself: an eight storeyed main building in the SikhiWiki description, its doorway carved with scenes including Bhai Gurdas dictating to Guru Arjan Dev Ji, its walls carrying images of the Guru's life, and a beautifully decorated Guru Granth Sahib in the sanctum. Then the sculpture grounds, best taken slowly and in order, since the episodes run from the Guru period to the eighteenth century misl rule. Then the quieter corners: the dhaab itself and the modern sarovar, the greenery and birdsong that every account of the place mentions, a small asthan of Baba Farid Ji near the main building, and, unexpectedly, a small fort shaped zoo kept for children. Langar is served around the clock in the tradition of the place, and there is no entry charge to the grounds.

How do I reach Gurdwara Mehdiana Sahib?

Mehdiana village stands just outside Mallha, in the Jagraon side of Ludhiana district, reached by local roads from Jagraon, the nearest town and railhead, and from Ludhiana city beyond it. Its isolation is part of its character: allow time for the last rural stretch, and for the sculpture grounds themselves, which repay an unhurried hour at least. Pilgrims walking the Guru Gobind Singh Marg route pair Mehdiana with Alamgir Sahib to the east, where the Guru's litter was set down, and both appear in Jugti's guide to Gurdwaras in India.