ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਰੋੜ੍ਹੀ ਸਾਹਿਬਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਰੋੜ੍ਹੀ ਸਾਹਿਬ

History and the Bhai Lalo sakhi

Who was Bhai Lalo?

Bhai Lalo was born in 1452 at Saidpur, the very town where the shrine stands, to a carpenter named Bhai Jagat Ram. He earned his living by honest manual labour, and it was this simplicity that drew Guru Nanak Dev Ji to him. When Malik Bhago, a wealthy official of Saidpur, held a grand feast and invited the Guru, Guru Nanak declined and instead went to Bhai Lalo’s home.

The famous sakhi that followed is still told in Punjabi households. Guru Nanak took Bhai Lalo’s dry bread in his right hand and Malik Bhago’s rich fried cakes in his left. When he squeezed the right hand, those watching saw drops of milk fall from it; when he squeezed the left, blood trickled out. The lesson was plain: Bhai Lalo’s simple food was earned honestly, while Malik Bhago’s feast was built on exploitation. The Ramgarhia Sikh community claims Bhai Lalo as its progenitor.

The Babar Vani: hymns born at Saidpur

The invasion that brought Guru Nanak to Saidpur in 1521 left a deeper mark on Sikh scripture. Witnessing the suffering of the town’s people, the Guru composed the four hymns known together as the Babar Vani: three in the Asa measure and one in the Tilang measure, preserved in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The Sikh Encyclopedia notes that the Tilang hymn is addressed directly to Bhai Lalo, calling him by name as the Guru describes the invasion.

These hymns are not battle reports. They are laments and protests: grief for the people of Saidpur carried into captivity, and a challenge to a God who seemed silent while the suffering unfolded. For readers of the shrine’s story, the Babar Vani is the reason Eminabad matters beyond one man’s devotion; it is where Sikhism’s first great poetry of protest was written.

Gurdwara Rohri Sahib stands at Eminabad, about 15 kilometres from Gujranwala in Pakistan's Punjab province. It marks the spot where Guru Nanak Dev Ji stayed with his devotee Bhai Lalo, resting and sleeping on a hard bed of pebbles: rori in Punjabi, from which the shrine takes its name. Bhai Gurdas alludes to this bed of small stones in the first of his Vaaran.

Eminabad was then known as Saidpur, and it is bound up with one of the most loved episodes of Guru Nanak's life: his stay with Bhai Lalo, the poor carpenter, in preference to the rich feast of Malik Bhago: the sakhi of the milk of honest labour prevailing over the blood of exploitation. When Babur's armies invaded Punjab in 1521 (Samvat 1578) and seized Eminabad, Guru Nanak was among those arrested. Tradition holds that at the moment of his arrest he was sitting on the pebbles, absorbed in prayer.

Architecture and the complex

An imposing gurdwara has been built over the sacred spot. Its central building is a three-storey structure of cut and moulded red brick, topped with three chhatri-like pavilions: a large central dome (gumbaz) flanked by smaller domed chhatris. A rectangular hall adjoins the entrance, and a large sarovar, partly enclosed by low walls, lies to one side of the complex.

At the rear of the complex stands a room crowned with a particularly fine ribbed white lotus dome and a circumambulatory verandah; it covers the very pebbled ground on which Guru Nanak was arrested. The secondary hall of the complex is entirely white, its large white dome visible from a distance. A large estate and agricultural land were endowed to the gurdwara in the era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Religious significance

Rohri Sahib is a monument to Guru Nanak's humility and his love for the lowly: the Guru chose the hard pebbles of a poor carpenter's town over the comforts of the rich. The pebbles themselves became sacred, and the shrine is counted among the historic Patshahi Pehli sites of Pakistan. Together with the nearby Gurdwara Chakki Sahib in Eminabad, it makes the town one of the most important clusters of Guru Nanak's memory in the country.

Visiting and pilgrim information

The gurdwara lies about one and a half kilometres from Eminabad town, on a metalled road, roughly 15 kilometres from Gujranwala. In the past both Vaisakhi and Kattak Puranmashi festivals were celebrated here; today the Vaisakhi fair is the main annual gathering, drawing people from Gujranwala and the adjoining areas. The shrine is administered within Pakistan's evacuee trust framework: pilgrims should check current access arrangements before travelling.

See also: ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਦੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ: the complete guide to Pakistan's historic Sikh shrines.

Which Rori Sahib is this?

Pilgrims should not confuse this shrine with another Gurdwara Rori Sahib at Jahman village in Lahore district, which marked a spot where Guru Nanak rested with Bhai Mardana. That shrine was abandoned after Partition in 1947 and largely collapsed in July 2023 after years of neglect. The living, functioning shrine of Bhai Lalo’s pebbles is the one at Eminabad described here.

What does ‘Rohri’ mean?

In Punjabi, rori (also spelled rohri) means pebbles or small stones. Guru Nanak spent the night on a bed of pebbles at this spot, and the shrine is named after them.

Who built Gurdwara Rohri Sahib?

The present imposing structure belongs to the Sikh Empire era and is associated with Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in whose reign land and an estate were endowed to the gurdwara. Historians believe a shrine has marked the spot for about two hundred years. It remains in operation today.

Why is Eminabad important in Sikh history?

Then called Saidpur, Eminabad is where Guru Nanak stayed with Bhai Lalo and where the famous sakhi of honest labour versus exploitation unfolded. It was also where the Guru was arrested during Babur's invasion in 1521.

Can pilgrims visit Gurdwara Rohri Sahib today?

Yes. The gurdwara stands in Eminabad, Pakistan, and is maintained under the country's evacuee property administration. Sikh and Hindu pilgrims visit it, especially at Vaisakhi; visitors should confirm current access rules before going.