khalsanetworks

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Gurudwara Shikar Ghat Sahib

Gurudwara Shikar Ghat Sahib is a beautiful piece of architecture perched on a low hill near the bank of Godavari river, with high wooded hills in the background. Its distance from Sachkand Sri Hazur Sahib is about six kilometers. A bridge was constructed by kar-seva and built over the river Godavari.
A legend is associated with this shrine, too. It is said that Guru Gobind Singh ji came here following the chase (shikar) and killed a rabbit which in a former birth had been Bhai Mula, who belonged to Sialkot (now in Pakistan). He had once accompanied Guru Nanak Dev ji during his travels. Once when Guru Nanak Dev ji went to visit him, Mula avoided the Guru and hid himself for fear that the Guru might take him away on another long journey. Sensing this Guru Nanak Dev ji went away, but such is the travesty of fate that Mula died soon after of snakebite. His repentant soul had since been wandering in different sub-human bodies until, Guru Gobind Singh ji emancipated it by the touch of his arrow.



The present building complex of Shikar Ghat Sahib was re-laid by Baba Jiwan Singh and Baba Dalip Singh Kar sewawale during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The square sanctum, where Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a canopied throne of white marble, is in the middle of a square hall with walls covered with white marble slabs and ceiling with white glazed tiles. Above the hall, there is a dome over the sanctum, domed kiosks at the corners, and decorative domelets along the length of the walls. The entire exterior from the base upto the top of the dome is covered with white marble slabs. The pinnacle is also of white marble.