Farooqabad (Chuharkana Mandi), Pakistan

Farooqabad is a city in Sheikhupura District, Pakistani Punjab, about 55 km west of Lahore on Sargodha Road. Wikipedia says it was known as Chuhar Kana until 1983 and was founded by a Sikh leader, Sardar Chuhar Singh. It was renamed Farooqabad in 1983, and Wikipedia ties the new name to the Islamisation drive of Zia-ul-Haq's government. Many Sikhs lived there before Partition, and most moved to Indian Punjab in 1947. The 2023 census counted 109,717 people.

The Sacha Sauda. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism tells the story under the spelling Chuhatkana. Guru Nanak's father, Baba Kalu, gave him twenty rupees to buy goods that could be sold at a profit, and sent Bhai Bala with him. In a forest they met naked ascetics who said they ate only when God sent food. Nanak found they had gone hungry for several days and, against Bhai Bala's advice, spent all the money feeding them. When his father rebuked him at Talwandi, Nanak said it was the best bargain he could have made. Sacha Sauda means true bargain.

Key moments

• Devotees built a simple shrine near the site of the feeding, which became a popular place of pilgrimage. Over 100 acres were endowed to it during Sikh rule.
• Until 1920 it was run by Udasi priests. On 30 December 1920 Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar occupied it on behalf of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
• 1947: at the evacuation after Partition it was a large, fortress-like, three-storey building with domed towers.
• 1993 to 1994: the building was renovated.

Who runs it now. The Encyclopaedia says the shrine is managed by the Waqf Board of Pakistan and has been reopened to organised Sikh jathas with the Pakistan government's approval. The Tribune says the Evacuee Trust Property Board looks after minorities' holy places in Pakistan. Wikipedia notes that Sikh pilgrims still visit it, under the spelling Sucha Sauda. The Tribune's reports of the November 2024 and 2025 Indian pilgrim groups name Nankana Sahib and Lahore but do not mention this shrine.

What it means to the Panth. The shrine marks a story from Guru Nanak's youth in which he put feeding the hungry above profit, the lesson in its name.