Nankana Sahib

Nankana Sahib is the town where Guru Nanak was born; the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism dates the birth to 15 April 1469. Its old name was Talwandi Rai Bhoe, after Rai Bhoe, a Muslim Rajput of the Bhatti clan. His descendant Rai Bular was chief of Talwandi and a contemporary of the Guru. The Punjab government of Pakistan raised it from a tehsil of Sheikhupura to a district in May 2005, and PTI puts it about 80 km from Lahore.

The shrines. Gurdwara Janam Asthan marks the birthplace. A room was first built there by the Guru's son Baba Lakhmi Das or, more probably, his grandson Baba Dharam Chand. Maharaja Ranjit Singh built the present domed sanctum and pavilion and endowed about 20,000 acres for the langar. Nearby are Patti Sahib, on the site of the Guru's school, Bal Lila, Kiara Sahib, Mal Ji Sahib, Tambu Sahib and Chhevin Patshahi.

Key moments

• 1510: Guru Nanak's last visit to Talwandi.
• 20 February 1921: the Saka Nankana Sahib. Mahant Narain Das, the Udasi custodian, had gathered a private army. A jatha of about 150 Sikhs entered the shrine singing hymns and was fired on; its leader, Lachhman Singh Dharowali, was shot and his body was tied to a tree and burned. The Encyclopaedia says estimates of the Sikhs killed range from 82 to 156, and The Tribune reports "over 150".
• 12 October 1921: Narain Das and seven others were sentenced to death. On 3 March 1922 the High Court reduced his sentence to life imprisonment.
• After the massacre the government handed the shrine to a committee headed by Sardar Harbans Singh of Atari, vice-president of the SGPC. The Encyclopaedia calls the massacre a turning point in the Akali movement of 1920 to 1926.
• 1947: Partition. Management of the gurdwaras passed to the Waqf Board. Pakistan first allowed 15 Sikhs to stay for daily services and cut the number to 5 in 1968. The Encyclopaedia says a granthi and a few Sindhi Sikhs remain at Janam Asthan.

Today. Indian jathas visit for Guru Nanak's birth anniversary: close to 2,550 crossed in November 2024. Saka Nankana Sahib is marked each February; on 21 February 2026 devotees from the UK, the US and Canada joined local Sikhs at Nankana Sahib, and the SGPC held programmes at the Golden Temple complex and the Shaheed Sikh Missionary College in Amritsar. A former PSGPC president said the Saka is not covered by the 1974 protocol on pilgrim visits.