Panja Sahib

Gurdwara Panja Sahib is at Hasan Abdal, about 45 km north-west of Islamabad in Pakistan’s Punjab. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says it is sacred to Guru Nanak, who stopped here on his way back from his western journey. By the tradition Bhai Santokh Singh popularised, the recluse Wali Kandhari refused water to Bhai Mardana; Guru Nanak made a spring flow, and when the Wali rolled a boulder down the hill the Guru stopped it with his palm, leaving the handprint (panja) the shrine is named for.

Key moments

• Reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh: a gurdwara was built here, with a land endowment from the Maharaja, who visited it more than once.
• 17 and 18 November 1920: Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar and a jatha of 25 Akali reformers took over the shrine from its mahants on behalf of the SGPC.
• 30 October 1922: Sikhs of Panja Sahib went to Hasan Abdal station to serve a meal to Guru ka Bagh morcha prisoners on a train bound for Attock Fort. The station master said it would not stop, and Bhai Pratap Singh and Bhai Karam Singh sat on the track with others. The train braked too late and ran over eleven Sikhs; the two leaders died the next day. A three-day fair was held in their memory every year until 1947.
• 14 October 1932: work began on a new sarovar, and the Panj Pyare laid the cornerstone of a new Harimandar Sahib in its middle.
• 1947: Partition forced the Sikhs to abandon the shrine.
• April 2025 and April 2026: Indian pilgrims still come under the 1974 India-Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines. In 2025 Pakistan issued 6,751 visas, against the 3,000 the protocol normally allows (Business Standard, PTI), and the temple’s president told Arab News that about 5,800 had arrived. For Baisakhi 2026 more than 2,800 visas were issued, with the main ceremony set for 14 April at Panja Sahib (India TV, PTI).

What it means today. Panja Sahib joins the Panth’s first Guru to the Gurdwara reform struggle of the 1920s, and the Encyclopaedia calls it one of the few Sikh shrines in Pakistan that pilgrims from India may still visit in groups. The Evacuee Trust Property Board arranges the Baisakhi visits.