01The modikhana and the river
Guru Nanak came here to live with his elder sister Bebe Nanaki and her husband Jai Ram, who served Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor. Jai Ram found him work as keeper of the modikhana, the government grain store. The Janamsakhis tell that while weighing grain he reached the count of thirteen, tera, which also means ‘yours’, and kept saying ‘tera, tera’ as he gave the grain away. One morning, around 1499 by most reckonings, he went into the Kali Bein to bathe and did not come out. He was found three days later on the bank, silent, and his first words were ‘Na koi Hindu, na koi Musalman’.
02Ber Sahib and the clean river
Gurdwara Ber Sahib stands where he bathed, beside a ber tree that the Sikhs hold he planted. Gurdwara Hatt Sahib marks the modikhana, and Gurdwara Sant Ghat the place where he came out of the water. By the late 20th century the Kali Bein had become a drain choked with weed and sewage; from 2000 Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal led volunteers with their own hands to clean its 160 km, and the river flows again. In November 2019 the 550th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak was kept here with lakhs of sangat.
The life of this place
- c. 1499 CEGuru Nanak disappeared into the Kali Bein and came out three days later to begin his mission.
- 2000 CESant Balbir Singh Seechewal began the volunteer cleaning of the Kali Bein.
- November 2019The 550th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak was celebrated here.
About 25 km from Kapurthala; the gurdwaras keep open langar, and Ber Sahib is busiest on Guru Nanak’s Gurpurab in Kartik.
