01The fifth Guru’s town
Guru Arjan bought the land of two villages and in 1590 had a great tank dug, naming it Tarn Taran, the raft that carries one over the ocean of the world. He also set up a home here for people with leprosy and cared for them himself, and for long after the town kept that service. Pilgrims believed that bathing in the sarovar healed the body as well as the mind. The Darbar Sahib on the tank’s side was built in the Guru’s time and is reached across a causeway like the Harmandir at Amritsar.
02Ranjit Singh’s gilding
In the 18th century the Sikh misls held and cared for the shrine. Maharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt the Darbar Sahib in the early 19th century and covered its upper storey with gilded copper, as he did at Amritsar, and Prince Nau Nihal Singh began a tall tower at one corner of the tank. The town became a centre of the Majha country. The fifth Guru’s martyrdom at Lahore in 1606 is remembered here with special devotion.
The life of this place
- 1590 CEGuru Arjan Dev founded the town and dug the sarovar.
- 30 May 1606Guru Arjan was executed at Lahore on Jahangir’s orders.
- early 19th centuryMaharaja Ranjit Singh rebuilt and gilded the Darbar Sahib.
About 25 km south of Amritsar; the monthly Amavasya gathering draws large crowds.
