Cuttack Heritage Walks’ Date With Gurudwara Guru Nanak Datan Sahib

Cuttack: The historic edifice of Sikh pride, Gurudwara Guru Nanak Datan Sahib, holds an important place in everyone’s heart in Cuttack.

The story of Gurudwara Guru Nanak Datan Sahib, located on the banks of river Mahanadi, got revived on Sunday morning when members of Cuttack Heritage Walks (CHW) came calling. They listened to the tales of the sacred Sikh centre of pilgrimage and a cultural bridge between the Land of Lord Jagannath and the land of the five rivers.

After a brief encounter at the historic Barabati Fort ruins, the members of CHW headed towards Gurudwara to have a glimpse of the historic shrine, visit the sacred ‘Sahada’ tree from which a twig was taken by the revered Guru to brush his teeth (Datan) and avail the terrific Sikh hospitality at the Gurudwara after attending the religious ceremonies at the shrine.

CHW convener Dipak Samantrai said “the group is grateful to every member and guests for joining for the walk ignoring the weather warnings by India Meteorological Department.’’

Fortunately, the walkers had a great time for over three hours as rain gave some relief. The walkers learnt about how the place was associated with the great religious leader of the Sikhs and how his pilgrimage to Jagannath Dham in Puri gave rise to several shrines across the state during Guru Nanak Dev’s journey, probably through the historic Jagannath Sadak.

According to the Legend as described in the website of World Gurudwaras, “Guru Nanak Dev also stayed at Cuttack on his way to Puri. Here, among others, the local ruler Raja Partap Rudra Dev received instruction from him. The shrine commemorative of the Guru is outside the town on the banks of Mahanadi river near Kishti Ghat along the way to Jagannath Puri. It is served by Udasi priests. Now a Gurdwara has also been established; it is called Gurdwara Datan Sahib or, locally, Kaliaboda Gurdwara.

Guru Nanak visited Odisha in 1506 after travelling to Assam and Bengal. Guru Nanak took shelter in a small cottage. A mesmerist,  Chetan Bharati, was residing very close to the cottage. He was practicing witchcraft with the intention to mobilise Bhairavi. Later,  with Guru Nanak’s influence, Chetan turned into a Sikh.

“Chetan offered a small branch of Sahada tree to Guru Nanak to brush his teeth. Guru Nanak used one part of the branch and planted the rest in the ground which grew into a huge tree. The same tree perished in 1930. Prof. Pranakrishna Parija and Prof. Baba Kartar Singh, the two eminent scientists, examined the tree and declared that the tree was of the Guru’s time.’’

However, another tree took birth from the root of the first, which is now remembered by the visitors to the Gurudwara as a memory of Guru Nanak.

In order to construct a Gurdwara, Prof. Parija and Prof. Singh collected donations from the Sangat and completed a new building in 1935. It was again rebuilt and modernised in 1988. The Guru Granth Sahib is now on the first floor of the double-storey building.

Some eminent personalities who donated huge amounts during that time for the shrine’s development in 1935 include Maharaja of Jeypore, eminent physicist CV Raman, wife of Prof. Parija’s names were seen, among others.

Souvenir Unveiled

The new cap for CHW was unveiled by convener near the Barabati ruins and senior member of CHW Avinash Khemka was felicitated.

“We are planning to include kids in our future CHW events, specially to Gurudwara Guru Nanak Datan Sahib, so that they can know more about the stories behind the historic shrine. However, we will wait till the COVID situation improves,’’ said an active member of the group, Hitesh Seth.

The CHW trip to the Gurudwara was organised with the efforts of Ajay Kumar Mishra. The members of the Gurudwara Committee also spent hours explaining about the heritage site to the visiting guests.