Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the story of Panja Sahib

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Guru Nanak Dev Ji was the first guru of Sikhs and the founder of Sikhism. He remains one of the greatest and most respected saints of the world. He born on 15 April 1469 at Talvandi (at present it is in Pakistan). A gurudwara is made at his birthplace known as Nankana Sahib. His father was Kalyan Chand Das Bedi and mother’s name was Mata Tripta. They belonged to merchant caste of Hindu religion. He had an elder sister, Bebe Nanki.

हिंदी अनुवाद के लिए यंहा क्लिक करें:

Parents of Child Guru Nanak are always worried by seeing their devotion.

During his lifetime, Guru Nanak Dev Ji travelled to various faraway places. He preached the message of one God to the people and taught them the right way to live life. Many believe that Guru Nanak is the second most travelled person in this world. He travelled mostly on foot and had Bhai Mardana as his companion during most of these journeys. It is said that Guru Nanak travelled more than 28,000 Kms during 1500 to 1524. He was sad to see the evils prevailing in the society and wanted to get rid of them.

His travels are popularly known as Udasis in Punjabi culture. There are 5 major travels or Udasis during which he travelled in all directions – East, west, south and north. He visited many important places of all religions – Hindu, Islam, Buddhists, Jains etc. He visited many Sufi shrines as well. He met people of various cultures and left a divine impact on them. Slowly the divine stories of Guru Nanak’s travels became popular and his fame spread in all four directions.

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During his first travel (Udasi), the holy guru travelled to the east of India. The other notable places of his travel were Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Baghdad, Mecca, South West China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Tibet, Kazakhstan, Israel, Syria and much more.

Since Guru Nanak travelled a lot, many countless stories became famous about him. Each of his stories had a unique and moral message about life and God. Today we will tell you the story about Guru Nanak and Panja Sahib.

GURUDWARA PANJA SAHIB

Gurudwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan.

Gurdwara Panja Sahib is located at a place called Hasan Abdal, which is 48 km from Rawalpindi in Pakistan. It is one of the most sacred places for Sikhs. Guru Nanak visited the place during one of his journeys and taught a very important lesson to an arrogant merchant who lived here. You can find a huge rock with the hand print of Guru Nanak still visible on it. It is the main reason this gurudwara is known as Panja Sahib. In Punjabi, “panja” means “outstretched palm while the word “panj” means five.

Guru Nanak visited Hasan Abdal in the summer of 1578 B.K along with his follower Bhai Mardana. There they encountered a rude and arrogant merchant named Wali Qandhari. He was a greedy man who use to demand money from the poor villagers in exchange for water. Guru Nanak made him realise his mistake and guide him towards the right path.

Thousands of Sikh followers visit this holy place from all over the world. Pakistan government gives special visa to the Indian followers who visit this place during the season of special celebrations.

Also read: Yamraj sends 4 Letters of indications to everyone before death

THE STORY OF PANJA SAHIB

After visiting the Middle East countries Guru Nanak was on his way back home. During his journey, he passed through current Pakistan and reached a place called Hassan Abdal. Guru Nanak had a divine aura which attracted people like a magnet wherever he went. The people of the surrounding area were attracted by the Guru’s teachings. He told them about the one divine power which is the supreme creator. He told them that there is only one God and we call him by different names. Religions are different paths which ultimately lead us to the same destination i.e God. People of both Hindu and Muslim community started coming to him to seek his blessings. The number of people who would come to see the great saint were increasing day by day.

Guru Nanak often travelled with his two companions Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana.

There live a Muslim priest whose name was Wali Qandhari on the top of a hill. He was a very greedy and arrogant person. A spring of fresh water flowed from where he lived. The spring was the only source of water for the poor villagers. The priest used to take money from anyone who wanted to use the water from the spring. He was a ruthless person. Wali Qandhari noticed the growing popularity of Guru Nanak and he grew jealous of him. In order to drive him out of the area, Qandhari stopped the flow of water and cut its supply to the people.

A group of local people went to Wali Qandhari and requested him to let the villagers use the water again. But Qandhari was blinded by hatred and he angrily fends off the villagers. He taunted them to ask their Guru Nanak for water.

The people approached Guru Nanak and narrated the whole incident to him. He convinced the people not to lose hope and told them that God will take care of them. He sent his disciple Bhai Mardana to Wali Qandhari and ask him to allow the people to use water.

Bhai Mardana went to Qandhari and politely asked him to let the water flow to the town. But Qandhari was as angry as ever. He insulted him and said if he has no money then he cannot use water. He said to him to ask water from his beloved Guru Nanak.

Bhai Mardana came back disappointed and told Guru Nanak about what had happened. Guru Nanak asked Mardana to go back to Qandhari again and ask for water. He did the same but had to come back again empty handed. People were getting more helpless now. But Guru told them not to lose hope and he again sent Bhai Mardana to Qandhari. Bhai Mardana again asked for water with politeness but Qandhari was stubborn as ever. He again repeated that if he has money then only he can use water. A disappointed Mardana came back the third time.

Guru Nanak asked the people to not lose hope. He took a stick and dug a small hole in the ground. Instantly, a spring of fresh water sprung up from the hole. The people were overjoyed at the sight. They all started drinking water.

Wali Qandhari was watching all of this from the top of the hill. He could not believe his eyes. He noticed that the water from his spring was drying up. He became furious at this. In a fit of rage, he rolled a huge boulder over the hill in an attempt to kill Guru Nanak.

Wali Qandhari tried to crush Guru Nanak under a huge rock.

At the time Guru Nanak was sitting with his eyes closed, meditating. People noticed the huge rock coming their way and ran away. They all begged Guru Nanak to get out of the way of the rock. But he was sitting calm as ever.

Guru Nanak simply raised his hand and stopped the rock.

Just as the boulder was about to crush Guru Nanak, he simply raised his hand and stopped the rock. The print of Guru Nanak’s hand was printed on the rock and that rock still can be seen even today with the print of Guru’s hand on it.

Realizing his mistake, Qandhari ran to Guru Nanak and begged for forgiveness. He was a changed man now and promised to live his life in a good way. He even allowed the people to use the water without having to pay for it. He realized that the creations of God are meant to be shared by everyone and no one can stop others from doing it.

The rock with the handprint of Guru Nanak Dev Ji can be still seen today at Panja Sahib.

Guru Nanak forgave Qandhari and all the people of the town were happy. Years later, in memory of this incident Gurudwara, Panja Sahib was made.

So this was the story of Guru Nanak and Panja Sahib. Hope you like it.

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