Date of visit: 31 January 2021
kindly respect copyrights)
Guru Nanak’s legacy continues to live in several hidden corners of Pakistan. Part of this legacy is two gurdwaras with the same name — Gurdwara Mal Ji Sahib. While one among them at Nankana Sahib recently got a quiet makeover, the other with the same name at Kanganpur in Kasur continues to lie forgotten since Partition. Both gurdwaras are in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
KANGANPUR is a large village along Kasur-Lodhran the railway line in the Lahore district of Pakistan, had a historical Sikh shrine
dedicated to Guru Nanak. It is said that once Guru Nanak accompanied by Bhai
Mardana came to this village, but the villagers treated them with gross
indifference. They did not even let them put up in the village. Before
departing, the Guru blessed them saying, "Vasde Raho May you live happily
here" and went to the next village, Manak Deke, 3 km away. The inhabitants
of this village warmly welcomed the visitors and extended to them their wonted
hospitality. On leaving this village, Guru Nanak remarked, "Ujjarjdo May
you be dispersed." Bhai Mardana was puzzled and questioned the Master
about his strange way of blessing the wicked and cursing the virtuous. The Guru
explained that in the former case he had wished the ill-mannered residents of
Kanganpur to stay where they were so that they did not spread their sullenness
to people elsewhere, whereas he expected the people of Manak Deke to spread
goodness by their gentle example. The Gurdwara Sahib at Kanganpur used to
attract devotees especially on the first of every Bikrami month. It was the site
of a largely attended religious festival on the first of the month of Chet (mid-March)
every year, until it was abandoned in August-September 1947.
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