Place · Sikh gurdwara · India
Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur
Also known as Guru Gobind Singh's literary court, Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur
The gurudwara at Paonta Sahib on the Yamuna in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh — the place where Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) spent four years (1685-1689) and composed much of the Dasam Granth (his collection of mystical, martial and devotional writings). The site was chosen for its forested Himalayan location on the Yamuna, where the Guru also trained his Khalsa warriors in martial arts and poetry. The Dasam Granth includes the Jaap Sahib (invocation prayer), the Zafarnama (victory letter to Aurangzeb), and the Chandi Charitra (goddess hymns). The current gurdwara structure is 1930s with major 1990s additions. The annual Hola Mohalla festival in March draws over 100,000 Sikh pilgrims. The adjacent Yamuna river bank preserves the Guru's weapons storage site.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 30.444, 77.623
Connections (2)
- Guru Gobind lifeAnandpur Sāhib
Guru Gobind Singh spent about four years at Paonta Sahib on the Yamuna, where he kept a literary court of fifty-two poets and where much of the Dasam Granth was composed, before returning to Anandpur. The two towns represent the two halves of his career — the Yamuna years of writing and the Anandpur years of the Khalsa and the wars — and they are less than a hundred and fifty kilometres apart.
- Shared sacred geographyNaina Devi, Bilaspur
Guru Gobind Singh is held to have performed a havan at Naina Devī before founding the Khalsa at Anandpur in 1699, and Paonta Sāhib is the other Shivalik seat of his years in the hills. The goddess shrines and the Guru's forts occupy the same foothill country and the same decades.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Paonta Sahib”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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