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Takhat
Sachkhand Sri Hazoor Sahib is the principal shrine at Nanded. It marks
the site where the Guru had his camp in 1708 AD after the departure
of the emperor Bahadur Shah. The tenth Guru held his court and congregation
here. It is the site of his own tent where he was convalescing after
he was attacked by assassins. It is the place from where the tenth Guru
rose to heaven along with his horse Dilbag.
In
1708 being prescient of the end of his earthly role, the Guru had dispatched
Banda Singh with five of his Sikhs to Punjab and Mata Sahib Devan under
a separate escort to Delhi before the stabbing incident. He told the
rest of his retinue to retire to their homes if they so wished, but
he bade one Bhai Santokh Singh to stay on here and keep Guru ka langar
going. many others also chose to remain. Together they built a room
over the platform where the used to sit while holding his court and
installed Guru Granth Sahib on it. They called it Takhat Sahib. Guru
Gobind Singh, while conferring Guruship on the holy Book, had himself
named Nanded as Abchalnagar (lit. steadfast city) after the first word
of a hymn read at random on the occasion.
Sachkhand
(lit. region of Truth) had been used by Guru Nanak Dev to mean the abode
of God. The present building of the Takhat Sahib was got constructed
by Maharaja Ranjit Singh with money, artisans and labor sent from Punjab
during early 1830s. Around the same time the Nizam of Hyderabad raised
a contingent of Northern Sikhs as part of his army. Most of these men
settled permanently in Hyderabad State. Many militant and righteous
Hindus embraced Sikhism in the 18th century. The control of Takhat Sachkhand
Sri Hazoor Sahib, which had formerly passed into the hands of Udasi
priests was regained by the Sikhs under the influence of the Singh Sabha
Movement of the late nineteenth century. Some of the rituals and ceremonies
connected with working are peculiar to this Takhat Sahib. In 1956 an
Act was passed by the legislature of Hyderabad under which the management
of Takhat Sahib and other historical Gurudwaras was legally placed under
a 17 member Gurudwaras Board and a five member Managing Committee.
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