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Gurdwara Bhai Pheru

Location - (precise location unknown) Anarkali Market, Bhai Pheru, Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan


Associated with - Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji


Sikh Artifacts - None


Sarovar - None


Sarai - None


The town with the name of Bhai Pheru (1640 - 1706), is situated at a distance of sixty kilometers from Lahore on Lahore-Multan road.

Gurdwara Bhai Pheru, also known as Gurdwara Sangat Sahib, stands majestically at the end of Local Anarkali Market.

History

The real name of Bhai Pheru was Sangtia. Once, Sangtia was carrying his oil skins full of ghee to Kartarpur. One of Guru Har Rai's Sikhs purchased the ghee from him and asked him to collect the money on the following day. Sangtia Ji emptied these oil skins and gave the ghee to the Sikh.

On the next day Sangtia found his oil-skins still full of ghee like before. Witnessing this miracle he came to Guru Har Rai Ji and became a Sikh. Guru Ji converted him and changed his name to 'Bhai Pheru' which became popular.

Guru Har Rai appointed him as the masand of the Nakka area. When a misappropriation of funds by the Guru's collectors came to light, a thorough check was ordered. It was found that only Bhai Pheru had maintained the accounts honestly and scrupulously.

Guru Ji prayed for the continuation of his langar. Bhai Pheru died in this area of Nakka and later a samadh was built there. A town was built around it which became known as Bhai Pheru.

Bhai Pheru was honoured for his devotion by Guru Gobind Singh with the titles of Sachchi Dahri (lit. True Beard). The Gurdwara, was important with up to 2,750 acres of land attached to it.

Mahants In Control

The present building of Gurdwara was built by a Mahant in collaboration with the local Sangat in 1910 AD. At the time of the morcha it was being managed by Mahant Kishan Das.

After the creation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a representative society of the Sikhs, had taken over management of some of the major Gurdwaras, mahants or priests had started voluntarily handing over gurdwaras under their control.

The Mahant, Kishan Das, agreed in consideration of a monthly pension of Rs 400 and free rations for life and transferred Gurdwara Bhai Pheru to the Committee. The Shiromani Committee took possession of the Gurdwara on 28 December 1922. But later the Mahant, repudiating the agreement, filed with the police a complaint of trespass against the manager, Jagat Singh, and other staff appointed by the Shiromani Committee. The police, on 7 December 1923, arrested Jagat Singh and ten other Sikhs.

Thirty-four more arrests were made on 2 January 1924. This led the Shiromani Committee to launch a morcha. Bands of Akali volunteers started courting arrest daily from 5 January 1924 onwards. The morcha was pledged to non-violence and every day volunteers offered themselves for arrest. This went on for a period of 21 months.

The possession of the Gurdwara and its estate was restored to the Mahant and his tenants. However, the decision of the deputy commissioner of Lahore on the Gurdwara lands went in favour of the Shiromani Committee and, as its representatives arrived to take charge of these.

Mahant Kishan Das and his tenant Pala Ram (brother of Mahant Narain Das the Mahant of Sri Nankana Sahib) lodged a complaint with the police that the Akalis were forcibly taking possession of his property. Acting on his complaint, the police arrested 34 Akalis on 2 January 1924. The government revised its earlier decision and passed fresh orders declaring Pala Ram to be temporarily in possession of the land.

Morcha

The Akalis launched a morcha in protest, even as the morcha at Jaito was still continuing. Jathas or batches of Akali volunteers started marching to Bhai Pheru from different parts of the district. On 5 January 1924, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee took the campaign into its own hands.

By 10 September 1925, the number of arrests had reached 6,372. An unsavoury incident, however, led the local organizer, Arjan Singh, to suspend the morcha on 20 September 1925. The Gurdwara and the lands attached to it came under the Committee`s control after the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 was passed by the Punjab Legislative Council, and the court case too was decided in the Committee`s favour in June 1931.

The building is in good conditioh because the Evacuee Trust Board got it repaired and rebuilt the collapsed roof in 1995 AD. Ten shops adjacent to the Gurdwara have been rented out.

The Samadh of Bhai Pheru is located just beside the entrance of the Gurdwara and you have to get down 5 steps to get inside it. Diwan (assembly) Hall is in front of Samadh, where Nishan Sahib remains hoisted.

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