Anandpur
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Anandpur Sahib, also referred simply as Anandpur (lit. 'city of bliss'), is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab.[1] Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most sacred religious places in Sikhism, being the place where the last two Sikh Gurus, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh, lived. It is also the place where Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699.[2] The city is home to Takhat Sri Kesgarh Sahib, the third of the five Takhts in Sikhism.[1][3]The town was founded by the ninth Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur.[4]
The city is a pilgrimage site in Sikhism.[5] It is the venue of the largest annual Sikh gathering and festivities during the Hola Mohalla in the spring season.[6]
Location
Anandpur Sahib is located on National Highway 503 that links Kiratpur Sahib and Chandigarh to Nangal, Una and further Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. It is situated near the Sutlej river, the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab.
History
Anandpur Sahib was founded in June 1665 by the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Gurinder Singh Mann states that Guru Tegh Bahadur established Anandpur in 1684.[7] He previously lived in Kiratpur, but given the disputes with Ram Rai – the elder son of Guru Har Rai and other sects of Sikhism, he moved to village in Makhoval. He named it Chakk Nanaki after his mother,[8] and became a prominent Dharamshal (Gurdwara plus self-sufficient village), consisting of tent encampments, vernacular clay/adobe straw-thatched round hutments ("Bunga") and small orchards and gardens in between the heavily forested hilly area and besides a stream and waterfall, (located in the area currently marked by Gurdwara Bhora Sahib).[9] In 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur was tortured and beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, a martyrdom that led Sikhs to rename the town to Anandpur and crown his son Gobind Das as per his orders (also known as Gobind Rai)[10] as his successor and famous as Guru Gobind Singh.[11][12][13]
The village grew larger (with more temporary encampments), state Louis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod, as Sikhs moved near Guru Gobind Singh.[11] Guru Gobind Singh founded nearby Paonta Sahib in 1685 as a secondary base for the Sikhs.[14] The growing strength of Sikhs in Anandpur under the tenth Guru, after the execution of the ninth Guru, raised concerns of the neighboring Pahari rajas - the vassals of the Mughal Empire, along with the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb.[11][15]: 14 In 1693, Aurangzeb issued an order that banned large gatherings of Sikhs such as during the festival of Baisakhi.[15]: 14
On the Vaisakhi day of 1699, the Guru sent out invitations across the land to distant and nearby Sikh congregations to convene at Anandpur for the upcoming festival.[3] It was normal for the Guru to celebrate Vaisakhi at Anandpur with Sikh congregations annually but this time much more importance was placed on attendance than usual and more stringently.[3] Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa Panth in Anandpur on the day of the 1699 Vaisakhi festival after an elaborate ceremony and gathered a large armed militia.[3] This triggered Aurangzeb and his vassal Hindu kings around Anandpur to blockade Anandpur.[11] This led to several battles:
First Battle of Anandpur (1700), against the Mughal army of Aurangzeb, who had sent 10,000 soldiers under the command of Painda Khan and Dina Beg.[16] In a direct combat between Guru Gobind Singh and Painda Khan, the latter was killed. His death led to the Mughal army fleeing the battlefield.[16]
Second Battle of Anandpur (1704), against the Mughal army led first by Saiyad Khan and then by Ramjan Khan;[16] The Mughal general was fatally wounded by Sikh soldiers, and the army withdrew. Aurangzeb then sent a larger army with two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan in May 1704, to destroy the Sikh resistance.[16] The approach the Mughal army took in this battle was to lay a protracted siege against Anandpur, from May to December, cutting off all food and other supplies moving in and out, along with repeated battles.[17] Some Sikh men deserted the Guru during Anandpur siege in 1704, and escaped to their homes where their women shamed them and they rejoined the Guru's army and died fighting with him in 1705.[18][19] Towards the end, the Guru, his family and followers accepted an offer by Aurangzeb of safe passage out of Anandpur.[20] However, as they left Anandpur in two batches, they were attacked, and one of the batches with Mata Gujari and Guru's two sons – Zorawar Singh aged 8 and Fateh Singh aged 5 – were taken captive by the Mughal army.[21][22] Both his children were executed by burying them alive into a wall.[17][23] The grandmother Mata Gujari died there as well.[21]
According to Louis Fenech, Anandpur's history during the late 17th century and early 18th century was complex and war prone because the relationship of Guru Gobind Singh with his neighbors was complex. Sometimes the hill chiefs and Guru Gobind Singh cooperated in a battle, sometimes they fought against each other, where the difficult mountainous terrain made it difficult for the Mughal to subdue everyone with force and the terrain made it easier for Pahari chieftains to rebel against the Mughals routinely.[15]: 8–11
After the city was sacked in 1704, its control passed into the hands of Budh Singh, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh.[8] Budh Singh later handed over control of the city over to Patiala State under the reign of Ala Singh.[8] In 1764, the descendent of Sodhi Suraj Mal (one of the sons of Guru Hargobind), Nahar Singh, purchased the city plus a fort called Manji Sahib (which was a dwelling associated with Suraj Mal).[8] As more Sodhi families moved into the city, four Sarkars were established, with them namely being: Badi, Dusri, Tisri, and Chauthi.[8] The Badi sarkar was the most eminent of the four yet all of them were revered by the Sikh population of the era.[8] Each sarkar had its own associated palace that was fortified, commune, and congregation of followers.[8] The sarkars also maintained a militia of their own, consisting of infantry, cavalary, and elephants.[8]
Virasat-e-Khalsa Museum campus links, particularly with the need of the population, providing business to the locals and makes the city marked on urban literature globally. Punjab Heritage Tourism Promotion Board paid to have it installed in order to attract worldwide tourism. Open spaces which are going to be used by ritual activities during ceremonies and festivals also serve as alternative parking grounds, reserved grounds for political rallies which brings the intact ingredient of Indian cities together “The Interaction”.[24]
Heritage Conservation
Historical sites and structures in the city have been poorly maintained and the vast majority have been destroyed.[26] Buildings, such as forts, that are associated with the lives of the Sikh gurus have been demolished and renovated beyond recognition, including the Anandgarh Baoli.[26] Much of this defacement involves encasing historical structures in marble.[26] Though the locality once was littered with various forts, these have been destroyed over the years as the city has expanded and changed.[26] In the 1930s, a new structure was constructed over the original site and structure of Anandgarh Qila.[26] By 1988, essentially all of the principal standing shrines of Anandpur Sahib had been reconstructed at some point in either the late 19th or early 20th centuries during the Singh Sabha movement, based upon older edifices that stood at their spot.[3] There were formerly mural paintings and floral embellishments decorating the walls of Gurdwara Akal Bunga but these are no longer extant, though surviving traces of these wall paintings could be seen on the wall skirting the roof of the structure.[3] Qila Sodhian was the last surviving remnant of a fortification in Anandpur Sahib in the year 1999.[26]
The original vernacular heritage structures and monuments that are associated with the lives of the Sikh Gurus have long been demolished and replaced with new buildings inspired by Mughal or modern Architecture- no original heritage remains from the 17th century, and very little from the 19th. As per Nihang oral history, the original Chak Nanaki and Akal Bunga (vernacular clay round hutments) were demolished in the Ranjit Singh era and replaced with a new Gurdwara complex, a large palace was constructed on the hilltop which was previously an open site of worship, and the small lookout posts in the hillsides (referred to as "Quila"- Fort in vernacular Nihang vocabulary) were replaced with towering Mughal-architecture forts, to display the new wealth and prestige of Empire. A photograph taken in 1865 by journalists from the Francis Frith Studios, shows the new palatial building on the hilltop; with some abandoned early 18th century clay structures still present around it. In the 1900s, these few remaining vernacular clay structures were demolished, jungles cut down, the hills and ravines flattened and replaced with houses, markets and roads for the growing populace. In the 1930s and 40s, post the Singh Sabha Gurdwara Reform, the 19th century buildings and forts, including the Anandgarh Baoli were either demolished or defaced beyond recognition,[8]through encasing historical structures in marble.[8] The 19th century Keshgarh hill-top palace was demolished in its entirety and replaced with an entirely new structure [Takht Kesgarh Sahib].[8] Qila Taragarh was constructed on the sacred hilltop where 500 holy saints meditated- replacing the rock mound, garden and Nishan Sahib that was previously stood there. There reconstructions were based upon older edifices that stood at their spot, and with none of the natural hill and ravine ecology remaining; which had quintessentially defined the area during the Gurus era.[3] The steep natural stone steps descending down to a spring from Qila Anandgarh, graced by the Gurus footsteps, was demolished and replaced with a brick and concrete stairway and the original spring removed and replaced with a generic Gurdwara.
The holy Bhora (natural rock ledge) on which Guru Tegh Bahadur used to sit and meditate besides a stream, was preserved in the basement of the newly built Bhora Sahib Gurdwara, but this too was demolished and the basement fully encased in marble in the 2000s at the behest of the controversial "Kar Seva" modernisation drive. The only remaining built heritage in 2025 is a small section of 19th century Nanakshahi (narrow) red brick on display behind a glass panel within the newly constructed Qila Anangarh Sahib. There are also some sections of ruins of a 19th-century Sodhi clan Haveli in the back alleys of the Old Market. Today, Anandpur Sahib is a growing city and popular place of pilgrimage, but without any cultural or natural heritage. The emphasis has been for modern architecture and religious symbolism in the urban landscape: from the prominent 81-foot-high stainless steel Khanda in the Khalsa Park to the sprawling modern concrete and steel Virasat-e-Khalsa museum, desiged by the Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, commissioned in 1999 by the then Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, who was inspired by the similarly modern Yad Vashem holocaust memorial. The dynamic interplay between the city's significance as a spiritual center and relentless modernization juxtaposes and reveals the struggle of the post-colonial Sikh identity, that is still unfurling.[25]