Gurudwara Guru Nanak Datan Sahib Cuttack

This Gurudwara is a scenic place on the banks of the river Mahanadi. The first and foremost of the ten Sikh gurus, Guru Nanak Ji stepped foot into Odisha in the year 1506 after an extensive pilgrimage to the far off places like Assam and West Bengal. In Odisha, the Guru stayed in a very small hut, close to which a person called Chetanya Bharati was residing. Bharati was a specialist in witchcraft and was involved in doing harmful activities on unsuspecting people.

History

Lots of people came to visit the Guru in his hut and to seek his blessings. The crowd only kept increasing with every passing day. Seeing this huge crowd, Bharati became enraged and started envying the Guru. He practiced black magic and witchcraft to attract the crowd to him, but nothing worked. The Guru's power was so powerful, that none of the ill efforts could yield success for Bharati. One day, in order to attack the Guru who was in deep meditation, Bharati took a heavy branch from the nearby Sahada tree. However, just when he was about to attack, the Guru opened his eyes and looked at the tree. At that very instant, the branch fell down heavily on Bharati's leg. Crying with pain, Bharati realized his mistake and was spellbound at the power of the Guru. He became the Guru's ardent disciple since then.

One another day, Bharati offered a branch to the Guru for brushing his teeth. The Guru used one part for brushing and sowed the other part into the ground. This grew into a huge tree; however it was unfortunately destroyed in the year 1930. However there was a surprise in store for people, as another tree started growing from the root of this tree. This tree is now standing tall and huge and the Sikhs consider this very sacred, as they see it as a manifestation of their great Guru Nanak Ji. This tree was the base for the establishment of the Gurudwara of Guru Nanak Datan Sahib.

Two scientists and ardent devotees of Guru Nanak, Professor Pranakrishna Parija and Professor Bawa Kartar Singh, spent lots of time and effort in collecting donation from the Sangat and finally established this esteemed Gurudwara during the year 1935. Building the Gurudwara for their guru was the scientists' main dream and once construction was completed, both of these scientists were highly relieved at turning their dream into reality. As more and more people started visiting this place, there was a need to renovate or start a new building. To meet growing demands, a new swanky Gurudwara was built in the year 1988 and the earlier building is being used as a school to impart high quality education to all the people irrespective of caste, creed and financial status.

This Gurudwara is open to all and devotees from all over the country visit this place because this has a very deep connection with the great Guru Nanak Ji. This Gurudwara is spacious and is able to accommodate any number of visitors. It has entrances from all four directions with the aim to let people of any caste, creed, color, social, financial status inside the Gurudwara. Once inside, like all other Gurudwaras, people have to cover their heads and be barefoot. There is a Langar here which is a massive kitchen that offers free food for anybody who visits the Gurudwara. The kitchen is a place where all people sit in a row and take their food solemnly irrespective of however high or low their status is. Most of the people voluntarily come and offer their services in the kitchen by offering food for all.

How to Reach

By Air - Bhubaneswar is the nearest airport as the Gurudwara is about an hour's drive from here.

By Rail - Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are the main railway stations. These two stations are well connected to all the major cities in the country.

By Road - This Gurudwara is well connected by cars, cabs and buses from the main places like Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. There are lots of private owned and government owned buses at affordable rates that ply frequently to this Gurudwara. Air conditioned and normal taxis can also be found in plenty as this is a place that is frequented highly by devotees from across the country.

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