Gurudwara Purbi Tola Etawah

The Gurudwara in Etowah has records of visits by the great Gurus like Guru Nanak and Guru Tegh Bahadur – the ninth guru. Of course, historians may beg to differ as they do not have any written records or mentions of these visits. However, there is a good chance that these were not recorded or were lost with the vagaries of time. There are definite mentions of Guru Tegh Bahadur passing through the town of Etawah on his religious trips to the Eastern parts of India. It is a strong belief that prevails among the Sikhs that Guru Nanak who was considered the founder of Sikhism and the very famous ninth Guru - Tegh Bahadur did indeed visit this Gurudwara.

Facts

As per the records found in the scripts, it is understood that in the time frame of 1665 – 1666 Guru Tegh Bahadur was very vigorously involved in travelling to various places in an effort to spread the religion of Sikhism. During his trips, he is supposed to have passed through Etawah town and had stayed in this place. The exact location was near the police station and quite in the interiors of the city in close proximity of the gardens that anointed the city. The Gurudwara is found in exactly the same place today.

Udasi priests perform all the rites and rituals here in this Gurudwara even today and they follow the regulations strictly. However, there are some views that consider this to be a more Hindu temple than a Sikh temple. This is because the priests of this Gurudwara follow the guidelines and rules that are set out by the Hindus. The rites that are performed at the Gurudwara, the opening, the closing times, the way the verses are chanted, the way the Pooja is performed and everything else about this Gurudwara reminds pilgrims of the Hindu traditions. There are people who even mistake this for a Hindu temple.

The only factors that differentiate this and mark this as a Gurudwara - that is the Guru Granth Sahib that is placed with a lot of prominence. Just like in most other Gurudwaras this Granth Sahib is opened in the morning and is closed in the evening in this Gurudwara as well. This is a common occurrence in most Gurudwaras and this is followed in the Gurudwara at Etawah as well. This is one deciding factor to put away any doubts about this Gurudwara following more Hindu rules than Sikh rules.

The Guru Granth Sahib that is opened up in the mornings and closed in the evenings is in the Devnagri script. Apart from this, there is another Granth Sahib in the Gurmukhi script as well.  This is not used regularly as there are very few priests of the current generation who can read this script. So, though this kept in the Gurudwara this is not read by most of them there. Another important feature of this Gurudwara is that it is opened to visitors only in the mornings. The Gurudwara is not opened during the evenings for the prayers of the pilgrims. This is one other feature that puts this Gurudwara in a completely different class from the other Gurudwaras. This Gurudwara is visited by Sahajdhari Sikhs who come here everyday to pay their respects.

How to Reach

• The closest airport to this Gurudwara is the Gwalior airport in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. This can be used for all domestic trips and the tourists can get to Gwalior from any part of the country. This is connected by daily flights to most major cities across the country.  For pilgrims who want to connect internationally, New Delhi airport will be ideal. From there, they can take taxis to the Gurudwara.
• Etawah railway station serves this Gurudwara and this is well connected on the rail network.  Therefore, devotees from most parts of the country can use this service to reach Etawah.
• Etawah is well connected by the road to major cities like Bhind, Mainpuri, Agra, Kanur, Aligarh, Lucknow, New Delhi etc. Because of the well-connected roads, the tourists can fly into one of airports or railway heads and then take the roads to reach the Gurudwara.

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