WSN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: World Sikh News editor Jagmohan Singh has been actively associated with social activists, conservation campaigners and political personalities to focus attention on Gurdwara Aarti Sahib in Puri, which has been on the verge of destruction and oblivion.  In a four-part investigative report and analysis, WSN reports how Sikh premier bodies have colluded with vested interests and how the whole campaign to save the heritage site of this place -Mangu Mutt, was earlier sabotaged but SGPC and other bodies who are now hyperactive. This first part is an overview of the investigative analysis -chronicling the history, legend and contemporary fiction about Gurdwara Aarti Sahib.

THE SIKHS HAVE BEEN GROSSLY NEGLIGENT IN PROTECTION and preservation of its glorious heritage, not only in homeland Punjab but across the rest of India too.  Apart from the recent focus on Sikh Gurdwaras and institutions in Pakistan, the Sikhs and their bodies, especially the SGPC will have to shoulder the full blame for ignoring this aspect of the Sikh heritage for a long time. The Guru’s heritage and the marks of Sikh history in Bangladesh have still to be touched, not to speak of thousands of places in Western and Eastern India.

It is disheartening that the present Sikh leadership or the Sikh representatives from SGPC, DSGMC, OSPB and GSS Bhubaneshwar have not taken the trouble to share the glorious history of the Sikh heritage in Puri and Odisha with the Sikh population in that state and beyond. They do not seem to be aware of historical references and facts to validate and endorse the faith and claims of the Sikh community.

Celebrating the 550 years of Guru Nanak, it is our duty to restore all heritage on the footsteps of Guru Nanak during his four journeys, including many other centres and Puri-considered to be one of the four dhams -religious centres of Hinduism.

Sikhs have to reclaim this heritage at Puri and rebuild it as a tribute to the composite ethos of Sikhism encompassing Sikh traditions, Udassi culture, NanakPanthi beliefs, the KabirPanthi affinity with Guru’s Bani and many others who revere Guru Nanak.

Since the last five months, efforts are on to reclaim and restore the Sikh heritage in Puri. The World Sikh News has been at the forefront in the battle to save this glorious composite and shared heritage which has associational reference to the Lord Jagannath Temple.

I am not a historian but I have delved deep into history, as much as I can, to prove the Sikh claim to Mangu Mutt, Punjabi Mutt and Gurdwara Baoli Mutt. I am chronicling here details based on my two visits, interaction with experts and reading of historical texts.

The present analysis pertains to the historicity, legend and the fudging of history of Mangu Mutt and Gurdwara Aarti Sahib by a section of the Sikh community in full complicity with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, leadership of the Akal Takht Sahib and the Takht Sri Harmandir Ji Patna Sahib, with tacit complicity of the Orissa Sikh Pratinidhi Board.

This is also a tale of how the Odisha government and its local administrative officials, not out of default but with full knowledge of facts and history, attempted to follow the Supreme Court and other orders in toto and how they hobnobbed with sections of Sikh leadership, without caring for history and legend relating to Guru Nanak Sahib and deeply hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community despite timely and concerted protestations. Their indifference cannot be condoled though it must be said that had the Sikh leadership presented their case appropriately to the power centres in the Temple administration and the Odisha government, things may not have taken a wrong turn.

As per historical records, Guru Nanak Sahib visited Jagannath Temple at Puri in 1506 CE, though some records put it as 1508, during his second Udassi -long spiritual journey, one of the four that he carried out in what makes 9 countries of the present times.

There is no mistaking the fact that Guru Nanak Sahib, during the second Udassi -long journeys visited Puri and interacted with the local Pandas and other learned men. Upon seeing the grandeur of the Aarti within the temple precincts, Guru Nanak Sahib, in his typical style, instead of an inquisition of the temporal nature of the Aarti, recited the Sikh Aarti –“Gagan mein thaal rav chand deepak,” extolling the Unity of God -Ik Onkar and telling humankind that the Aarti of the Formless One continues day and night. All present were spell-bound by Arati sung by Guru Nanak Sahib to the accompaniment of Bhai Mardana’s Rabab.

“An easy way to ease the situation and streamline the construction of the actual Gurdwara Aarti Sahib next to sanctum sanctorum of the hospice called Mangu Mutt is to ensure that the Odisha government in association with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and experts builds a Gurdwara in memory of the visit of Guru Nanak outside the main door of the Lord Jagannath Temple, a few metres away from the Singh Dwar, which is around the place of the Mangu Mutt and which does not disturb the beautification and building of the corridor around the temple which is being carried out by the Endowment Commissioner of the Temple and the Odisha government as per Supreme Court orders.”

The recent demolition of a big portion of the Mangu Mutt, except the sanctum sanctorum by the Odisha government despite concerted attempts to save the Sikh heritage in Puri, especially the heritage of Mangu Mutt, Nanak Mutt and Baoli Mutt which has a significant reference to the visit of the first Master of the Sikh faith -Guru Nanak to the Lord Jagannath Temple, as part of the Udassis -journeys of Guru Nanak, has brought into focus the historicity and authenticity of the Sikh claim.

“Everyone from among the Sikhs -from the Gurdwara leaders to the premier Sikh bodies have to share blame for not taking care of history and heritage,” said Dr Himadri Banerjee -renowned Sikh historian, while speaking to WSN.

Anil Dhir has been exhorting the Sikhs to awaken to the designs of the Odisha government for beautification and expansion, pursuant to Public Interest litigations and Supreme Court orders, but sadly to no avail. Documents accessed by The World Sikh News scream about the start complicity of the Sikh leadership at all levels to subvert the truth.  Anil Dhir – a serious researcher, with roots in Sultanpur Lodhi, whose father was a member of the Bhubaneshwar Gurdwara Committee, who walked on foot the path of Guru Nanak’s journey from Kolkata to Puri as part of his Lord Jagannath Sadak exploration has been crying hoarse from rooftops. In all humility, he says, “I am a humble scholar who has researched Sikhs roots for the last 6 years and what I have discovered may only be the tip of the iceberg.”

Despite pressures from the activist fraternity, the Odisha Sikh Pratinidhi Board and the SGPC has been in a denial mode -either by not acknowledging the sanctity and importance of Mangu Mutt or by entering into a secretive pact with the government of Odisha with the complicity of the SGPC. All this has been done in a surreptitious manner actually to uphold the sanctity of one place -Gurdwara Baoli Mutt Sahib but leaving the Mangu Mutt and Guru Nanak Mutt open for demolition.

“The SGPC, the OSPB and Sri Akal Takht Sahib have to ensure that the pseudo-Gurdwara Aarti Sahib run by the Trust withdraws the name without rancour and acrimony in the best interests of the Sikh community and in the true spirit of restoring the House of Guru Nanak where he recited the Sikh Aarti”

To further subvert the matters, a father-son duo from Delhi made Puri their home and set up a pseudo-Gurdwara Aarti Sahib, tacitly approved by Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib and Giani Iqbal Singh, Jathedar Takht Harmindar Ji Patna Sahib.  More than a decade back, with the Sikh community in deep slumber, first under the tutelage of Bhai Himmat Singh Religious and Charitable Trust and then under the name of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Religious and Charitable Trust (Regd.), the SGPC complicit and the OSPB aware and opposing but without any action and claim on Mangu Mutt, Baba Shamsher Singh and his son Jagdip Singh resurrected ‘Gurdwara Aarti Sahib’ on the seafront and ‘created’ history with support from petty-minded young pseudo-scholars, chroniclers and a section of the Sikh media, who did not delve deep to sift the chaff from the grain.

Clearly this is a misnomer -a gross abuse of the use of the nomenclature to deceive innocent Sikhs and to muddle Sikh history and leave a perverted history for posterity.

A video report by a YouTube channel available on the internet for quite some time did not raise the hackles of our premier bodies. Now, though the Akal Takht is in questioning mode but still specific, strong and immediate steps are required.

Though the SGPC and the Akal Takht Sahib has been sending notices to the founders of the pseudo-Gurdwara Aarti Sahib, no strict action has been taken so far. In fact, the SGPC has been dilly-dallying and the DSGMC has been hobnobbing with the father-son duo who set up the Gurdwara, with the clear mal-intention of deceiving the Sikh masses.

Two delegations of the SGPC with the OSPB have not yielded any reports for the Sikh Sangat.  Everything is hush-hush with no clear communication to the masses as to what has transpired with the government and what the future holds for the Sikhs, vis-à-vis Sikh heritage sites.

The SGPC claims to be the sole inheritor of every legacy of the Sikhs but has failed to fathom the move of the government based on the recommendations of the Justice B. P. Das Commission submitted to the Odisha government as early as April 2017, which Commission was set up in response to Pubic Interest Litigations filed in the Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court of India and action was initiated by the Endowment Commissioner running the Lord Jagannath Temple Administration.

With the Odisha government, through the Minister of State for home Captain Mishra, MLA Bobby Dass -in charge of Puri Development Authority and Mr Krishna -Temple Administrator of the Lord Jagannath Temple promising to take the aspirations and concerns of the Sikh community into account while finalising the environs of the Temple, there seems hope that the true Gurdwara Aarti Sahib will come up adjacent to the sanctum sanctorum of Mangu Mutt, which is what remains of the Mutt after the demolition of the surrounding of the Mangu Mutt.

An easy way to ease the situation and streamline the construction of the actual Gurdwara Aarti Sahib next to sanctum sanctorum of the hospice called Mangu Mutt is to ensure that the Odisha government in association with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and experts builds a Gurdwara in memory of the visit of Guru Nanak outside the main door of the Lord Jagannath Temple, a few metres away from the Singh Dwar, which is around the place of the Mangu Mutt and which does not disturb the beautification and building of the corridor around the temple which is being carried out by the Endowment Commissioner of the Temple and the Odisha government as per Supreme Court orders.

No section of the Sikh community should resort to settling scores and jointly follow up this matter to ensure that Gurdwara Aarti Sahib comes up at the site of the Mangu Mutt.

Without any delay, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and all right-thinking activists and conservation experts must submit specific suggestions to the Odisha government regarding the Master Plan of the environs around the Lord Jagannath Temple and relive the common and shared heritage of this consecrated land.

The SGPC, the OSPB and Sri Akal Takht Sahib have to ensure that the pseudo-Gurdwara Aarti Sahib run by the Trust withdraws the name without rancour and acrimony in the best interests of the Sikh community and in the true spirit of restoring the House of Guru Nanak where he recited the Sikh Aarti.