While Sikh or­gan­i­sa­tions are yet to take up the is­sue,  Bhubanesh­war lawyer and so­cial ac­tivist Sukhvin­der Kaur and his­to­rian Anil Dhir have sent an SOS to Odisha Chief Min­is­ter to stop the im­mi­nent de­mo­li­tion of the his­toric Mangu Mutt and Pun­jabi Mutt, ad­ja­cent to the his­toric Ja­gan­nath Puri Tem­ple, as part of an ex­pan­sion and clean­li­ness drive which has in­vited the wrath of Hindu re­li­gious au­thor­i­ties as well. It is highly ironic that while the whole Sikh world and friends of Sikhs are cel­e­brat­ing the 550 years of Guru Nanak and are launch­ing spe­cial pro­grammes for the en­su­ing an­niver­sary on 12 No­vem­ber, the Naveen Pat­naik gov­ern­ment is on the anvil of re­mov­ing the traces of the foot­steps of the his­toric site where Guru Nanak Sahib spent time dur­ing his so­journ to Bhubanesh­war. The World Sikh News ap­peals to the Odisha gov­ern­ment to im­me­di­ately stop this ‘clean­li­ness drive.’

THE SIKH WORLD is pained to note that two of the sa­cred mutts of Puri which have as­so­ci­a­tional sig­nif­i­cance with the Sikh faith have been slated for de­mo­li­tion in the re­cent clean­li­ness re­forms be­ing car­ried out around the Ja­gan­nath Puri Tem­ple.

Speak­ing on be­half of the Sikh com­mu­nity, Odhisha High Court lawyer and so­cial ac­tivist Sukhvin­der Kaur and his­to­rian Anil Dhir have cat­e­gor­i­cally stated in an ur­gent SOS mis­sive to the Odisha Chief Min­is­ter Naveen Pat­naik that, “the con­nec­tion be­tween Sikhism and the Ja­gan­nath tem­ple goes back to more than 500 years ago when Guru Nanak Dev Ji vis­ited the holy tem­ple to spread the mes­sage of Ek Onkar, mean­ing “one supreme re­al­ity”. It was at the Ja­gan­nath tem­ple that the Holy Sikh Arti, which is en­shrined in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, was com­posed. Since then the as­so­ci­a­tion of Sikhs with the Ja­gan­nath tem­ple was set and con­tin­ues till to­day.”

Will the Odisha Chief Min­is­ter lis­ten? Will he raze to the ground the his­toric shrine in mem­ory of Guru Nanak? Will he go down in his­tory as a van­dal or a pro­tec­tor of shared com­mon her­itage? He should re­mem­ber that his­tory is un­for­giv­ing.

The mem­o­ran­dum has stated that “Every year, thou­sands of de­vout Sikhs visit Puri to pay obei­sance at the Gur­d­wara.”

His­tor­i­cally speak­ing, Anil Dhir has pointed out that, “The Mangu Mutt was set up by Bhai Al­mast, the Sikh preacher and head of the Dhuari of the Udasi sect some­time in 1615 C.E.  He had been de­puted to the east­ern provinces by Baba Gur­ditta, the el­dest son of Guru Har­gob­ind, to preach the mes­sage of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in the east­ern provinces. The im­age of Baba Shri Chand, the son of Guru Nanak Dev Ji is kept in the shrine in­side the mutt. It is be­cause of Al­mas­t’s im­pres­sive work that Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Ji chose to visit the place in 1670 CE. The Mutt was the abode of the Nanakpan­this, who would travel 2000 miles each year to visit Puri.”

“An­other cher­ished link of the Sikhs with the Puri tem­ple is its con­nec­tion with Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji. In 1699, at Anand­pur Sahib, while the Guru was cre­at­ing the Khalsa, Him­mat Rai, a young lad from Puri who came from a hum­ble back­ground, of­fered his head to the Guru. Him­mat Rai be­came Bhai Him­mat Singh upon tak­ing Am­rit from Guru Gob­ind Singh.”

Noted re­searchers and ac­tivist Anil Dhir has given an­other ex­am­ple of the Sikh-Puri con­nec­tion and stated that “An­other cher­ished link of the Sikhs with the Puri tem­ple is its con­nec­tion with Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji. In 1699, at Anand­pur Sahib, while the Guru was cre­at­ing the Khalsa, Him­mat Rai, a young lad from Puri who came from a hum­ble back­ground, of­fered his head to the Guru. Him­mat Rai be­came Bhai Him­mat Singh upon tak­ing Am­rit from Guru Gob­ind Singh.”

“Two hymns of Odisha lau­re­ate Bha­gat Jayadeva are there as Gur­bani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. There are many such leg­ends like these that in­di­cate a strong bond be­tween Puri and the Sikhs.”

The two so­cial ac­tivists have recorded that “His­toric men­tions are made in in­nu­mer­able texts and writ­ten records. In 1868 Smith, San­i­tary Com­mis­sioner of Ben­gal re­ported that Pun­jabis came to Puri walk­ing on foot about 2000 miles for six-month-long jour­neys. They used to stay at Puri a day or two and walked back home hap­pily. In 1873, J.S. Arm­strong, Mag­is­trate to the Com­mis­sioner, Orissa Di­vi­sion, wrote about the Mutt and its Sikh oc­cu­pants. The Ga­jap­ati Raja of Puri had also granted the right of Chamar Seva or Mayur Pankhi Seva to be ren­dered by the Ma­hant of the Math.”

“Two hymns of Odisha lau­re­ate Bha­gat Jayadeva are there as Gur­bani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. There are many such leg­ends like these that in­di­cate a strong bond be­tween Puri and the Sikhs.”

Sig­nif­i­cantly, it has been noted that the “Mangu Math also played an im­por­tant role dur­ing the free­dom strug­gle. Many free­dom fight­ers, both from Odisha and up­coun­try were shel­tered here. The Late Gob­ind Tri­pa­thy, free­dom fighter from Puri has rec­ol­lected his stay in the mutt as an in­mate and the im­mense sup­port he along with his class­mates and fel­low free­dom fight­ers re­ceived here in the thir­ties.”

The vastly re­searched doc­u­men­tary ap­peal to Chief Min­is­ter Naveen Pat­naik pleads to him say­ing, “His­tor­i­cally, Sikhs have al­ways been seen as the pro­tec­tors of Hin­dus. Even dur­ing vic­to­ri­ous con­quests, the Sikhs have never de­filed not de­stroyed any place of wor­ship of the en­e­mies. Many of the Sikh Gu­rus and their fam­i­lies gave up their lives for the pro­tec­tion of the Hindu faith and tem­ples. It is ironic that our holy place will be de­stroyed in the name of de­vel­op­ment.”

Will Odisha CM @Naveen_Odisha lis­ten? Will he raze to the ground the his­toric shrine in mem­ory of Guru Nanak in the year when the world is cel­e­brat­ing 550 years of Guru Nanak? Will he go down in his­tory as a van­dal or a pro­tec­tor of shared com­mon her­itage?https://​t.co/​BtZmNBTKbY

— Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja (@Singh­Lions) Sep­tem­ber 12, 2019

“The Gaddi, the Sanc­tum Sanc­to­rum should be left in­tact. The relics should be prop­erly pre­served.”

“It is the duty of the Gov­ern­ment of Odisha to pro­tect and pre­serve such her­itage and re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions and safe­guard the spir­i­tual and emo­tional val­ues at­tached to them. It will deeply hurt the sen­ti­ments of the Sikh com­mu­nity world­wide if the Mutts are razed to the ground.”

WSN learns that the fol­low­ers of Shric­hand Ji -the son of Guru Nanak are up in arms and would soon pub­licly protest the de­mo­li­tion drive of the Orissa Chief Min­is­ter.

TAKE AC­TION:
* Make Protest Call: +91.674.2390902
* Tweet Protest at: @CMO_Odisha
* Email protest at: cmo@nic.in
* Post protest note at Face­book: https://​www.face­book.com/​CMO.Odisha/
* Write to Odisha Chief Min­is­ter
Shri Naveen Pat­naik
Chief Min­is­ter Odisha
Lok Seva Bhawan, Sachivalaya Marg,
Bhubanesh­war, Odisha 751001

Will the Odisha Chief Min­is­ter lis­ten? Will he raze to the ground the his­toric shrine in mem­ory of Guru Nanak? Will he go down in his­tory as a van­dal or a pro­tec­tor of shared com­mon her­itage? He should re­mem­ber that his­tory is un­for­giv­ing.