Mohali, March 2
All is set for the entry of the Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra in Punjab tomorrow.
Commemorating 300 years of the installation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and parlokgaman of Guru Gobind Singh, the yatra started its journey from Takht Sachkhand Hazur Sahib on November 15, 2007.
The yatra has covered more than 100 cities of India across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh since then.
It would be received into Punjab by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh
tomorrow morning and would cover Punjab towns over eight weeks.
“For the first time in the Sikh history, weapons of Guru Gobind Singh and other Sikh martyrs have come out of the sanctum sanctorum of Hazur Sahib. These weapons are being taken for darshan in a specially designed rath along with a hand written bir of Guru Granth Sahib,” explained Dr P.S. Pasricha, former DGP of Maharashtra amd president of Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded, talking to The Tribune here this evening.
“The yatra is aimed at spreading the message of equality of mankind and secularism and has received unprecedented response. As it is attracting people from all faiths, it is achieving the task of national integration,” he added.
Giving details of the yatra’s movement in Punjab, Pasricha said the yatra would move from Mohali to Fatehgarh Sahib. From here, it would move towards Rajpura, Patiala, Nabha, Sangrur, Barnala, Rajkot, Jagraon and reach Ludhian on March 16. It would move on to Malerkotla on March 18, then to Khanna, Ropar. It would head for Anandpur Sahib to coincide its entry with the Hola Mahalla celebrations. On March 23 the yatra would move to Una Sahib, Nawanshahr, Phagwara, Phillaur, Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Mukerian, Pathankot, Jammu, Kathua, Gurdaspur and reach Dera Baba Nanak on April 30. It would go to Batala, Baba Bakala and finally reach Amritsar on April 13 on the occasion of the Baisakhi celebrations.
“The yatra would go abroad too and more than 4 millions devotees from around the globe are expected to visit Nanded in October, 2008, for the two tercentenaries, Gurta Gaddi on October 30, and Parlokgaman on November 3. Extensive plans, therefore, are under way for the redevelopment and beautification of the gurdwara complex in Nanded. The entire complex is being redesigned to accommodate at least 40,000 devotees in the parikrama of the gurdwara itself at one time. For this, approximately 300 families, who reside around the gurdwara, have been rehabilitated,” said Dr Pasricha.
Besides the Sachkhand Gurdwara complex redevelopment, the Gurdwara Board has also taken up the construction of Guru Granth Sahib Bhavan that can accommodate more than 4,000 devotees. Regular religious congregations, shabad kirtans, kathas, etc, will be held there.
A museum on the Sikh history is being built amid 8 acres of garden. An amphitheatre will also be constructed, where Gurus’ philosophy will be propagated using the latest electronic techniques, comprising musical fountains as well as laser projections on the water screen. “This will be the first of its kind project not only in India but also in the entire sub-continent. Construction of new yatri bhavans has also been taken up for the comfortable stay of the devotees,” he said.
