Third Phase
As Brahmputra Mail left the platform of Guwahati Junction our
third phase of our journey began. During the journey my wife pointed out to me
with the several stations with suffix halt like Dimapur Halt, Asapur Halt and
the like but train did not stop at these stations even though it also stopped
at unscheduled stops. This thing occurred so frequently that I was confused
regarding the meaning and I even decided to consult the dictionary but then it
dawned on me that India is a land of paradoxes and as it was a fast train so it
did not stop at smaller stations. Next day at about noon we reached Patna
Junction, though we had to get down at Patna City Patna on his
way to Assam
but he decided to leave his pregnant wife with the family of his friend Fateh
Chand Maini and Salas Rai Johari. Guru Gobind Singh was born in Harmandir Sahib
which was then officially residence of Salas Rai Johari. Since Guru Teghbahadur
ji returned from Assam after
four years so Guru Gobind Singh ji spent the first seven years of his life in Patna .
Though
Patna is an ancient town of about 3000 years old history and it has been
connected to all the major faiths of India like Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism
but it is a special place for Sikhs as it is connected with the first, nineth
and tenth Guru of Sikhism. First of all The founder Guru of Sikhism Guru Nanak
Dev visited this place along with his companions Bhai Bala ji and Bhai Mardana,
an instrumentalist who played Rabab. As Bhai Mardana was feeling hungry so
hetold Guru Nank Devji that his soul is going to separate from his body if he
did not get anything to eat. Guruji took a pebble from the banks of River Ganga
and gave it to Mardana to sell it and get provisions for food. Bhai Mardana set
out to sell it but he did not succeed it till he reached the home of a
goldsmith named Murlidhar, who recognizing the worth of the pebble took him to
his master Salas Rai Johri, who gave Rs. 101/-, which was of worth more than
Rs. 10 lacs today at the end of fifteenth century, to him and asked him to take
him to his master who had transformed pebble into priceless ruby. So on the
first day of our stay at Patna
we saw three Gurudwaras that were situated in vicinity of the main Gurudwara
that was the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh and which was residence of Salas
Rai Johari . Another prominent gurdwara, known as Bal Lila, was the residence of Fateh Chand Maini whose
wife Bishambra Devi was childless and she considered Guru Gobind singh ji as
her own child and guruji also considered her mother. The third Gurudwars was
Kangan ghat which was situated on the banks of River Ganga where Guruji as a
child threw his golden bangle into the river symbolizing his detachment towards
the world possessions. This gurudwara is also associated with Pandit Shiv Dutt,
who was a great devotee of Lord Rama but Guru Gobind Singh ji, even as a child,
appeared before him in the guise of Lord Rama and salvaged this pure soul.
After the evening meals and observing the closing ceremony of Gurudwara we
retired to our rooms to prepare ourselves to move around to other Gurudwaras
around the town the next day in the bus where we had already booked our seats
in the afternoon.
After the breakfast in Langarhall of the
Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib we boarded the bus which took us to various historical
gurudwaras around the town. The first gurudwara that we visited was associated
with Murlidhar where Bhai Mardana showed his precious pebble to this goldsmith,
who first of all recognized the immense value of that pebble for the first time
and who took him to his master Salas Rai Johari as he was unable to pay its
true value. This place is known as Nanak Tila. After this we went to visit next
place which was situated on the banks of River Ganga known as Gau Ghat which
was associated with one of Guru Nanak Dev’s devotee Bhai Jaita mal , who was
already 350 years old when Guru Nanak Dev visited him. Bhai Jaita Mal requested
Guru nanak Dev to salvage his soul but Guruji promised to give shelter to his
soul in Ninth Incarnation. When Jaita Mal told Guruji that he is too old to go
to River Ganga for his bath Guruji blessed him by saying that River Ganga as a
cow will come to him daily to give him his daily bath, hence this place was
known as Gau Ghat. So when Ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur visted patna on his way to
campaign to Assam he knocked at the door of Jaita Mal’s house, out of doubt, he
did not open the gate so Guruji along with his entourage, including his horse
entered his house through a small window of the house to salvage this pure soul
and performed his last rites on the banks of River Ganga. After that we went to visit Gurdwara Handi
Sahib situated at a place known as Danapur where people of Patna
came to see off Guru Gobind Singh ji when he left for Punjab
at the age of seven years. Here Guruji ordered a devotee to serve Khichri out
of a Handi (pot) to the people who had come to see him off. Though the pot was
small but it was due to Guruji’s blessings that the pot was not empty even
though all the people have been served out of it. The last Gurdwara that we saw
was Guru ka Bagh, where Guru Tegh Bhadur ji met his son Guru Gobind Singh ji
for the first time on the ourskirts of Patna
city when he returned from the campaign of Assam after four years. Here we
planted a mango sapling as an offering to the Gurudwara.
In the evening we visited the banks of River Ganga and even sat in a
boat also to have a trip in the river but boatman was not interested due to
lack of traffic. And so we retired to our rooms preparing ourselves to board
the train Archana Express next morning for Ludhiana Punjab. In the morning we
took an auto that brought us to the main station but only after leaving his son
for coaching. In the coach of our train there were a few advocates and staff
members of Patna High Court who were going to Vaishno Devi in their vacations.
Listening to their conversation on various issues brought this fact to light
that today’s Bihar is altogether different from the 
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