Gurudwara Singh Sabha (Pushkar)

Gurdwara Singh Sabha – Pushkar or Pushkar Raj, a temple town around a natural lake, is 13 kilometres from Ajmer, to which it is connected by road. Pushkar was visited by Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh. The shrine commemorating the former Guru’s visit was formerly called Guru Nanak Dharmasala but is now known as Gurdwara Singh Sabha and functions as a branch of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Ajmer. It is housed in a double-storey flat-roofed building near the bus stand.

Guru Gobind Singh visited Pushkar during his travels in Rajputana in 1706. He was served by a priest named Chetan Das. The spot consecrated by the Guru’s stay was called Gobind Ghat, but has now been renamed Gandhi Ghat. A stone slab under a kiosk still has Gobind Ghat inscribed on it, in Gurumukhi, Devanagari, Persian and Roman scripts. Formerly a Gurdwara manned by Nirmala Sikhs was at this location, on the first floor of the gateway to the Ghat, but it is no longer extant.

A Brahman priest at this Ghat, having full grown hair and donning a turban, has in his possession a hukamnama written on bhoj patra (leaf or bark of birch tree) claimed to have been given by Guru Gobind Singh to Mahant Chetan Das. Another hukamnama is in the name of five Gurdwaras at Amritsar including Sri Akal Takht Sahib. The priest also keeps an old hand-written copy of the Guru Granth Sahib.