" The Eternal Father willed and I raised the Panth. All my Sikhs are hereby ordered to accept the Granth as theirPreceptor. Have faith in the holy Granth, as your master and consider it the visible manifestation of the Gurus. He who hath a pure heart will seek guidance from its holy words."
These are the words uttered by Guru Sri Gobind Singh ji, before he left for his heavenly abode(Parlok Gaman) along with his horse Dilbag on October 7, 1708 at Nanded in Maharashtra.
Afew days before Parlok Gaman, Guru Gobind Singh ji ended the line of personal Guruship by appointing the “Granth Sahib” (Gur-Ta-Gaddi) as his official successor with the status of ‘Eternal Guru’. His objective was great andlaudable. He fully realized that human beings are perishable, but noble ideaslive forever – they are eternal. For this reason he made the Granth Sahib a repository of sublime ideals, a spiritual and secular guru that contains hymnsof Muslim, Hindu, and Harijan saints in addition to the compositions of sikhgurus. He thus entrusted the destiny of the Khalsa not to a charismatic personality but to the collective wisdom of the community. His sole mission was to restore mankind to a single brotherhood.
Itwas here that in the first week of Sept’1708, that a Bairagi Sadhu MadhoDass was baptized to Sikhism by Guru Gobind Singh ji and was given a new name –Banda Singh Bahadur. It was this great hero who in the next seven years(1709-1715) gave a sharp turn to the history of Sikhs by shaking the foundation of Mughal Empire in the North-west and paved the way for the liberation of the Punjab in 1764-65.
His another disciple Bhai Santokh Singh was advised to continue to stay at Nanded and to start “ Guru ka Langar ” for the devotees.
Bhai Daya Singh and Dharam Singh,two of the Panj Piare (Five beloved Ones) who had offered their heads at the Guru’s call when the Khalsa was created in Kesgarh Fort of Anandpur Sahib on the Baisakhi Day of 1699, and had survived the battle of Chamkaur, subsequently died here.
AGurudwara was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh ji at the site whereGuru Gobind Singh ji breathed his last. It took 5 years to complete(1832-1837). It is revered as "Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchal NagarSahib". This historical shrine, which is one of the five Takhts (thrones)of the Sikhs is situated near Godavari river. It is visited by lakhs ofdevotees throughout the year. It is a two-storey building. Its interior isartistically ornamented in the style of Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar. The walls ofthe inner room called Angitha Sahib have been covered with golden plates. Thedome is polished and on the pinnacle is the kalash made of gold plated copper.
The building stands on a high baseand has a small square room on the second floor bearing the gilded ribbed dometopped with a tall gilded pinnacle and umbrella shaped finial. There are somerooms in the basement too, so that the edifice is technically four-storied.Corners of the roof of the first floor are decorated with domed kiosks onoctagonal pedestals. Other embellishments on the exterior included orielwindows and a fancy fencing on the roof top. Inside, the sanctum it has marblelining decorated with inset work in floral patterns on lower parts of the wallsand stucco and tukari work on the upper parts as well as on the ceiling.
Guru Granth Sahib is seated in theroom in front of the sanctum during the day time only and at night it isbrought inside and placed on a marbled platform. During the day there are someold weapons and other relics such as a golden dagger, a matchlock gun, a quiverwith 35 arrows, two bows, a steel shield studded with precious stones and fivegolden swords. All these are placed on a marbled platform.
The building complex of the Takth Sahib is spread over several hectares. It also includes two other shrines,Bunga Mai Bhago ji (comprising a large room where Guru Granth Sahib isseated) and Angitha Sahib (place of cremation).