• Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • You Tube icon

    Search  


Gurdwara Sri Damdama Sahib Dhubri

Location - Boro Bazar, Dhubri, Assam 783301, India


Associated with - Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji


Sikh Artifacts - unknown


Sarovar - unknown


Sarai - unknown


Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji visited this place in 1505 AD and met Srimanta Sankardeva on his way when he traveled from Dhaka to Assam. Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji came to this place and established this Gurdwara during the 17th century.

When Raja Ram Singh son of Mirza Raja Jai Singh was deputed by Emperor Aurangzeb to crush the revolt of Ahom King Chakradhwaj Singh of Kamrup (Assam), he called on Guru Tegh Bahadur at Dhaka and requested that he accompany him on his expedition to Assam. His request was accepted by the Guru who had planned to visit Assam in order to revive the religious centre built to commemorate the visit of Guru Nanak in the land of magic and beauty.

Together Raja Ram Singh and Guru Ji, marched along the river Dhubri and Brahmaputra and reached Kamrup early in February, 1669 A.D. Guru Tegh Bahadur camped at Dhubri while Raja Ram Singh camped at Rangamati. The Imperial Army was confident of its strength but was not as yet sure whether the holy man with them would be able to destroy the evil effects of magic and witchcraft of the Assamese.

Just across the river the Assamese were unnerved by the superior numbers of the Imperial Army but they were confident that the supernatural powers of their magicians backed by their tactful resistance would keep the attackers at bay. The magic Assamese women with their tantric paraphernalia began reciting mantras of destruction in their encampment directly across the river of the camp of Guru Tegh Bahadur. But all their magic failed to harm the great Guru.

The magicians were too confident about their ability to destroy any human being. From across the river they hurled a 26 feet long stone, which came arcing across the sky like a missile and struck the ground, near Guru Ji's camp, so hard that nearly half of its length was embedded in the ground. It can still be seen in the same position. When their missile failed to harm the Guru, the magicians next flung a tree, which fell very close to the camp without causing injury. Then, as Guru Tegh Bahadur took his bow and aimed an arrow at the altar of magic, all of their magic and sorcery came to a sudden end. The magicians realized that superior powers had completely deprived them of their magical strengths and blocked their willpower. They crossed the river to the Guru's camp and begged forgiveness for having offended him. They told him that they were fighting only to repel the foreigners who had come to enslave them.

Guru Tegh Bahadur assured the magicians that he would work to bring peace between Raja Ram Singh and the Ahom King, for which a change of heart was necessary on both sides. Consequently, he advised Raja Ram Singh to achieve his ruler's objectives through peaceful negotiations and not to fight unless he was attacked. The rest of the story is a part of the history as to how he succeeded in patching up the differences between the imperial commander Raja Ram Singh and the Ahom King of Assam. The grateful Ahom King invited Guru Ji to the Kamakhya shrine, where he was honoured with great respect.

The happy occasion of the peace settlement brought about by the efforts of Guru Tegh Bahadur was celebrated by a joint homage to the Gurdwara of Guru Nanak by the Mughal and Ahom armies. As a monument to peace, a high mound was raised to which every soldier contributed five shieldfuls of earth. This mound standing on the right bank of the Brahmapra River at Dhubri, a sub-divisional town in Goalpara district of Assam, came to be treated as a sacred Gurdwara. A Gurdwara was also built near it on the spot where Guru Tegh Bahadur stayed and negotiated peace. It was looked after by Udasi priests until it was destroyed in an earthquake around 1896–97.

Bhai Ram Singh, an officiant of the Gurdwara, reconstructed a room in 1901. The Mahants, originally, possessed a farman (fiat) of a Mughal emperor pertaining to a land grant to the Gurdwara. In 1902–03, Mahant Jai Singh took this farman with him when he went to Punjab to raise funds through donations for the Gurdwara building under reconstruction. Unfortunately Bhai Jai Singh died on this trip somewhere near Amritsar, and the farman was lost.

There are two Gurdwaras located here:

Gurdwara Thara Sahib or Damdama Sahib - In 1966, a gurdwara in a small octagonal hut with sloping roof was set up on top of the mound. It has since been replaced by a marble structure.

Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib - The other Gurdwara was a square hall with wooden walls and sloping roof. and has since been replaced by a marble structure.

The Janamsakhis are unanimous about Guru Nanak's visit to Kamrup (Assam) but no sangat or historical Gurdwara dedicated to him survives.

The settlement of the Sikh community in Assam can also be traced back to the third Burmese attack when King Viswanarayan Singh of the Ahom tribe sought Maharaja Ranjit Singh's help to defeat the Burmese army. It was around that time when 500 soldiers were sent under the leadership of Chetan Singh. They crossed the Brahmaputra and Kalang rivers and reached Chaparmukh. After defeating the Burmese, most of them settled there. General Chetan Singh died in the war but his wife who is known as 'Mata Ji' survived. Most of the Sikhs of Assam are descendents of Mata Ji and considered as Sikhs with a pure lineage.

Back Back to Historic Sikh Gurdwaras list







Guide To Discover Sikhism |   Guide To Becoming A Pure Sikh|   Guide To Carrying Out Nitnem