I stood at the threshold of the gurudwara. A small plaque above its wooden door declared that it was Gurudwara Chakki Sahib, Eimanabad. The door of the place of worship was locked, while a Nishan Sahib, the Sikh flag, rose from its courtyard, hoisted on a pole.
Eimanabad city, close to the Grand Trunk Road, is a splendid repository of history. Structures of several temples, now converted into houses, stand tall and proud amidst the houses. Scattered across it are remnants of exquisite havelis and palaces of nobles who once resided here.
One of these havelis was that of Malik Bhago, a corrupt noble who was reprimanded by Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, on the holy man’s visit to the city.
According to legend, Nanak refused to attend the sumptuous feast that Bhago had organised for the priests and Brahmins on the occasion of his son’s wedding, choosing instead to eat at the house of a carpenter, Bhai Lalo. Infuriated, Bhago summoned Nanak to his palace and questioned him over the rebuff.
Taking some bread from Bhago’s spread, the Guru squeezed it and blood oozed out of it. When he did the same with bread from Bhai Lalo’s house, which he had summoned to the venue, it released milk.
The guru explained that this was because the bread of Bhago had been purchased by money accumulated through corrupt means and by exploiting the poor, while Bhai Lalo had earned his money with honesty.
A few streets away is the gurudwara Bhai Lalo di Khoi, where Bhai Lalo’s house once stood and where Guru Nanak and his companion, Bhai Mardana, had stayed. The metal door to this gurudwara was also locked.