Hemkund - History

History

Bachitira Natak is believed to be an autobiographical account of incarnated life of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji as a powerful youth who was called into existence during Sat Yug, the 'era of truth' (the first of four ages according to Hindu tradition) to do battle with fierce demons that terrorized mortals and gods including Hindu deities and gods. When they had been destroyed, the youth, known as Dusht Daman, the 'destroyer of evil', was instructed to go to Hemkunt Sapatsring to meditate until he was called upon by God. Guru Gobind Singh's own account in Bachitra Natak completes this story. After realizing his oneness with God through meditation and austere discipline, he was reborn in Kal Yug, the 'age of darkness', as the son of the ninth Guru and his wife. Later, after his father's martyrdom, he became the tenth and final living Guru of the Sikhs.

[[ਅਬ ਮੈ ਅਪਨੀ ਕਥਾ ਬਖਾਨੋ ॥ ਤਪ ਸਾਧਤ ਜਿਹ ਬਿਧਿ ਮੁਹਿ ਆਨੋ ॥ अब मै अपनी कथा बखानो ॥ तप साधत जिह बिधि मुहि आनो ॥ Now I relate my own story as to how I was brought here, while I was absorbed in deep meditation.

ਹੇਮ ਕੁੰਟ ਪਰਬਤ ਹੈ ਜਹਾਂ ॥ ਸਪਤ ਸ੍ਰਿੰਗ ਸੋਭਿਤ ਹੈ ਤਹਾਂ ॥੧॥ हेम कुंट परबत है जहां ॥ सपत स्रिंग सोभित है तहां ॥१॥ The site was the mountain named Hemkunt, with seven peaks and looks there very impressive.1.

ਸਪਤ ਸ੍ਰਿੰਗ ਤਿਹ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਹਾਵਾ ॥ ਪੰਡੁ ਰਾਜ ਜਹ ਜੋਗੁ ਕਮਾਵਾ ॥ सपत स्रिंग तिह नामु कहावा ॥ पंडु राज जह जोगु कमावा ॥ That mountain is called Sapt Shring (seven-peaked mountain), where the Pandavas Practised Yoga.

ਤਹ ਹਮ ਅਧਿਕ ਤਪਸਿਆ ਸਾਧੀ ॥ ਮਹਾਕਾਲ ਕਾਲਿਕਾ ਅਰਾਧੀ ॥੨॥ तह हम अधिक तपसिआ साधी ॥ महाकाल कालिका अराधी ॥२॥ There I was absorbed in deep meditation on the Primal Power, the Supreme KAL.2.

ਇਹ ਬਿਧਿ ਕਰਤ ਤਪਿਸਆ ਭਯੋ ॥ ਦ੍ਵੈ ਤੇ ਏਕ ਰੂਪ ਹ੍ਵੈ ਗਯੋ ॥ इह बिधि करत तपिसआ भयो ॥ द्वै ते एक रूप ह्वै गयो ॥ In this way, my meditation reached its zenith and I became One with the Omnipotent Lord.]]

In the above verses, the Guru Ji tells of His origins. He describes the place Hemkunt Parbat Sapat Sring, the "lake of ice" "mountains" adorned with "seven peaks", as the same place where King Pandu, the forefather of the five Pandava brothers of Mahabharata fame, practiced yoga. There, the Guru Ji did intense meditation and austerities until He merged with God. Because His earthly parents had served God, God was pleased with them and gave a commandment that the Guru Ji to be born to them. In the mortal world He would carry out a mission to teach the true religion and rid people of evil ways. He was reluctant to leave his state of union with the creator, but God compelled Him. In this way the Guru Ji took birth into the world.

The search for and discovery of Hemkunt Sahib came out of the desire of the Sikhs to erect shrines to honour places consecrated by the visit of the tenth Guru during his lifetime or, in the case of Hemkunt Sahib, during his previous lifetime. Although Bachitra Natak was included in the Dasam Granth some time in the 1730s, Sikhs apparently did not consider looking for Hemkunt Sapatsring until the late nineteenth century. It did not become a place of pilgrimage until the twentieth century. Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, a nineteenth century Nirmala scholar, was the first Sikh to trace the geographical location of Hemkunt. He wrote of Hemkunt Sahib as one among the 508 Sikh shrines he described in Sri Gur Tirath Sangrah (first published in 1884). Much later, renowned Sikh scholar Bhai Vir Singh was instrumental in developing Hemkunt Sahib after it had been, in a sense, re-discovered by another Sikh in search of the Guru's tap asthan.

Sohan Singh was a retired granthi from the Indian army who was working in a gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Tehri Garhwal. In 1932, he read the description of Hemkunt Sahib in Bhai Vir Singh's Sri Kalgidhar Chamatkar (1929). This account of the place and the meditation of a great yogi there was based on the tale of Guru Gobind Singh's life and previous life as told in Bachitra Natak and the Suraj Granth.

In 1930, Sant Sohan Singh, a retired granthi from the Indian Army, claimed to have found Hemkunt Sahib as stated in Bachitra Natak. To some extent he was financed by Bhai Vir Singh, a romantic poet of Punjab, belonging to landed gentry. Bachitra Natak was somehow able to capture the imagination of Sikhs, largely because of the beautiful poetry, and songs and verses that resonated to their sentiments and music. Sohan Singh, who died around 1937, was assisted by a Sikh soldier, Havildar Modan Singh of the Bengal Sappers and Miners, who then laid the foundation of the first building and opened access to the public through Govindghat. Later, he went on to live here and stayed until his death in 1960. The Sikh religious organizations designated Hemkunt Sahib as a special place for worship.