INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

where Vadbhag Singh continues his service of giving teaching to the community until
his wondrous death. One day whilst meditating Vadbhag Singh hears the voice of a
sailor who is in distress at sea. To save the man’s life Vadbhag Singh leaves his body
for three days. He gives instructions to his servants to lock his body in a house and
not cremate it. After Vadbhag Singh has left his mother comes to visit him but the
servant who keeps guard refuses to let her in. The next day she forces the servant to
unlock the doors and she becomes furious when she finds out that the dead body of
her son has been lying there for more than a day without cremation. With the help of
the mountain people she now arranges the cremation beside the jujube tree. When
Vadbhag Singh returns from his mission he finds his own body in flames, but conceives
it as an order from God. After taking a dip in the river he starts to recite JapJi
Sahib and when completing the last stanza he consigns himself to the fire. After his
death Vadbhag Singh goes directly to his wife Bibi Bhani in Kartarpur, appears in her
dreams to explain what has happened. His last words before leaving are “Guru’s
victory”.
Besides telling the life and wonders of Vadbhag Singh, the jivan-sakhi also provides
the history and descriptions of gurdwaras and shrines which have been erected
on spots related to his deeds. This retelling is a discursive attempt to connect the
mythologized past with contemporary ritual practices. The place of Vadbhag Singh in
the mountain area outside the city of Una is still under the custodian of the Sodhi
lineage and consists of a large temple complex with several shrines, gurdwaras, guest
houses and a kitchen hall for visitors. The first stop for a visiting pilgrim is Shri Charan
Ganga ji ‒ a small waterfall at which the demon king Nahar Singh Bir is said to
reside. When the possessed persons take a shower in this water their bodies start to
shake. An open-aired shower was established at this place to work as a means to
detect ghosts and spirits.
The most important site is undoubtedly Gurdwara Shri Dehra Sahib which claims
to mark out the spot where Vadbhag occupied a “seat” under the jujube tree and
subsequently mastered the demon king. A characteristic feature of this gurdwara is
the Nishan Sahib, which is a large pole covered with cloth and in this particular context
is considered to be a sacred manifestation of Vadbhag Singh and his power. 705 On
the full-moon day the pole is washed, dressed in new cloth, and smeared with pleasant
fragrances, and every third year the body of Nishan Sahib is replaced by a new tree
from the nearby forest. Devotees should take darshan of the pole and sit down beside
it for meditation. The ghost or evil spirit in those who are possessed will immediately
start to “play” in the presence of the Nishan Sahib by forcing the afflicted persons to
sway their untied hair, roll their eyes, and sometimes scream abuses. No healer or
exorcist is involved in the exorcism but the power of Vadbhag Singh’s seat and stan-
705
The worship of Nishan Sahib in the tradition of Vadbhag Singh are similar to cults in Punjabi
folk religion, such as that of the serpent God Gugga Jahar Pir. In worship of Gugga Jahar Pir a
large Nishan in bamboo and decorated with clothes and peacock feathers, is carried in procession
through the villages and treated as a sacred form of the serpent God (Bhatti 2000: 75 ‒ 76).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008