Gurdwara Sri Tarn Taran Sahib

Gurdwara Sri Tarn Taran Sahib is a gurdwara established by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in the city of Tarn Taran Sahib, Punjab, India. The site has the distinction of having the largest sarovar (water pond) of all the gurdwaras. It is famous for the monthly gathering of pilgrims on the day of Amavas (a no-moon night). It is near Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the Fifth Sikh Master, founded Tarn Taran Sahib in the year 1590, in the Land of Panjab (Majha Region). At that time, the digging of the lake tank started. When the tank was completed, it was the biggest and largest sarovar lake in the whole of Panjab. The foundation stone of Darbar Sahib was laid by Dhan Dhan Baba Buddha Ji, a famous Sikh saint (1506–1631). Later, the Sixth Sikh Master, Guru Hargobind Sahib, came to the gurdwara and stayed for some time. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Master, also visited Tarn Taran Sahib and preached to the Sikh sangat.

Baba Deep Singh Shaheed at Tarn Taran Sahib made a mark on the ground, and he asked the Sikhs if they were ready to die fighting against the enemies before entering into war against the Afhan Empire in 1757.

In 1768 Sardar Budh Singh Virk of Singhpuria Misl and Maharaja Jassa Singh Ramgarhia of Ramgarhia Misl joined hands to rebuild the Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran. Which then was in a shape of a traditional mud building.

Later Maharaja Ranjit Singh Sher-e-Panjab (1799–1839), who visited Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran from 1802-1837, reconstructed the present Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran in 1836-1837 and also completed the work of the Parikarma which had been left unfinished by the two Sardars Singhpuria Misl and Ramgarhia Misl. Sher-e-Panjab gold-plated the Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran, as he did with the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar. Artisans were called in by the Maharaja of Panjab Kingdom to decorate the inside of Darbar Sahib Tarn Taran.

Sher-e-Panjab built 17 massive gate entrances in Tarn Taran in which elephants could easily go through. When Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh, the grandson of Sher-e-Panjab, came to Tarn Taran, he built a minara (tower) at the end of the sarovar. Only one was completed, which can be seen while walking to Darbar Sahib. Three others were planned on each end of the sarovar, but were not constructed due to the death of Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh and also because of the two Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849) against the British.

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