Nander

Nander, or Nanded, stands on the Godavari in the Deccan. It is especially sacred to Sikhs as the place where Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, spent the last part of his life. The riverbank settlement became a place of remembrance and pilgrimage for the community far from its homeland in Punjab.

Guru Gobind Singh came to Nanded in 1708. Before his death there that year, Sikh tradition holds that he entrusted the authority of the Guru to the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, ending the line of personal Gurus. A shrine grew at the site associated with his final camp and cremation. In the nineteenth century Maharaja Ranjit Singh sponsored the building of Hazur Sahib, whose principal gurdwara was constructed between 1832 and 1837. The sanctuary links Nanded with Sikh communities across the subcontinent.