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Gurdwara Panja Sahib, a sacred Sikh shrine, is located in:
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Answer: Option A — Pakistan
Detailed Solution
Gurdwara Panja Sahib is located in Hasan Abdal, in the Attock district of Punjab province, Pakistan, about 48 km from Rawalpindi.
About Gurdwara Panja Sahib:
- It is one of the holiest Sikh shrines.
- It is famous for a rock that bears the imprint of a hand ("panja"), believed to be that of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.
According to tradition, when Guru Nanak visited Hasan Abdal with his companion Bhai Mardana (around the early 16th century), a local Sufi saint, Wali Qandhari, rolled a large boulder down the hill towards him in anger. Guru Nanak stopped the boulder with his hand, leaving his handprint on it.
A spring of water flows from beneath the rock.
The present gurdwara building was constructed in the 19th century under Hari Singh Nalwa, the famous general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Every year, thousands of Sikh pilgrims from India visit the gurdwara on "Baisakhi" (Vaisakhi) and on the martyrdom days of Guru Arjan Dev, under the 1974 India-Pakistan Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines.
The "Saka Panja Sahib" (1922): Sikhs lay down on the railway tracks at Hasan Abdal to stop a train so that they could serve food to Akali prisoners being taken to jail; two Sikhs were crushed to death. It is remembered as an act of sacrifice.
Other important Sikh shrines in Pakistan:
- Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore: where Guru Arjan Dev was martyred (1606).
- Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lahore.
The five Takhts (seats of authority) of Sikhism are all in India:
Akal Takht, Takht Keshgarh Sahib (Anandpur Sahib), Takht Damdama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo), Takht Patna Sahib (Bihar) and Takht Hazur Sahib (Nanded, Maharashtra).
Why not the other options?
- ✗India has the Golden Temple and the five Takhts, but Panja Sahib is in Pakistan.
- ✗Afghanistan once had a small Sikh community, but Panja Sahib is not there.
- ✗Bangladesh has some Sikh shrines, such as Gurdwara Nanak Shahi in Dhaka.
Quick tip
Remember: Gurdwara Panja Sahib = Hasan Abdal, Pakistan (handprint of Guru Nanak on a rock; Saka Panja Sahib 1922).
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Monuments & Religious Places — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Monuments & Religious Places, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.