Gurusar Sarovar kar sewa in Talwandi Sabo cuts across divides
TALWANDI SABO ( BAT HINDA ): Thousands of devotees from across Punjab and other places are reaching Talwandi Sabo everyday for kar sewa (voluntary service) to clean Gurusar Sarovar at Takht Damdama Sahib, one of five temporal seats of Sikhism. The 22 feet deep pond spread over five acres was last cleaned in 1958, so that task is massive. On the first day of the desilting and repair operation on Wednesday, nearly 50,000 people report- edly took part.
The sarovar was got built by Guru Teg Bahadur and later developed by Guru Go bind Singh in 1705. On its banks is where Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, prepared the full version of Guru Granth Sahib here. Due to his literary activities, the place is also known as ‘Guru ki Kashi’, in a reference to Kashi, present-day Varanasi in UP, a historical seat of knowledge.
The sarovar was attached with a canal in 1913 on directions of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala for water supply.
Bunga Mastuna Committee, which maintains the pond, had called for the kar sewa now. Chhatar Singh, secretary, sevak jatha (volunteers’ group), Bunga Ma stu ana Committee, said more than 50,000 people reached for it sewa on Wednesday.
The committee has divided the pond into two parts, one of which has four feet of water so that the fish are safe. “Half of the pond was cleaned in two days,” said Chhatar on Friday, adding that people reached as early as 4 am. “The operation will take a month as stairs of the sarovar and foundations of adjoining buildings will be repaired too.”
At the site, people from across the religion and caste divide were seen involved in the work. Teachers, policemen, farmers, masons, cobblers could be seen lending each other a hand. No gender bias is seen too. Parkash Kaur, a retired teacher who was on the cleaning job, said, “Sikhism believes in equality, and kar sewa is a perfect example of it. No one asks about anyone’s caste or social status. Even very well-off people can be seen carrying the silt.”