Context:
Punjab government announced gazetted holiday on the birth anniversary of Guru Nabha Dass, a 16th century saint, taking it out from list of restricted holidays.
Relevance:
GS I- History
Dimensions of the Article:
- Who was Guru Nabha Dass?
- What is his connection with Punjab?
Who was Guru Nabha Dass?
- Guru Nabha Dass was born on April 8, 1537 at village Bhadrachalam on the bank of Godavari river in Khammam district, which falls in the present day Telangana.
- He belonged to Mahasha also known as doom or dumna community, which is one of the Schedule Caste communities.
- People from this community are also known as Nabhadassias.
- The community members are known for making baskets and grain storage containers with bamboo.
- Nabha Dass was five years old when his parents — mother Janki Devi and father Ramdas — passed away and two religious gurus — Agar Dass and Keel Dass — who were passing through his village took the orphan child to a temple at Ghalta Dham, which is now main pilgrimage of Nabhadassias, at Jaipur.
- Since childhood Guru Nabha Dass, whose original name was Narayan Dass, had an inclination towards spirituality.
- Guru Nabha Dass wrote ‘Bhagatmal’ in 1585.
- It has the life history of around 200 saints.
- He died in 1643.
What is his connection with Punjab?
- Guru Nabha Dass used to visit village Pandori in Gurdaspur district where people of Doom community live. Some gurus of the community also used to live there.
- He said that neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Jammu states also have a sizeable presence of the community.
- Kullu Dussehra is celebrated for a week on the directions of Guru Nabha Dass.
-Source: Indian Express
