Gurudwara Sri Tham Sahib, Kartarpur
Gurudwara Sri Tham ji Sahib is situated in the Kartarpur city of Jalandhar district. This holy place is in rememberence of Sri Guru Arjan Dev ji. This place was presented to the 5th Guru Sahib by king akbar in the year 1650. In the year 1651, while starting the foundation of this town, Guru Sahib instead of installing a small pillar went ahead & installed a big taahli (the indian rosewood tree) pillar to start the foundation of this town & named this pillar as ” dukhan da Thaman ” by giving it various boons. A very beautiful platform was also contructed around this pillar to facilitate the seating arrangement for the followers. This holy pillar stood firm for 162 years starting from the year 1651 to 1813. In 1813 a cruel subedaar from Jalandhar named naasar ali, attacked Kartarpur & burnt this holy pillar & also insulted other historical things. Baba vadbhag ji, with the advice of adina begh, requested the Singhs to take revenge of this insult. With the acceptence of this request, during the spring season of the year 1814, khalsa ji attacked Jalandhar town. There was a fierce battle that took place & the turkish soldiers lost the battle. Naasar ali began to run from the battle field but sardar khyala Singh soorma rounded him & threw him to ground, caught him & presented him in front of the Singh sardars. The Singh sardars ordered that the way this scoundrel had burnt the holy pillar, similarly he should be burnt alive. So the khalsa took a revenge of the destruction done to Kartarpur by burning alive the cruel nasir khan. With the establishment of khalsa rule, Maharaja Ranjit Singh got this 7 storey building built from his royal treasury & named this place on the name of holly pillar as Gurudwara Sri Thamm ji Sahib.
Gurdwara Sri Tham Sahib Kartarpur is named after a massive wooden log (‘tham’ in Punjabi means wooden log) that was used as a central support for the first assembly hall built by Guru Arjan. The Tham was later treated by Sikhs as a sacred Sikh artifact, they named this pillar as ‘dukhan da thaman’ by giving it various boons. A very beautiful platform was also contructed around this pillar.
Some time after the building was destroyed in 1757 by Ahmad Shah Durrani, a simple structure was raised on the site, replaced by the present 7 storey structure constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Standing on a high plinth in the middle of a walled compound, it comprises of a 15 metre square, double storey, marble floored hall, encompassing the square sanctum at the ground floor. The six storeys rising above the sanctum are topped by a dome with a gilded pinnacle. The Gurdwara owns 100 acres of land and is administered by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee through a local committee which also controls Gurdwara Sri Gangsar Sahib, Gurdwara Sri Chaubacha Sahib, Gurdwara Sri Vivah Asthan Mata Gujri, and Gurdwara Sri Tahli Sahib.