There were days when Sikh Brotherhood used to hire places to celebrate Guru Nanak Dev Ji's birthday in Mysore. Those experiments with the faith and spirit of their tradition led to the creation of Sri Guru Singh Sabha in 1981. With this the institution of Mobile Gurudwara came up. On an agreed Sunday a house would host the Congregation and serve the Sangat. The arrangement had its utility, as having a Congregation once in a month was much better than once in a year.
Sardar Chiranjiv Singh IAS, then Director, Administrative Training Institute, Mysore participated in one of the monthly Congregation and advised the Sikh Brotherhood to purchase a piece of land and construct a Gurudwara. To follow up the advice a committee was formed with S. Sital Singh as the President, Col. D. S. Khurana (Retd) Secretary and S. Hardip Singh as the Treasurer. An application was put forth with the Department of Urban Development, Government of Karnataka to buy a piece of land. The Dept. got the land allotted through the Mysore Urban Development Authority on August 30, 1991 followed by the Land Agreement on October 9, 1991.
The nature of the land bought notwithstanding, the Sikhs had now a place to work with. The longstanding association between S. Sital Singh and Sri Krishan Lal Passi proved very handy. They undertook the construction of the boundary wall and a shed-structure that served as the Gurudwara that started in January 1992 with an appointed Granthi, a Sikh Priest. This undoubtedly was a major step forward in Mysore, because now it was possible to have a Congregation and Guru ka Langar every Sunday.
The initial success got instant appreciation, as Sikh Sangat from all over started visiting the Gurudwara. Encouragement for constructing a regular Gurudwara building with its traditional architectural beauty and splendour also started pouring in. The most decisive thrust came with an offer of Rs. 1 lakh by Bibi Inderjeet Kaur for the construction of Langar Hall in the name of Sant Sarwan Singh Domeliwale.
The encouraged spirit had a leap forward with the goodwill of S. Chiranjiv Singh. On his suggestion Mr. Giridhar, a Harward trained and Bangalore based architect designed the present Gurudwara in which a blend of the Sikh architectural tradition and the Southern concept of an abode of God got created.
To the Southern tradition an abode of God on earth will have to be a heavenly place and hence, a star-structure in its architectural shape, whereas, in addition to that, in Sikh tradition a Gurudwara is a place where Sangat congregates. A magnificent structure got conceptualised into the design of a building in which the Sikh and the Southern cosmologies meet.
The Tuck (land breaking) ceremony of the construction was performed on the auspicious day of Baisakhi, April 13, 1993 with Ardas, the traditional prayer, Prasad and sufficient excitement. Everybody present participated in the real traditional way by digging the tough ground and lifted the loose soil. The ceremony took place at the point where Nishan Sahib, the flag stands to this day.
The total effort was coordinated by a Construction Committee with S. Sital Singh, Sri. K. L. Passi and S. Yograj Singh in the lead. A well working network of responsibility was created, where Sri. Passi had the responsibility of the physical construction, S. Sital Singh had the responsibility of resource mobilisation, and S. Yograj Singh took care of the over all supervision and management.
A Fund Raising Committee was created to mobilise finances. The Committee included Prof. Jasjit Singh Sandhu, Dr. Manjit Singh Jolly, Dr. J. S. Saluja, S. Kuldeep Singh Babra, S. Kuldeep Singh Sapra, S. Upinder Singh, S. Mahinder Singh and S. Jarnail Singh Lal. The funds and material resources for construction of the building came from the Sadh Sangat of Mysore, Bangalore, Delhi, Madras, Mumbai, UK and other places.
The concerted Seva, surely a rare feat, spearheaded the whole effort so well that the building was ready in the period of a little over two years – started on April 13, 1993 and completed on the evening of August 26, 1995 to be precise. The first Prakash Utsav of the Gurudwara, the opening ceremony, was held on August 27, 1995. S.Analjit Singh, Max India, was one of the important donors.
The history of the construction of the Gurudwara has given rise to certain discoveries as well. One among the most significant ones has been that Sikh families came to stay in Mysore city, joined and participated in the effort, played their role and left the city. To mention a few, for instance, the family of S. Hardip Singh, a building contractor, came from Hong Kong stayed in the city, got the foundation laid and left; the family of S. B. S. Birdi, an important engineer joined a company at Mysore, took part in the construction effort and left after the completion; and the family of S. V. P. Singh, a banker was in Mysore all along till the completion of the total structure of the Gurudwara.
Further, when the accomplishment is compared with the number of the Sikhs of the Satguru in Mysore, it follows that the job must have been happening in the direct care of the Guru, where God played the lead and lent magnificence to its own creation.
Bit of Land & Staff Quarters
Having toiled hard on building the Gurudwara, and putting in place most of the necessary arrangements that the Sikh tradition recommends, the Sikh Brotherhood of Mysore decided to make definite arrangement for the stay of the staff that serves the Gurudwara. Once again Sri Guru Singh Sabha requested the Government of Karnataka to allot another piece of land for the purpose. The Department of Urban Development was kind to allot a bit of land on July 7, 1999 to the Gurudwara through MUDA. The piece of land falls immediately next to the main plan.
The construction of the Staff Quarters was announced by S. Ranjit Singh Rangila in the huge Congregation devoted to the celebration of the 11 th Prakash Utsav of the Gurudwara on September 11, 2005 in the presence of the Sadh Sangat (Bangalore and Mysore included), which approved the concept and advised the Committee to go ahead.
The Committee with S. Sital Singh as the President, S. Vikramjit Singh, S. Mahinder Singh and S. Ranjit Singh Rangila took over the project. It took time to complete the official formalities for the necessary permission etc., and the construction work took off on February 2, 2006.
Interestingly, the new construction has been completed on September 10, 2006 and what is even more commendable is that it is accomplished by more or less the same group of rare individuals: S. Sital Singh as the guide, Sri. K. L. Passi as the constructionist, S. Yograj Singh as the supervisor with a worthy addition of S. Vikramjit Singh as the material manager.
To help the dream of the Sikh Brotherhood come true in concrete structure, the main donors are the Sri Guru Singh Sabha & Sadh Sangat of Bangalore, Sri Guru Singh Sabha & Sadh Sangat of Mysore, Jasjit Singh Sandhu and his family of Mysore, and Bibi Narinder Kaur of Bangalore.
It must have been ordained by the Divine order that Sadh Sangat, again Bangalore and Mysore included, assembles to celebrate the 12 th Prakash Ustav of the Gurudwara on September 17, 2006 and witnesses the inauguration of the Staff Quarters. The honour of the noble act goes to S. Chiranjiv Singh, who dreamt of the possibility and advised the Sikh Brotherhood to get it created in the first place.
