Qualla: Nankana Massacre

Nankana Massacre: Introduction

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in Nankana Sahib. By 1921, the gurdwara marking his birthplace had fallen under the hereditary control of Mahant Narayan Das, a custodian accused of corruption and sexual abuse. What happened there on 20 February of that year - a massacre of unarmed Sikh reformers so brutal that the bodies were burned before anyone could count them - became the catalyst for the Gurdwara Reform Movement and one of the most defining events in modern Sikh history, second in political significance only to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

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Image: Unknown photographer | Public domain

Nankana Massacre: A Faith Reclaiming Its Own Shrines

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. By the early twentieth century, many of Punjab's most important gurdwaras were controlled by hereditary custodians called mahants, some of whom treated the shrines as personal property. The reformist Akali movement demanded that control of these sacred sites be transferred to dem...

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Nankana Massacre: The March Before Dawn

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. The combined jatha set out on the night of 19 February, intending to arrive at Nankana Sahib during Amrit Vela, the sacred early morning prayer time. Fifty more Sikhs joined along the way, swelling the group to roughly 200. The march nearly stopped twice. At Chanderkot Jhal, Jath...

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Nankana Massacre: Slaughter at the Birthplace

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shaguftakarim, CC BY-SA 4.0. The jatha entered the gurdwara through the Darshani Deori and closed the main gate behind them. Some took seats inside the Prakash Asthan, the inner sanctum; others sat on the platform and the veranda. Bhai Lachhman Singh Dharowali sat at the Guru's seat. Mahant Narayan Das heard...

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Image: Shaguftakarim | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nankana Massacre: Reckoning in Punjab

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. News of the massacre spread across Punjab like wildfire. Kartar Singh Jhabbar arrived the following day with 2,200 armed Sikhs. Fearing an escalation that colonial authorities could not contain, Commissioner King of Lahore handed the keys of Nankana Sahib's gurdwara directly to t...

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Nankana Massacre: Memory Written in Bullet Marks

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeev at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Every year on 20 February, at the site now known as the Shaheedi Asthan, a special copy of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib is brought before the congregation. This is not an ordinary scripture - it bears the bullet marks from the massacre, physical evidence of what happened that mornin...

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Image: Jeev at English Wikipedia | Public domain