Gurudwaras in Mysore

Mysore is a city in Karnataka that is basically known for the palaces, the gardens and the temples that it possesses. There are very few Gurudwaras in Mysore mainly because of the fact that the history of Mysore does not speak about the Sikhs in Mysore. The population of Mysore also does not comprise more of Sikhs and it is only because of this reason that the count of Gurudwaras in Mysore is a little less in comparison to the temples and the mosques. Previously, the Sikhs in Mysore used to hire places in order to celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev. But with experiments that were carried out on the spirit and the faith of their tradition gave birth to a number of Gurudwaras in the city. Sri Guru Singh Sabha came into being in 1981 where the Sikhs used to serve the Sangat and host the Congregation every Sunday. With the emergence of Sri Guru Singh Sabha in 1981, the ideal of mobile Gurudwaras was also culminated among the Sikhs.


During one of the congregations, Sardar Chiranjiv Singh, IAS and the Director of Administrative Training Institute, Mysore advised the Sikhs of Mysore to get hold of a piece of land and carry out the work of constructing a Gurudwara in Mysore. The advice was followed and a committee was formed for this purpose. S. Sital was the President of this committee, S. Hardip Singh the treasurer and Col. D.S. Khurana the secretary. The committee sent an application to the Department of Urban Development, Government of Karnataka in order to get hold of the land that was required for the construction of the Gurudwara. The department further allotted the land to the committee on 30th August, 1991 which was followed by an agreement on the land on 9th October, 1991. Thus Gurudwara Mysore came into being which is the only Gurudwara in Mysore.

Promoting the welfare and the well being of the Sikhs in Mysore and spreading the Gurbani message serves as the main missions and motive of the gurudwara Mysore. Gurudwara Mysore aims at spreading the word of the Guru and chucking things out in trying to promote the welfare and the indulgence of the Sikhs in different areas around Mysore.

The main belief of gurudwara Mysore is in helping the dream of the Sikhs in Mysore come true and in concrete structure. To help achieve this dream, there are many donations coming in from all sides. The main donors of the gurudwara Mysore are Sri Guru Singh Sabha and Sadh Sangat of Mysore, Sri Guru Singh Sabha and Sadh Sangat of Bangalore, Bibi Narinder Kaur of Bangalore and Jasjit Singh Sandhu and his family of Mysore. All the honors of the gurudwara are manifested and bestowed on S. Chiranjiv Singh, the person who dreamt this possibility and advised the Sikhs to get a gurudwara constructed in Mysore.

Since Gurudwara Mysore serves as the main and the most important place of prayers and offerings for the Sikhs of Mysore, the people also celebrate a number of festivals at the gurudwara. Some of the festivals that are celebrated with great zeal and excitement at the Gurudwara Mysore are:

Vaisakhi is the most important religious and cultural festival of Sikhs. It is a festival that is celebrated marking the beginning of crop harvesting in different states on India. Religiously, this festival is celebrated because it signifies the date of birth of Khalsa in 1699. Vaisakhi is a grand and awaited festival at gurudwara Mysore. On this day, the Sikhs in Mysore gather at the gurudwara and they offer prayers and exchange greetings and wishes.

Sri Guru Arjun Devji’s martyrdom is celebrated for thanking God to have blessed the Sikhs with their Guru Arjun Dev who carries out exemplary deeds to lead every individual. There is a Shabeel conducted by Gurudwara Mysore on this day and he gurudwara also serves cold water to the people along with sugar, milk and some essence added to it.

This is an annual event that is conducted at Gurudwara Mysore marking the inauguration of the gurudwara on 27th August, 1995. Surprisingly, this was the day when Sri Guru Arjun Devji was said to have got Prakash from Sri Guru Granth Sahib at the Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, in 1604 and that is why the event has been named Prakash Utsav. This celebration is considered to be very important for Gurudwara Mysore because this is the day when a lot of devotees come to the Gurudwara from different parts of the world. Therefore, it can be said that Prakash Utsav is the largest and the biggest celebration among the Sikhs of Mysore.

This is a grand festival of the Sikhs not only in Mysore but throughout the world. Like anywhere else, this festival is celebrated in a grand way at the Gurudwara Mysore. Guru Nanak was the first Satguru of the Sikhs and therefore this festival holds a special position in the heart of the Sikhs. Special feature of this festival at Gurudwara Mysore is that a large number of devotees from all over Mysore join the celebrations at the Gurudwara. 

Sri Guru Gobind Singhji was the 10th Satguru of the Sikhs and therefore his birthday is also celebrated with grandeur at Gurudwara Mysore. The birthday is specially celebrated to achieve the Khalsa spirit.

There are specific names given to the activities that are carried out on a regular basis at the Gurudwara and they are as follows:

• Nitnem
• Hukumnama
• Prakash
• Kirtan sohila
• Rehras
• Yatri Seva
• Sukhasan
  

Path Seva: Path is the recitation of Guru Granth Sahib which is the Holy Book of the Sikhs and consists of 1430 pages. The Gurudwara offers facilities of conducting Saptahak Path, Sahaj Path and Akhand Path to the devotees.

Langar: Langar is the food that an individual devotee serves to the other devotees in the hope of fulfillment of his or her wish. Langar facility is offered to the devotees at Gurudwara Mysore on the payment of a certain amount of money.

Accommodation in Gurudwara

The devotees who look forward to visiting the Gurudwara and staying at the Gurudwara overnight, there is a modest accommodation. No reservations are required for this purpose and the facility is only extended if there is an availability of rooms. There are large halls that are also provided to the devotes if they come in large groups. Facilities like bathrooms and washrooms are also available.


Location of Gurudwara Mysore:
No.229/A,Sri Guru Singh Sabha
Brindavan Extension, Brindavan Extn
Mysore - 570020
Tel: +918212516075

Open Days and Timings:
Monday to Saturday (9:30am to 6:30pm)
Sunday Closed