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Gurudwara Tahli Sahib |
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GURDWARA TAHLI SAHIB is connected with yet another sarovarSantokhsar close to the Town Hall in the heart of the old city. Santokhsar, 148×110 metres and next only to Amrit sarovar in size, is said to be the first tank the digging of which was commenced by Bhai Jetha (later Guru Ram Das) in 1564 under the direction of Guru Amar Das. But before long Bhai Jetha was called back to Goindval, and Santokhsar remained half-dug until Guru Arjan Dev completed it in 1588. It fell into neglect during the turbulent eighteenth century and was resurrected only in 1903 after the municipal committee of Amritsar had declared it a health hazard and threat-ened to fill it up. Although in 1824 it had been connected to a canal-fed channel, or hansli, to make it independent of the vagar-ies of rainfall, the channel had become choked with silt and the tank was turned into a receptacle for locality garbage. A com-plete desilting was carried out in 1919 through kar-seva (voluntary free service) un-der Sant Sham Singh and Sant Gurmukh Sirigh. The Gurdwara derives its name from a tahli tree, Dalbergia sisoo, of which only a stump now remains near the main gateway. It is believed that this was the tree under which Guru Ram Das and after him Guru Arjan stood supervising the excavation of the tank. The Gurdwara comprising a rect-angular hall on the western side of Santokhsar sarovar is next to the Tahli Sahib stump as one enters the walled compound enclosing the sarovar and the shrine.