Nanded, by the Godavari River in Maharashtra, is special for Sikhs. It's where Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Master, rests and is one of the five Takhts - thrones - of the Divine.
The story about Guru Granth Sahib, a holy book for the people of Domegaon in Ahmednagar district, was first told by the late Air Marshal Shiv Dev Singh. He retired as Vice-Chief of India’s Air Staff and once commanded the Ahmednagar area about 25 years ago.
This tale speaks of a miraculous event. When the people of Domegaon took out the ancient Guru Granth Sahib for worship, the floodwaters of the Godavari receded. Even though they didn't understand the Gurmukhi language in which the book was written, this event has become a part of local folklore. Col. D.S. Grewal, who currently leads a Training Regiment Centre in Nasik, Maharashtra, has personally confirmed this legend. Let’s go through Dr. Dalvinder Singh Grewal’s experiences to relive the phenomenal account.
Tale of Domegaon
Domegaon is a village in the Shrirampur Tehsil of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. It sits by the Godavari River, 80 km from Ahmednagar, 22 km from Shrirampur, and 7 km from Bhokar on the Shrirampur-Aurangabad road. The village is midway between Nasik, Aurangabad, and Manmad, around 100 km away, or a 2.5-hour bus ride.
Sharing the account, Dr. Dalvinder Singh Grewal said that he wouldn't have thought of visiting this little-known village before June 21 ’94, if not for his colleague, Capt. Hardev Singh, who insisted they went. He was enthusiastic but had limited information. He said that he had heard a rumour that the people of Domegaon and the nearby areas have complete faith in Guru Granth Sahib. Whenever the Godavari River flooded, they would take out the holy Granth, touch the water, and miraculously the water would recede without harming the village. This tradition has been followed for the past 150 years ever since an old saint meditated with the holy Granth.
While checking at the Ahmednagar bus stand, they found out it took two hours by bus to Shrirampur. From Shrirampur, a local bus goes to Domegaon. They travelled along a road with neem and keekar trees, passing lush vegetation and ripening sugar cane, and reached Shrirampur at 11 AM.
To gather more details about the place and the route, they asked the residents. They were informed that the keys to the Gurdwara at Domegaon were with the caretaker (Sewadar) Sardar Gurcharan Singh Saluja who had gone to collect supplies and was expected to return shortly.
Account of Guru Granth Sahib Ji
While waiting for the caretaker, Sardar Prithipal Singh Sathi shared that around 150 years ago, an old handwritten copy of Shri Guru Granth Sahib was kept in Domegaon. In 1979, Sikhs in Shrirampur learned about it through Sardar Bedakar, a Bijnori Sikh who visited these villages for business. Sardar Ahuja, a manager at Ganeshnagar Sugar Factory, started building a Gurudwara with the guidance of a saint from Hazur Sahib of Nanded. The Gurudwara's keys are with the sewadar in Shrirampur since there are no Sikh families in Domegaon. The sewadar collects construction materials and goes to Domegaon daily.
Every year, a continuous recitation of Shri Guru Granth Sahib (Akhand Path) begins on Shri Guru Nanak Dev's birthday. The Srirampur Sangat goes to Dome on every Pooranmashi. Villagers take out a procession around the village on occasions like Holi and Diwali, with the holy man carrying Guru Granth Sahib. All festivals are celebrated in the Gurudwara's compound after prayers before Shri Guru Granth Sahib. Villagers see it as their Chief Deity, believing that taking it away would bring destruction by floods.
Journey to Shri Birdh Baba
The journey on the Nasik-Shrirampur-Aurangabad road for 15 kilometers was comfortable. In the village of Bhokar, they found the road leading to “Birdh Baba", Domegaon (Kamalpur). In Domegaon, they stopped near the Godavari River, close to a bridge in front of the impressive Gurudwara “Birdh Babaji". Right next to it, was a Krishna temple, a mosque, a Buddhist Gompha, and a Hanumanji Temple. A marble stone on the Gurudwara wall had the following inscription:
‘The construction of Gurudwara Shri Birdh Baba, Domegaon was started at the hands of Sriman Baba Harnam Singh Maharaj of Nanded on 25 May 68. about 150 years ago, a Sikh saint of Punjab wrote Sri Guru Granth Sahib which is established in this Gurudwara. The village is situated at the bank of Godavari which often gets flooded, from the times of the Sikh saint (Birdh Baba), Sri Guru Granth Sahib was worshipped and taken on the head to Godavari and prayers were offered to Ganga Mai (Godavari) for receding of floods. The local people have full faith in Shri Guru Granth Sahib and Birdh Baba, and they have seen with their eyes that with the prayer, flood recedes and the village is saved from losses. This tradition continue till date. This year when floods came on 06-8-68, the village people repeated, the same thing and there was no damage to the village from flood water’.
Revering the Birh
The sewadar uncovered the old volume of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in the main hall. After prayers, they observed it closely and found that it was bigger than a normal one, with 1006 pages, written in 1844 A.D. The contents list starts with the date "Madh Sudi" 5 Savat 1901. It has three parts: names of verses, a list of 'raags', and the first lines of couplets. Some page numbers are included.
The Banis include Japu (P-1), Sodar, five Sabads (P-6), "so Purkh," four Sabads (7) Sohila Aarti, five Sabads (P-8) Magh (P-64) Gauri (P-105), Assa (P-239) Gujri, Dev-Gandhari, and others. It also contains Shlok Sahaskriti, Gatha, Funhe Chaubole, Salok Kabir-ji-ke, Shlok-Farid-ji-ke, Swaiye Kal - aur Bhatten-ke-shlok-Waran-teWadhik, Shlok-ta-the-Gost-Malar-nall hoi, Ratanmala, Hakikat-Raje-Sivnabh-ki, Ragmala, ink preparation method, and Chalitar-Jyoti-jyot Samawne ke.
The writing is in black ink. Pages 1 to 20 are older. The sequence is not as per Kartarpur Birh or 'Birh Bhai Banno.' One Shlok is attributed to Mahila 10 (Sri Guru Gobind Singh). Some pages are loose, and a few are brittle. Urgent care and archival preservation are needed for this hand-written volume.
People’s accounts
After seeing Shri Guru Granth Sahib and talking to locals, the researcher interviewed villagers to learn about "Birdh Baba" and the sacred book. Sri Bendra Baba Murkute couldn't be reached; he cared for the book before it was handed over to the Sikh Sangat of Srirampur.
Baba Sahib Thorat and Uttam Dasanga confirmed the tradition of taking Shri Guru Granth Sahib to the Godavari River during floods. They believe the book is their main deity, and if they part with it, their village will be destroyed. They spoke of a boulder in the river where a holy Sant meditated for 12 years. Baba Sahib Thorat mentioned Sant's routine of giving one-third of the collected food to cows, one-third to Godavari and eating the rest. They also mentioned wooden sandals (Khadav) and worn-out idols. There's a story about the Sant "speaking to the river," with a person eavesdropping and getting cursed, leading to his death.
The miraculous event
In the village, no one knew Gurumukhi script. Despite that, the Holy Granth and Birdh Baba had many followers. Baba never got angry with anyone. Whenever the Godavari river flooded, Birdh Baba touched it, and the water went back. After Birdh Baba died, they put the Holy Granth on a swing (Jhoola). Once, when a flood threatened the village, the water receded when it reached the Jhoola with the Holy Granth. After that, whenever the Godavari flooded, Baba Murkute put the Holy Granth on his head and touched the water, and it went back to normal. This happened until 1968. Since then, the river hasn't flooded near the village. People said the younger generation couldn't describe Babaji because no one saw him. But the Mahant of Sri Krishna Chakradhar temple shared more information.
At 82 years old, he talked about the ancient temple linked to Sri Krishna Chakradhar, a saint who stayed in Domegaon for 10 months. A Pandit from Sarlagaon, Mahim Bhatt, wrote verses honoring saint Chakradhar, which are some of the oldest sources of Marathi language. Describing the “Birdh Baba" he said that he died somewhere in 19th century, much before him. He had heard from his guru who had known that the "Birdh Baba" was a great Udasi Sant who had made a copy of Guru Granth Sahib while he lived with a Raja. When he became an Udasi, he came to Domegaon and started his meditation near this temple. He had this copy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He was given a hut close to the temple where he later died in the late nineteenth century. Even during this time, the village people used to take out a procession of Guru Granth Sahib on Falgun Ekadashi, a tradition they still maintain.
In the Dome-Kamalpur village, there's a Chakradhar Temple, Hanuman Temple, a Gumpha, a Mosque, and a Gurdwara. They're all close to each other in the same complex. Kamalpur got its name from Kamal Shah, an important person during Emperor Aurangzeb's time. His mazar is near the Mandir-Gurdwara-Gumpha complex. The village has people of Hindu, Muslim, and Neo-Buddhist faiths, but they don't let religion or caste affect their marriages or social interactions. They celebrate different religious functions together on specific days.
Someone mentioned that those who went to the temple that day included a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Buddhist. There were no restrictions for anyone in any religious place. Later, in a local Marathi weekly called 'Hind Mashal' dated June 16, 1994, a statement by Shri Vishvanath Korpe and his 100-year-old mother was found. It provided a detailed version of Baba Thorat's statement about the incident of Birdh Baba's curse. This experience left the narrator with genuine respect for a village community that comes together to venerate the ancient hand-written volume of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
*Based on an article by Dr. Dalvinder Singh Grewal, published in Angelfire.com on 10th March 2010