Gurdwara Dera Sahib

Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore marks the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, in 1606.

Guru Arjan Dev compiled the Adi Granth, the scripture that became the Guru Granth Sahib, and completed the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar. In 1606 he was summoned to Lahore and imprisoned in the fort. The Sikh account holds that he was required to pay an enormous fine and to remove passages from the newly compiled scripture that the Mughal court objected to; he refused both, and was tortured and put to death. He passed away in the waters of the Ravi, which then ran beside this spot.

The gurdwara was raised over the site in 1619 by his son, Guru Hargobind, and was later enlarged under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who added the gilded dome that still marks it out on the Lahore skyline.

Its setting says a great deal on its own. Dera Sahib stands directly opposite Lahore Fort, where the Guru was held, and immediately beside the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with the Badshahi Mosque a short walk away. Three centuries of Punjab's history sit within a few hundred metres, and yatra groups usually take them together.

The martyrdom anniversary each summer draws Sikh pilgrims from India and the diaspora, and the darbar is busy through the day. Konnect Yatra groups visit Dera Sahib as part of the Lahore programme, travelling together with our own transport and staff.

What a visit involves

Dera Sahib is normally taken as one visit with the three sites around it — the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh next door, Lahore Fort opposite, and the Badshahi Mosque across the Hazuri Bagh. Groups begin at the gurdwara: shoes off, heads covered, and time in the darbar beneath the gilded dome Ranjit Singh added.

Standing here and then walking to the fort is the visit. Guru Arjan Dev was held in that building and died at this spot. The distance is a few hundred metres, and covering it on foot does more than any account can.

Allow half a day for the four sites, longer around the martyrdom anniversary in summer, when sangat arrives from India and the diaspora and the darbar is busy from early morning.

Before you go

• This is inner Lahore. The lanes are busy, and the group stays together with our staff leading.
• You will remove shoes several times across the four sites; slip-on footwear makes the morning far easier.
• The courtyard stone at the Badshahi Mosque next door becomes painfully hot by midday in summer, so we start early.
• Women should carry a scarf for the mosque as well as the gurdwara.

Getting there from your hotel

Dera Sahib is in the old city beside Lahore Fort, twenty to thirty minutes from the Lahore hotels we use, though traffic in the walled city is unpredictable. Konnect Yatra groups travel by private coach with our own staff and security. Because the four sites sit within a few hundred metres of each other, this is the least travel-heavy day on the itinerary — and often the one people remember most clearly.