Seven decades of faith: When ‘Ardas' was performed to keep B'putra calm
Sikh community
residing in Dibrugarh, Aug 15 is not just a day to celebrate the country's independence, but also a grim reminder of the time when the mighty Brahmaputra river threatened to wash away half the town.
Observing 'Brahmaputra Ardas Diwas', a unique 70-year-old tradition, the Sikh community commemorates the events of Aug 15, 1950, when a catastrophic 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck Assam during Independence Day celebrations, drastically altering the region's geography and raising the Brahmaputra's riverbed and setting the stage for devastating floods that would follow four years later.
"The earthquake changed everything about our landscape, but the real crisis came in 1954 when the river started eroding with unprecedented force.
Almost half of Dibrugarh town was being washed away, and our gurudwara on Assam Trunk (AT) Road was directly in the path of its destruction," said Sardar Jaspal Singh Bhurji, current president of Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara.
The situation became so dire that the district collector of then undivided Lakhimpur district (before Dibrugarh district was formed) announced plans to evacuate the population, if the river reached AT Road.
Essential infrastructures, including the district court, DC bungalow and post office faced imminent danger.
Faced with this existential threat, the gurudwara's leadership called for an emergency meeting. Dr Khiem Singh Grewal, the then-president, initially proposed dismantling and relocating the CI sheet-roofed Dibrugarh Gurudwara located on AT Road. However, prominent community members, including Dhanna Singh, Sorain Singh, Dileep Singh and others had different ideas.
"The Sikh Sangat had complete faith in Shri Guru Granth Sahib and refused to abandon the gurudwara. Instead, they decided that if disaster struck, they would simply rebuild," said Rupa Rani Kaur, general secretary of the gurudwara.
They resolved to begin an Akhand Path (continuous reading of the Guru Granth Sahib) and perform Ardas (prayer) to protect the town.
The culminating moment came during the Bhog ceremony, when Sardar Dhanna Singh led the community in Ardas, while Sardar Pratap Singh and four other members offered prasad directly to the Brahmaputra, seeking to calm it down.
"From that very moment, the erosion stopped. The gurudwara still stands in the exact same place today, and we believe it was by the grace of Waheguru that both our gurudwara and Dibrugarh town were saved," Sardar Jaspal Singh Bhurji said.
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