Etawah

ETAWAH (26° 47'N, 78° 58'E), a district town of Uttar Pradesh, 127 km southeast of Agra, has two Udasi Ashrams commemorating the visits of Guru Nanak and Baba Sri Chand. Sikh chronicles have not recorded these visits, but they do mention that Guru Tegh Bahadur while travelling to the east in 1666 passed through Etawah. He is believed to have stayed at the Udasi Ashram inside the town. The ashram is now known as Gurdwara Purabi Tola, also referred to locally as Ban Sangat. The Gurdwara is controlled by Udasi priests who in their religious practice and liturgy do not strictly observe the Sikh way of worship, although the Guru Granth Sahib is installed in the building and is visited by several Sahajdhari Sikhs who come to bow before it in the morning and evening everyday.