The original name of Nander was Nau Nand Dehra, because it is said that nine rikhis dwelt there in prehistoric times. It is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient city of Tagara described by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. In the middle of the fourth century it was still a place of importance and the capital of a petty kingdom. ‘Its fortifications have long since been dismantled or have perished by lapse of time ; and there is now no trace of any ancient buildings save a few old temple. pillars preserved in a small mosque near the court of the sub-collector. The country is diversified by dale and hillock along the lazily flowing Godavari.
The Guru arrived in Nander in Sawan (July—August), A.D. 1707, with some infantry and two or [ p. 237 ] three hundred cavalry equipped with lances. He went to the hut of Madho Das, a Bairagi hermit. Finding the Bairagi absent, and hearing that he possessed such skill in magic that he could overthrow any one who sat on his couch, the Guru proceeded to sit thereon and make himself at home. He shot one of the Bairagi’s goats and cooked and ate the flesh. A disciple went to inform the Bairagi of the Guru’s proceedings. It was a sacrilege to kill an animal at the Bairagi’s seat, and another sacrilege to take possession of the couch which served him as athrone. He came to demand an explanation of the intruder’s strange conduct. The Bairagi represented that the place had been first his guru’s seat, then his own, and he did not desire to have it usurped by an unknown stranger, who moreover committed violence and_ sacrilege. The Guru replied that he had arrived fatigued in Nander, and having heard of the Bairagi’s hospitality and philanthropy, took the liberty of testing the favourable accounts he had received. The Bairagi accepted the Guru’s explanation, recognized from his words and manner that he was a great man, and called himself his Banda—slave—the name by which he was subsequently known.
Banda, whose original name was Lachmandev, was son of Ramdev Rajput and native of Rajauri in the Himalayan State of Punch. Before he adopted a religious role he had been a zamindar or cultivator. In early years he practised the use of firearms and was devoted to the chase. Once when he shot a female deer he found two young ones in her womb. He was so distressed at what he had done, that he decided to renounce the world and became a disciple of a faqir named Janki Prasad. As a wandering mendicant he made his way to the source of the Godavari at Nasik. He there made himself a hut and began to perform austerities.
A Jogi called Luni visited him and instructed him [ p. 238 ] in the science of Jog and incantations. Being thus accomplished, he set out again on his travels, and followed the source of the Godavari until he arrived in Nander. There he became known as a holy man in possession of many charms for the acquisition of spiritual and temporal advantages. He used to pray and perform penance on a little mound overlooking the Godavari, and thence at intervals watch its slow and dreamy motion as if it were loth to lose itself in the open sea.
The Guru was pleased with the position and seclusion of Nander, and decided to make it his permanent abode. He used to sit in prayer and meditation on a small stone structure on the margin of the river. Near it is a little larger building where the Granth Sahib was read. It is now and has been for years in a state of dilapidation.
The Guru instructed Banda in the tenets of his religion, and in due time baptized him according to the new rites. On that occasion Banda received the name Gurbakhsh Singh, but continued to be known as Banda. He conceived a great affection for the true religious guide he had at last found, and one day asked him if there were any service he could perform for him. The Guru after reflection found that he had an account to settle with the Muhammadans of the Panjab, and replied, ‘I have come into the world to consolidate the faith and destroy oppressors. Art thou prepared to assist me?’ Banda promised to undertake any enterprise suggested by the Guru. Upon this he was enjoined to proceed to the Panjab and wreak vengeance on the enemies of the Khalsa. ‘Thou hast called thyself my slave,’ said the Guru, ‘but thou shalt be the most exalted of all.’
Saying this the Guru presented him with five arrows and thus addressed him, ‘ As long as thou remainest continent, thy glory shall increase. He who is continent, turneth not away from the combat, [ p. 239 ] and his opponents cannot withstand him. The continent man succeedeth in everything. Once thou forsakest the Khalsa principles and associatest unlawfully with woman, thy courage shall depart.’ He then ordered Banda to proceed towards the Jamna, wait at a little distance from Buria for reinforcements which he would cause to be sent him, then go to Sadhaura—Buria and Sadhaura are both in the present district of Ambala—and plunder and devastate it. The reason was that the Muhammadans of the place had caused Budhu Shah and his disciples to be executed by the Emperor for the offence of having assisted the Guru at the battle of Bhangani. When Banda had disposed of the Guru’s enemies at Sadhaura, he was to proceed to sack some more Muhammadan cities, then march to Sarhind, and put its governor Wazir Khan to death. The Guru gave him instructions to cut off Wazir Khan’s head with his own hands, and not entrust this pious duty to any subordinate. This done Banda was commissioned to go to the hills and search for the hill Rajas who had so often and so cruelly persecuted the Guru, and mete out to them the same justice as to the Mughal enemies of the Khalsa.
With Banda the Guru dispatched Baba Buinod Singh, his son Baba Kahn Singh—descendants of Guru Angad—and Baz Singh, a descendant of Guru Amar Das, who were all three to give Banda further instructions in the new religion he had adopted. With these the Guru sent five other Sikhs to assist in the enterprise and support the martial fame of the Khalsa.
After Banda’s departure the Guru lived at various places in the immediate neighbourhood—at the Shikar Ghat, or game ferry, whence he used to go hunting, at the Nagina Ghat, where a Sikh presented him with a valuable signet ring which he flung into the river, at the Hira Ghat where he disposed in [ p. 240 ] a similar manner of a valuable diamond ring presented him by the Emperor while in Nander, and at the spot now called the Sangat Sahib, where he used to give religious instruction to his followers and expound to them the Granth Sahib.
While at the Sangat Sahib, a Multani Sikh brought the Guru an offering of a bow and two arrows. He was much pleased, and put the bow to the test by discharging one of the arrows from it. He sent one of his followers to inquire where the arrow had fallen. On being informed of the spot he said that was where he wished to reside. The Muhammadans objected, but their objection was overruled by the Emperor, who made the Guru a present of the land. He went and abode there, and made it the scene of his propaganda. It is the place on which his shrine was subsequently erected. After some time a Pathan one day came and claimed from the Guru a sum of eleven thousand rupees as the price of horses he had supplied him. The Guru had not sufficient funds to discharge the debt. He said that thirty years after his decease the Sikhs should be in power, and the Pathan had only to present the Guru’s acknowledgement of the debt to their leaders, when he should receive the amount many hundredfold. The debt was duly discharged by the Sikhs under happier and more prosperous circumstances.