Here the tenth Guru knelt before the Word, and the Word has reigned since.
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Coming up: Joti Jot and Gurta Gaddi of Guru Gobind Singh Ji · 21 OctEntry tended 24 May 2026
Nanded, Maharashtra, on the Godavari Open day and night Joti Jot & Gurta Gaddi · 21 Oct 2026 Built under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1832 to 1837 Angitha Sahib: raised over the Guru's cremation ground Entry free, always
You climb marble steps white in the Deccan heat, and Nanded's traffic falls away into unbroken kirtan. A single gilded dome rises against a sky Punjab never sees this far south, more than a thousand kilometres from Amritsar. Cover your head, wash your feet, and step inside: two scriptures rest enthroned under gold canopies, side by side, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the Sri Dasam Granth. This is not a shrine raised to a memory. It is the ground on which the line of living Gurus chose, itself, when to end.
This is the Takht where Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth and last of the human Gurus, passed into Joti Jot in October 1708, and where, in his final days, he conferred eternal Guruship upon the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, closing the line of living Gurus forever.
The Angitha Sahib, the innermost chamber, stands directly over the ground where the Guru's body was cremated. The marble and gold Takht around it was raised between 1832 and 1837 under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whose artisans carried Punjab's own craft the length of India to build it.
Nanded lies roughly 1,400 km from Amritsar, deep in the Deccan. That a Takht, a seat of the Panth's own supreme authority, stands so far from Punjab's heartland is itself a measure of how far the Guru travelled, and how far the sangat has followed him since.
The last court, and the Book that became King
Guru Gobind Singh Ji came south to Nanded in September 1708, at the invitation of the new Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah, whom the Guru had supported after Aurangzeb's death. He camped on the bank of the Godavari and held his court in the open, and in these final weeks he baptised a wandering Bairagi ascetic named Madho Das into the Khalsa, renaming him Banda Singh Bahadur, the man who would soon carry the Guru's word back into Punjab as a soldier of the Panth.
Among those drawn to the camp was Jamshed Khan, a Pathan sent by Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind who had ordered the deaths of the Guru's two youngest sons two years before. Jamshed Khan attended the evening service for days before he struck, stabbing the Guru below the heart as he rested; the Guru cut him down with a single stroke before his companions fell on the second assassin. An English surgeon sent by Bahadur Shah stitched the wound and it seemed to heal, but it reopened days later as the Guru drew a stiff bow, and he began to fail.
In these last days Guru Gobind Singh Ji gathered the sangat, placed five coins and a coconut before the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and bowed before it as Sikhs had bowed before him. Tradition holds that the city took its new name, Abchalnagar, the Steadfast City, from the first word of the hymn the Granth opened to that day. On 7 October 1708 he passed into Joti Jot, and the line of the ten human Gurus came, by his own hand, to its close. Sikhs raised a small chamber over the ground where he had held court and where his body was cremated; the marble and gold Takht standing there now was built between 1832 and 1837 under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and has been kept since 1956 under a board established by an Act of the Hyderabad legislature.
What you'll actually see
1
The gilded dome and the Nishan Sahib
A white marble facade rises to a single onion dome sheathed in gold, ringed by domed chhatris, unlike the fully gilded upper storeys of Sri Harmandir Sahib. A tall saffron Nishan Sahib stands before the entrance, and pilgrims cross a wide marble forecourt, often laid with sheets for langar, before climbing the steps in.
2
The Angitha Sahib and the two Granths
Past the entrance, under gilded canopies, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the Sri Dasam Granth are enthroned side by side, a pairing kept in the same way at Takht Sri Patna Sahib. Sandalwood tilak, a custom preserved from the Guru's own time, is marked on the foreheads of granthis and devotees who ask for it.
3
The vault of the Guru's weapons
An inner vault holds the shastars and personal articles of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, opened only by the head granthi, though many are carried out and shown to the sangat each evening as part of the Takht's own aarti and shastar darshan, in the manner Sri Akal Takht Sahib also keeps its own evening rite.
Photos: Subhag Singh (CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
THE DAY THE LINE OF HUMAN GURUS CAME TO ITS CLOSE
Joti Jot and Gurta Gaddi of Guru Gobind Singh Ji
Once a year Hazur Sahib turns fully toward the days in 1708 that gave it its name and purpose. Akhand Path readings run through the preceding nights, kirtan darbars recall the Guru's final weeks by the Godavari, and the sangat gathers in numbers the Takht sees at no other time, many having travelled the length of India to be here. On the Sikh Panth's Nanakshahi calendar, the fixed solar reckoning adopted by the SGPC, the observance falls every year on 21 October. Hazur Sahib itself, like the other Takhts, keeps its own older Bikrami lunar calendar for its local calendar of Gurpurabs, so the date the Takht itself marks each year can fall a few days later, as it did in 2025.
Confirm the exact local date with the Takht before you travel; write or call ahead, since the Bikrami and Nanakshahi calendars can differ by several days in a given year.
Plan your visit
By air
Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Airport, Nanded, is about 3 km away, roughly ten minutes by taxi.
By rail
Hazur Sahib Nanded railway station, named for the Takht, is about 2 km away.
Timings
Prakash, the ceremonial opening of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, begins around 3:15 am; Rehras Sahib is read around 6:30 pm and the aarti and shastar darshan follow around 7:30 pm; Sukhasan closes the day around 8:45 pm. The wider complex stays open to pilgrims day and night. Confirm current timings at hazursahib.com.
Best time
Early morning for Prakash and the first kirtan, or evening for Rehras and the aarti and shastar darshan around 7:30 pm. October to March is the kindest season on Nanded's Deccan heat.
Dress
Cover your head at all times inside the complex; scarves are available near the entrances. Dress modestly, deposit shoes at the free cloakroom, and wash your feet at the water channel provided.
The approach
There is no separate queue; sangat moves together across the marble forecourt and up the steps.
Entry
Free, always, for everyone, as is the langar meal served in the complex.
Hazur, or Huzur, means in the presence of, and Sachkhand, the Realm of Truth, is the name Guru Nanak Dev Ji gave to God's own abode; the city took the name Abchalnagar, the Steadfast City, from the hymn the Guru Granth Sahib Ji opened to on the day Guruship passed to it.
Tobacco, alcohol, and other intoxicants are never brought onto gurdwara grounds, as at any Sikh shrine.
Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib keeps a maryada of its own alongside the wider Panth's Rehat Maryada, including the evening aarti of lamps and incense and the sandalwood tilak, customs carried from the generations of Udasi and Nirmala custodians who cared for the shrine before mainstream Sikh management returned.
Sikh tradition holds that in his final days at Nanded, Guru Gobind Singh Ji dictated 52 Hukams, edicts of conduct for the Khalsa, to an attendant; no manuscript from 1708 survives, but the tradition is carried at Hazur Sahib and among Sikhs worldwide.
Questions pilgrims ask
Was Guru Gobind Singh Ji the last human Guru of the Sikhs?
Yes. He is remembered as the tenth and final Guru in human form. In his last days at Nanded he conferred Guruship permanently upon the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the scripture Sikhs revere as their living Guru, and no human being has held the title since. Hazur Sahib is the Takht that marks where and when that happened.
Is Hazur Sahib open to non-Sikhs?
Yes. As at every gurdwara, anyone may enter, take darshan of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and eat in the langar, free of charge and without being asked their faith.
Why does Hazur Sahib keep some customs not seen at other gurdwaras?
Care of the shrine passed for generations to Udasi and Nirmala custodians, who preserved it through the eighteenth century's upheavals and, in doing so, kept a maryada of their own: an aarti of lamps and incense before the Guru Granth Sahib Ji each evening, sandalwood tilak marked on granthis and devotees, and the Sri Dasam Granth installed beside the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, as at Patna Sahib. Mainstream Sikh management returned under the Singh Sabha reform movement and, from 1956, under a board established by an Act of the Hyderabad legislature, but the Takht's own customs continue alongside the wider Panth's Rehat Maryada. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji remains, in every case, the living Guru at the centre of it.
What must I do before entering?
Cover your head, deposit your shoes at the free cloakroom, and wash your hands and feet at the water channel provided. Leave tobacco, alcohol, and any intoxicants outside; none are permitted anywhere on gurdwara grounds.
Can I see the Guru's weapons and belongings?
The inner vault holding the shastars and personal articles of Guru Gobind Singh Ji is opened only by the head granthi, but many are carried out and shown to the sangat each evening as part of the Takht's own aarti and shastar darshan, in the manner Sri Akal Takht Sahib also keeps.
Darshan from afar
From the temple's own channels. Nothing loads until you press play.
Dharamshalas and guest houses near this Sthan, shared by devotees. Adisthan takes no bookings and no money; contact each stay directly.
No stays are listed here yet. Know one that serves pilgrims well?
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