By Ali Imran Chattha | Nazrana Times LAHORE

In the wheat fields and mango orchards of District Narowal, two centuries-old Sikh shrines that once echoed with the footsteps of Sikh Gurus are now falling to ruin their domes collapsed, their frescoes fading, their walls cracking under the weight of neglect and time.
A single heritage team has rediscovered both sites in a state of near-total decay, retracing the bicycle journeys of a forgotten chronicler from 1932. What they found has set off alarm bells across the preservation community: without immediate intervention, these irreplaceable monuments to Punjab's shared spiritual past may vanish forever.
The documentation drive was led by Professor Dr. Taranjit Singh Butalia, the renowned historian and Director of the heritage initiative Jeevay Sanjha Punjab (JSP). Working with his team, Professor Butalia followed the detailed directions recorded by Bhai Dhanna Singh Patialavi, a Sikh chronicler who visited both sites by bicycle in 1932–33 and documented them in a diary published only recently.
Gurdwara Patshahi Pehli: Guru Nanak's In-Laws, Frescoes Fading to Nothing
Twelve miles east of Kartarpur Sahib, on the outskirts of Pakhoke village in the Pakhoke Randhawa locality, a tragedy is unfolding.
Gurdwara Patshahi Pehli marks the site associated with the family of Guru Nanak Sahib's wife. According to Sikh tradition, Mool Chand, the father-in-law of Guru Nanak, served as the local patwari, and the Guru's mother-in-law, wife, and both sons Sri Chand and Lakshmi Chand were present at Pakhoke during his visit in 1515 AD.
While the site appears in several pre-1947 Gurmukhi accounts, only Bhai Dhanna Singh Patialavi left precise directions to the Gurdwara, recorded from Kartarpur Sahib. Guided by his century-old notes, the JSP team relocated the site, which remains faintly familiar to village elders.
The complex, spread across several acres, is arranged along a northwest-southeast axis. At its northwestern end stands a medium-sized domed Gurdwara built of small bricks, with residential quarters of larger brickwork nearby. Southeast of the shrine lies a Sarovar measuring at least 100 by 100 feet, its small-brick construction still visible from the main building.
The domed shrine retains its original roof but barely. It has twelve low entrances and a main arched entrance on its northeastern face. Inside, fading frescoes depict birds, flowers, foliage, religious figures, and animals including horses, elephants, peacocks, and monkeys. But several supporting pillars have begun to crumble, and the interior floor has reportedly been dug up a pattern researchers say is common among abandoned Gurdwaras in the region, believed to be the work of treasure hunters.
More than ten acres surrounding the site remain registered in the Gurdwara's name and are leased to local farmers through the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). The land also contains a small Samadh east of the Gurdwara and a tibba to its north.

Gurdwara Tahli Sahib: Where Guru Har Rai Camped Under a Tree
On the southeastern outskirts of Khakkha Shahzada village, near what was once called Gakkhar Kotli, stand the skeletal remains of Gurdwara Tahli Sahib a shrine marking the campsite of Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib, the Seventh Sikh Guru.
According to Sikh tradition, Guru Har Rai Sahib travelled here from Kiratpur and halted for several days beneath a Tahli tree before proceeding onward to the villages of Bhawanipur and Malha near Kanjrur both of which once hosted their own Gurdwaras, since erased after Partition.
Architectural evidence tells a layered story. Small Sikh-era bricks used throughout the walled compound suggest the structure was substantially renovated during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century, though it may rest on an even older foundation. Today, the central domed shrine has collapsed entirely. What remains are the caretakers' quarters and the crumbling remnants of a Langar khana at the compound's northern end.
Outside the walls, the team identified the Tahli tree itself the very tree under which the Guru is believed to have camped along with a surviving Beri tree nearby. To the north lie the remains of a well and a large Sarovar, now reduced to a stagnant pond.
Before Partition, the Gurdwara held some 30 acres of land, including a mango orchard to the south. Today, roughly 4.5 acres remain registered in the shrine's name, currently leased out through the ETPB. A migrant family from India now lives within the deteriorating compound, serving as informal custodians.
A Common Cry: Revenue for Repair, or Ruin
For both shrines, the same urgent plea is being made.
Heritage advocates have called on the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to channel revenue generated from the leased land directly into the upkeep and restoration of these shrines, working in coordination with the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (PSGPC), which facilitates matters concerning Sikh religious sites in the country.
"These are not just buildings, "They are the physical memory of a shared Punjab a Punjab that existed before borders divided it."
Without timely intervention, researchers warn, the remaining structures at both Patshahi Pehli and Tahli Sahib risk total collapse. The frescoes of Pakhoke will crumble into dust. The Sarovars will swallow themselves into the earth. And another chapter of Punjab's intertwined spiritual heritage will be lost to silence.
The clock is ticking. The walls are cracking. And the question remains: who will answer before it is too late?