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Gurdwara Nanak Shahi

building in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ5619975 ↗
Source-derived summary

Gurdwara Nanak Shahi (Bengali: গুরুদুয়ারা নানকশাহী, Punjabi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਸ਼ਾਹੀ) is the principal Sikh gurdwara (temple), located in Nilkhet, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located at the campus of the University of Dhaka and considered to be the biggest of the 9 to 10 gurdwaras in the country. The gurdwara commemorates the visit of Guru Nanak (1506–1507). It is said to have been built in 1830. The present building of the gurdwara was renovated in 1988–1989. The gurdwara was formerly called the Sujatpur Sikh Sangat and had been established by Udasis.

History

It is believed that Guru Nanak had stayed at the site whilst travelling in Bengal during his udasis (travels). A structure was erected at the site to commemorate the location of Nanak's stay during the guruship period of Guru Hargobind in the first half of the 17th century by Bhai Almast, who had been dispatched to the region for missionary work. Another view is that the original shrine was erected by Bhai Natha, a disciple and successor of Bhai Almast, during the guruship period of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who had visited Dhaka and stayed there for a period of time. Another even another view claims the shrine was established by Baba Gurditta when he visited Bengal, where he established a manji in Shujatpur which Gurditta traced to be the location in which Nanak resided during his stay in Bengal.

Editorial summary

“Gurdwara Nanak Shahi” enters the record as building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gurdwara, Nanak and Shahi can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1506, 1507, 1830, 1988—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Gurdwara, Nanak and Shahi.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Gurdwara Nanak Shahi” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Gurdwara, Nanak and Shahi provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5619975. The first chronological checks are 1506, 1507, 1830 and 1988.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gurdwara Nanak Shahi”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gurdwara Nanak Shahi primary sources, Gurdwara Nanak Shahi archive and Gurdwara research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gurdwara Nanak Shahi”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gurdwara Nanak Shahi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.