Takht Sri Patna Sahib

Takht Sri Harmandir Ji, Patna Sahib, is the gurudwara built around the birthplace of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, who was born here on 22 December 1666 to Mata Gujri and Guru Tegh Bahadur. Guru Gobind Singh spent the first six years of his life at Patna; his cradle, his small wooden weapons, and other relics are preserved inside the gurdwara. It is one of the five Takhts (seats of temporal authority) of Sikhism and the easternmost. The present gurdwara structure was built in 1957 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh's general Hari Singh Nalwa under the patronage of the Sikh sangat — replacing an earlier 19th-century structure damaged in the 1934 Bihar earthquake. The marble inner sanctum holds the Guru Granth Sahib. The gurdwara runs a 24-hour langar (community kitchen) feeding several thousand visitors a day, and accommodation for pilgrims is available within the complex. Patna was historically called Patna Sahib by Sikhs in honour of the Guru's birth here — the city's southern half retains the name.