Baba Bakala is a historical town and tehsil in the Amritsar district in Punjab, India. It is known as the location of

Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib; ( pa, ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਬਾਬਾ ਬਕਾਲ਼ਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ) is a prominent Sikh Gurdwara in Baba Bakala, Punjab, India, Punjab, India which is about 42 km from Amritsar. It is known for its associa ...

History

Baba Bakala Sahib is closely associated with the ninth guru of the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s, Guru Tegh Bahadur. The guru is said to have meditated here for 26 years, 9 months and 13 days. There is a Gurdwara at the site commemorating this. Baba Bakala Sahib was originally known as Bakkan-Wala (meaning 'Town of the Deer' in Persian) however over time this was shortened to Bakala. The town was originally a mound, where deer were found grazing. Before passing away in Delhi, the guru at the time, Guru Har Krishan uttered "Baba Bakale" which the Sikhs at the time interpreted as meaning that the guru's successor was to be found at the town of Bakala, close to

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

. Once the next guru was found, the phrase ''"Baba Bakale"'' evolved into the official name of the town, Baba Bakala sahib.

Geography

Baba Bakala is located at , on Batala Road, near

, Punjab, India. The town is located only 43 km (26.7 miles) away from the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar, 46.5 km (28.9 miles) northwest of Jalandhar and 193 km (120.5 miles) northwest of the state's capital of Chandigarh.

Demographics

According to the

2011 census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, the population of Baba Bakala is 8946. There are 1,834 households, 4,697 males and 4,249 females. Thus the corresponding sex ratio is 905 women per 1000 men.

Religion

Sikhism is the most prominent religion of the town. Other minorities includes Hinduism and Jainism. Bhullar Jatts and Shukla Pandits were the original inhabitants of the town when it was founded as a village. There were few Muslim households, who migrated elsewhere during the

1947 Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

Politics

The city is part of the Baba Bakala Assembly Constituency.

References

{{Amritsar district Villages in Amritsar district