ADILABAD: Mathuras from Bhutai, a tiny village in Bazarhatnoor mandal of Adilabad district, are getting ready to participate in the year-long Sikh celebrations to commemorate 300 years of consecration of Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Sikh Guru at Nanded in Maharashtra.

The Mathura herdsmen, reports India's The Hindu newspaper, had close ties with Sikhs since the advent of Sikhism.Bhutai's Kalu Baba temple, with its set of 300-year-old eight 'Gutka' manuscripts that are chapter- wise extracts from the Guru Granth Sahib, indicates the strong ties the two communities enjoy.

The manuscripts were written by Kalu Baba, a saintly person from Mathura community and a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh. Nanded, where the tenth Sikh Guru had consecrated the Guru Granth Sahib, also has the Kalu Baba temple close to the Nagina Ghat gurudwara where the Gutkas were believed to have been written.

"We inherited the Gutkas from our fore fathers. We hold these extracts of the Guru Granth sacred because Kalu Baba's devotion of Guru Gobind Singh made him script the Gutkas," says Bal Singh Ajhade, custodian of the Kalu Baba temple considered to be the regional headquarters of Mathura community.

The Mathuras were considered part of the Banjara community. "The Banjaras or Mathuras were in charge of supplies to Sikh armies that were constantly at war with the Mughals. When Guru Gobind Singh came to Nanded in June 1708 (some believe it to be June 1707), the Mathuras
followed him. The Banjaras had retrieved much of the lost Sikh literature from flooding of Sirsa river in Punjab while Guru Gobind Singh and his army were crossing it. Guruji appreciated this effort.

He maintained 'Rang rete, Guru ke bete'", (Banjaras were called Rang rete by Guru Gobind Singh) said Ravinder Singh Modi, journalist at Nanded.

The Mathuras who had settled down at Bhutai long back also observed the Simran Diwas on November 15.

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