Inside the Qila (fort) at Sultanpur Lodhi, home of Anad Conservatory

Our bi-annual kirtan course with Bhai Baldeep Singh, which previously only took place within North America, is being held in India for the first time – at the Anad Conservatory at the Qila (fort), Sultanpur Lodhi, which is undergoing restorations under the supervision of Bhai Baldeep Singh.

: Lahore gate in Sultanpur Lodhi, from Guru Nanak’s times, an entrance to the Qila (fort), where Anad Conservatory is being developed.  Sultanpur Lodhi was not only the place where Guru Nanak got married and where his sons were born, including Baba Siri Chand – but it is also where Guru Nanak received mul-mantra, became Guru, and from whence he began his teaching yatras.

: Delhi gate, in the Sultanpur Lodhi Qila. Some Anad Conservatory events have taken place in front of this artifact, lit by floodlights and full moon.

: Darbar of the King of Kapurthala (faces the mosque)

: Front view of mosque: Mosque where Guru Nanak was invited to do Namaaz (prayer) by the Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhi, Governor of Lahore.

: The back view of the mosque

: Guru Nanak pointed out to the Nawab that the Nawab himself wasn’t doing namaaz as he was preoccupied with the worry of a newborn calf of his falling into this town well, which still exists.

: Siri Sevak Kaur holding Harbhajan Kaur’s rabab to show the lovely grain of the teak wood.

: Harbhajan Kaur’s rabab, made by Bhai Baldeep Singh, is waiting for its “skin” at Sultanpur Lodhi. Bhai Baldeep Singh replicated Guru Arjan’s rabab in design (though Bhai Baldeep will use his own way of applying the skin that does not involve nailing the skin to the rabab, and he has carved the motifs in a 3-dimensional relief.) Parminder Singh (foremost pakhavaj student and apprenticing instrument maker of Bhai Baldeep Singh’s) with Sharanjit Singh, a ragi local to Sultanpur Lodhi. Parminder Singh has been doing some cleaning of the carving and polishing on the rabab carved by Bhai Baldeep Singh.

: Bhai Baldeep Singh holding the taus he is making for Kulmeet Singh. Note that the technique Bhai Baldeep Singh has created for applying the skin does not involve nailing the skin to the wood.