Giraudpuri is a village in the

Baloda Bazar district Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara district is a district in Chhattisgarh state of India with its headquarters at Baloda Bazar. Before its creation, it was a part of Raipur district. Administration The district is subdivided into five tehsils: namely Pala ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

, India. Located beside the

Jonk River Jonk River is a tributary of Mahanadi River that flows for approximately 210 kilometers through the Nuapada District and Bargarh District in the state of Odisha; and the Mahasamund District and Raipur District in the state of Chhattisgarh in India. ...

, it is the birthplace of the

Satnami The Sadh, also known as Satnami, is a minority Bhakti-era Hindu sect in India. It is a monotheistic Hindu sect where its followers believe in a formless and supreme god called Satnam Satpurush. According to M. A. Sherring, he may have been i ...

sect's founder

Ghasidas Ghasidas (18 December 1756 – 1850), also known as Guru Ghasidas, was guru (teacher) of the Satnampanth in the early 19th century. It was Guru Ghasidas who decided to start treating everyone the same in a deep forested part of Malwa Region. Gh ...

, and a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

centre for the Satnamis.

History

The village is notable as the birth place of

, the founder of the

panth Panth (also panthan, meaning "path" in Sanskrit) is the term used for several religious traditions in India. A panth is founded by a guru or an acharya, and is often led by scholars or senior practitioners of the tradition. Some of the major pant ...

'' (religious sect). It is a major place of

(''dham'') for the Satnamis, who are classified among the

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

. His son Balakdas purchased land in Girodhpuri to strengthen the Satnami sect. A ''jayanti'' '' mela'' (birth anniversary fair) held in honour of Ghasidas was first held in Giraudpuri in 1932. The village was originally known as "Girod". By the time Chhattisgarh became a state in 2000, the Satnamis had become a politically important voting group. The state government renamed the village to "Girodpuri" ("Girod town"), and started developing the area as a tourist centre to generate income, and to gain the political support of the Satnamis. The government built a temple, surrounded by other infrastructure such as

hostels A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

, parking areas, and space for the makeshift shops and stalls to be set up during the annual ''mela''. The government also developed roads leading to the area, and advertised the site as an important pilgrimage centre of the state. As a result of these efforts, the attendance at the ''mela'' increased from around 20,000 in 2001 to over 500,000 in 2008. In 2022, the

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

-led Chhattisgarh government announced that the village will be renamed to "Baba Guru Ghasidas Dham Giroudpuri".

Tourism

The main landmark of the village is ''Guru Ghasidas Jaitkham'', a 77 metre high tower used as a pilgrimage centre by the Satnamis. A ''jaitkham'' ("victory pillar") is a Satnami object of worship, and a symbol of their distinct sectarian identity. It is also known as ''Jaithkham'', ''Jaitkhambh'', ''Jait Khamba'', ''Jait Khamb'', or ''Jai Stambh''. The Jaitkham at Giraudpuri was commissioned by the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

-led Chhattisgarh government, and constructed by a

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

-based firm as an earthquake-resistant structure. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2007 at a cost of 17

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

s, but was completed in 2015 at a cost of 51.43

s. In 2010, while questioning the government on the delay and the cost overruns, the opposition

leaders alleged that the tower was originally planned to be 122 m high, but the BJP government denied this. When Chief Minister

Raman Singh Dr. Raman Singh (born 15 October 1952) is an Indian politician and Former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Currently, he is the National Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is also an ayurvedic practitioner. He is also the longest se ...

inaugurated the tower on 18 December 2015, it was said to be the tallest

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

structure in India. Visitors can climb the tower up to 65m taking the spiral stairs or elevators. At its centre, the structure has a conference hall with a capacity to hold 2000 people. Charan Kund, sacred pond, is another pilgrimage site in the village. Amrit Kund, a pond whose water is said to be sweet, is located a kilometre from the village. The annual Giraudpuri Mela (fair), also known as the "Guru Darshan Mela", is held at the village.

References

{{reflist Villages in Baloda Bazar district Satnami