Bora is a village in the

Hoshiarpur district Hoshiarpur district is a district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in northern India. Hoshiarpur, one of the oldest districts of Punjab, is located in the North-east part of the Punjab state and shares common boundaries with Gurdaspur district in ...

Punjab, India Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states ...

Location

Bora is located east of Garshankar. It is situated on the Garhshankar - Sri Anand pur Sahib Road.

History

In the 19th century, between 1800 and 1820 AD, Shri Mahant Ram, a Digpal Brahmin, came from Garhi Mansowal and purchased or occupied some land. As the time passed, people from nearby villages started to come there, and Mahant Ram started selling plots to those people, becoming wealthy in the process. According to the

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

norms of the time, Brahmins occupied the center of the developing town, while peasants occupied the East side of the village, and lower castes, the North side of the village.

Etymology

The village was named for the prevalence of

banyan A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...

trees ("boharh" in

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

) in the area. The banyan trees have since been cut down.

Culture

Festivals

Bora celebrates all

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

festivals, including

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

Gurpurab Gurpurab ( Punjabi: ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ), alternatively spelt as Gurpurb or Gurpurub, in Sikh tradition is a celebration of an anniversary of a Guru's birth marked by the holding of a festival. Gurpurab of Guru Nanak The birthday of Guru ...

, and

Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan Quote: m Hindi ''rakśābandhan'' held on the full moon of the month of Savan, when sisters tie a talisman (rakhi q.v.) on the arm of their brothers and receive small gifts of money from them. is a popular and traditionally Hin ...

, but Janamastami is the most popular festival in the village and is celebrated with great pomp and show by Hindus and Sikhs. On this day Sri Mahakali temple is decorated and the goddess

Mahakali Mahakali () is the Hindu goddess of time and death in the goddess-centric tradition of Shaktism. She is also known as the supreme being in various tantras and Puranas. Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal po ...

is worshipped with ''

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'' prepared by the temple administrators and offered to the goddess. In the 19th century, there was a great confusion among the villagers that on which day Mahakali should be worshipped. The people of the Digpal gotra suggested that this holy ceremony should be done on the day of "Janamashtami".

Houses of worship

Bora is home to several

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

: * Sri Mahakali Temple * Sri Sai Baba Temple (Gugga Zahir Peer) * Sri Gugga Marhi Temple * Shivalya (Shiv Mandir) * Do Lathian Wala Mandir (Shivalya) * Bagge Da Mandir There is also a Sikh

gurudwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and religions are welcomed in gurd ...

named Gurudwara Chhevi Patshahi Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji.

References

{{Hoshiarpur district Villages in Hoshiarpur district