GHUMĀṆ, village 10 km west of Srī Hargobindpur (31º-41'N, 75º-29'E) in Gurdāspur district of the Punjab. Nāmdev (1270-1350), the much-revered saint of Mahārāshṭra, some of whose hymns are included in the Gurū Granth Sāhib, lived in this village for a considerable time. Most of his years until the age of 55 were spent at Paṇḍharpur, in Sholāpur district of Mahārāshṭra. Then he journeyed extensively through north India and returned to Mahārāshṭra after 18 years. During this period, he also visited the Punjab and, according to tradition, made Ghumāṇ his seat of residence.

         The temple at Ghumāṇ which, according to local tradition, has existed since the fourteenth century was renovated by Jassā Siṅgh Rāmgaṛhīā (d. 1802), and the tank attached to it repaired by Sadā Kaur (d. 1832), head of the Kanhaiyā misl and mother-in-law of Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh. The main shrine, called Darbār Sāhib Bābā Nāmdev Jī, is an octagonal domed room, with marble floor and projecting windows and balconies. In the centre of it is a stone fixed on a marble-lined platform under a marble pavilion, hexagonal in shape. A brass sheet shows the embossed figure of Bhagat Nāmdev in a sitting posture reviving a dead cow. Next to this shrine is the samādh of Bābā Bahuṛ Dās, the principal disciple of Nāmdev in the Punjab.

         The Gurū Granth Sāhib is seated in a separate rectangular room commemorating Gurū Hargobind's visit to the shrine. The temple is managed by Srī Nāmdev Darbār Committee of Ghumāṇ . An annual fair is held on 1 and 2 Māgh (mid-January) in the belief that Nāmdev died here at Ghumāṇ on 2 Māgh 1406 Bk.

Major Gurmukh Siṅgh (Retd.)