Gurudwara Sri Mattan Sahib, also known as Gurudwara Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, stands in the village of Mattan on the Anantnag–Pahalgam road, about 62 km from Srinagar. Guru Nanak Dev Ji came here during his third Udasi and stayed for thirteen days, engaging in discussion with Pandit Brahm Das, a Sanskrit scholar who carried cartloads of books and took great pride in his learning. Guru Sahib taught him that a lifetime spent reading counts for little beside the simple truth of the Divine Name, a teaching that moved the Pandit to fall at Guru Sahib’s feet and host him at his own home for several days.

Mattan was already known for its ancient temple ruins, and in time Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa had seven Gurudwaras built beside its twin springs, each housing Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, though these were later removed during Dogra rule between 1905 and 1909. Generations on, it was to Mattan’s Kashmiri Pandits that Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji responded when they came pleading for their faith to be saved — a plea that led to his own supreme sacrifice.