[1][2] A structure was erected at the site to commemorate the location of Nanak's stay during the guruship period of Guru Hargobind in the first half of the 17th century by Bhai Almast, who had been dispatched to the region for missionary work.

[3] Sri Chandrajyoti served as the granthi of the complex from 1915 until 1947, when the shrine was nearly abandoned totally due to the ongoing partition of Bengal.

[1][2] Due to the aftermath of the state-sponsored communal riots of 1964 and Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, the arrival of Indian pilgrims to the gurdwara ceased, which negatively affected its funds and hastened its decline and it was soon overgrown by local vegetation.

[1][2] Swaran Singh had stayed behind in East Pakistan in 1947 to administer the gurdwara and did not flee to India like his fellow co-religionists.

[1][2] In the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, Sikh officers and soldiers of the Indian military visited the gurdwara to offer prayers on 16 December 1971.

[1][2] However, the following year in 1973 some decrepit portions of the gurdwara next to University of Dhaka's Art Faculty began to be demolished by workers but they were stopped before they could cause major damage to the site.

[1][2] A major renovation project of the shrine was launched, using diasporic Sikh donations, under the purview of Harban Singh, chairman of the International Jute Organization in Dhaka, between 1988–89.

[3] The funds needed to operate the gurdwara are sourced from devotees, foreign visitors, donors, and grants from the Bangladeshi government.

[3] There was an entryway from the north, a ditch and cemetary to the south, and a sarovar (temple tank) to the west with concrete steps leading to the water.

[3]After Harban Singh's 1988–89 renovations, the exterior façade of the Gurdwara underwent large structural changes but attention was paid to preserve the impressive original interior, albeit with some changes made to its layout.

[1][2] It is within this space where the central Sikh text, the Guru Granth Sahib, is kept and read from, where it is kept atop of a carved, high marble kiosk.

[3] Each day, recitation from the holy scripture of Sikh religion Granth Sahib and prayer takes place in Gurdwara Nanak Shahi.