Sikhs Baisakhi Festival In Hasanabdal

[sana_krn]

Baisakhi or Vaisakhi is one of the biggest and ancient festivals of Sikhs and is celebrated in the beginning of the solar year on April 13 (or 14) every year. It falls on the first day of the Baisakh month in the solar Nanakshahi calendar, which corresponds to April 14 in the Gregorian calendar.

People of North India, particularly Punjab thank God for good harvest. Visit to Gurudwaras, Vaisakhi processions and traditional performances are the highlights of the day. Baisakhi has special significance for Sikhs as on this day in 1699, their tenth Guru Gobind Singh Ji organized the order of the Khalsa.

Its history, according to Sikhism, goes dates back to the time of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. In the year 1667 Aurungzeb, the Mughal Emperor, installed himself as the Emperor of India after annihilating almost all his family opposition. Immediately after gaining power, Aurungzeb embarked on a policy of religious persecution and started the process of Islamization of the sub-continent. Brahmins became the prime targets of Aurungzeb as his clerics made him convinced that once the Brahmins accepted Islam the others would follow. Aurangzeb also imposed heavy taxes on Hindus and shut their temples and places of learning.

The Brahmins, particularly those of Kashmir, desperately felt the need for a dynamic leadership to fight this subversion by the Mughal Emperor. They approached Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675), the ninth in the line of Sikh Gurus, who was on the throne of the Sikh religion and asked him for guidance on the issue.

Upon listening all this, Guru Tegh Bahadur went to Dehli, the capital of Mughal Empire, but upon his arrival he was arrested and imprisoned. Later, Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed in Delhi in the presence of hundreds of people. The executioner abandoned the Guru’s body in the open. But no one dared to come forward to claim the body to perform religious rites. It was only when the stormy weather occurred, that two persons took advantage of the situation and covertly took the body of Guru Tegh Bahadur for cremation. This cowardice of Sikhs incited in Gobind Rai, the son and successor of Guru Tegh Bahadur, an urge to endow his Sikhs with a distinct identity. With the desire to instill courage and strength to sacrifice among his fellow men, Gobind Rai became the tenth Sikh Guru. The Guru, Gobind Rai, found that the occasion of Baisakhi could serve his purpose of encouraging Sikhs, as every year thousands of devotees would come to Anandpur at the time of Baisakhi (springtime) to pay their obeisance and seek the Guru’s blessings.

Another very significant aspect of Baisakhi is that the festival marks the foundation of Khalsa Panth by the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

In Hasanabdal, Pakistan, lies the Gurdwara Punja Sahib. According to the many Sikhs, the Baisakhi festival is celebrated only at the Sikh’s holy city of Hassanabdal.
Thousands of Sikh yatreescome from all over the world, including India, Canada, and America to attend the Baisakhi mela.