Despite cold, devotees thronged various Gurudwaras of the region as the 349th ‘Parkash Utsav’ (birth anniversary) of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated with religious fervour and enthusiasm in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Saturday.
Gurdwaras including the Golden Temple at Amritsar and Takht Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib saw a large number of devotees with people from all across the region visiting to pay their obeisance. Despite cold conditions, devotees took holy dip in the ‘Sarovar’.
Gurdwaras were tastefully decked up to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, founder of the ‘Khalsa Panth’. Akhand Paths (non-stop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib) were held, followed by ‘kirtan’(hymn-singing), ‘katha’ (religious discourse), ‘kavita-kavishari’(religious poetry) in Gurdwaras.
Devotees partook the ‘langar’(community kitchen) which was served in Gurdwaras. In Anandpur Sahib in year 1699, the tenth Sikh Guru founded the ‘Khalsa’ and baptised first five Sikhs (Panj Piaras).
Devotees could be seen visiting other gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to offer prayers despite the cold weather. The maximum temperatures ranged from 10 to 16 degrees in the region on Friday.
Punjab Government is already working on plans to celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of the guru in January 2017 in a big way. The main celebrations next year will be in Bihar’s capital Patna, the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh. Special celebrations will be held in Anandpur Sahib and Harmandar Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh had declared that Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, will be the eternal guru and no person will be appointed guru after him.