Baisakhi Festival



Detailed Information about Baisakhi Festival & Its Importance


India a land of religions and cultures presents before the world a wonderful melody celebration of its rich culture in the form of the numerous festivals that fill the Indian calendar. The calendar is filled with plenty of the festivals that bring alive the wonderful history hidden in the different religions and the communities of the Indian society. From the bag of the jubilant celebrations comes a yet another festival from the state of Punjab in India, the Baisakhi or you could even call it Vaisakhi. Baisakhi is originally known to be the festival of harvest in the state of the charming, humorous and the brave Sikh people on 13th April every year.

The festival of Baisakhi has a very wonderful history behind its celebration that dates it back to the time of the Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th guru of the Sikhs. It is said that on the occasion of the Baisakhi in the year 1699 a huge congregation of the Sikhs had gathered to hear the auspicious words of their beloved guru gobind singh sahib ji at Kesgarh Sahib near the City of Anandpur Sahib. It is believed that about fifty to eighty thousand Sikhs had attended the meeting. They were here to here the soothing words from their guru on the eve of Baisakhi but to everyone's surprise Guru Gobind Singh sahib ji drew out a sword in his hand and cried out, "is there anyone in the crown who would sacrifice his life in the name of dharma?" Silence filled over the gathering. There was a silence despite the huge crowd. He called out again and yet the silence but on the third cry a man named Daya Ram who was a Khatri of Lahore came forward. The guru took Daya Ram inside his tent and then came out with the sword in his hand but this time dripping with blood and he called out again is there anyone else who can lay his life in the name of dharma. And this time Dharma Das a Jat of Haryana came forward and the guru again took him into the tent and this continued till there were five disappearing into the tent namely Mohkam Chand of Gujarat, Himmat Singh of Orissa, and the last one was Sahib Chand who was a barber by profession and belonged to Karnataka.

To everyone's astonishment the guru came out of the tent along with the five men still alive but this time clad in wonderful clothes and in turbans. These five men were then administered with the "Khande de Pahul" which is a double edged sword and were knighted as the Sikhs. These five men were then called as the Panj Piare, or 'Beloved Five. These were the first of the orders of the khalsa.

The Baisakhi reminds the Sikh community of that day and also the cultural and the tradition of the Sikhs passed down the generations. During the Baisakhi there are plenty of the celebrations going on in the state and the men and even the kids wear the traditional dress and visit the Gurudwaras. Bhangras and Giddhas can be seen performed by the people of Punjab during this time.