Baisakhi Festival
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Baisakhi, also known as Vasakhi, is an ancient harvest festival in the Punjab region of North India. Baisakhi is also a Sikh religious festival. It usually falls on the first day of the Baisakh month in the solar Nanakshahi calendar, which corresponds to 13 April in the Gregorian calendar. However, in 2011 it is being observed on 14 April. This day is also observed as the beginning of the Hindu solar New Year celebrated by the people of Nepal and India. The special importance attached to the occasion shows regional variation outside of Punjab too. The festival is celebrated as Rongali Bihu in Assam, Naba Barsha in West Bengal and Tripura, Puthandu (Tamil New Year) in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, and Maha Vishuba Sankranti in Orissa.
In Sikhism, Basakhi is one of the most significant festivals commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699 by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobid Singh. To mark the celebrations, devotees attend the gurudwara, a Sikh place of worship. The celebrations start early as devotees, with flowers and offerings in their hands, proceed towards the gurdwara before dawn. Processions through towns are also common. Baisakhi is the day on which the Khalsa (The Pure Ones) was born and Sikhs were given a clear identity and a code of conduct to live by. The momentous occasion was led by the last living Sikh spiritual teacher, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who baptized the first Sikhs using sweet nectar called Amrit. Around the world at Baisakhi time, Sikhs and individuals of Punjabi descent reflect on the values taught to them by their gurus and celebrate the birth of the Khalsa.
