New Year is the most important event for everyone because
with the new calendar year, come lots of hopes, desires, and excitement.
Although 1st of January is considered the New Year for everyone
universally, but with a wide religious country like ours, ever different region
and religion has its own different individual New Year. In the similar fashion,
Baisakhi is the New Year for our Sikh friends. This festival is one of the
greatest for every Sikh across the world, which falls on the 13th of
April every year, and on 14th April once in every 36 years. This year,
the festival is to fall on 14th of April.
Baisakhi is celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm in the
state of Punjab and all across the globe where there is significant Sikh
population. It is believed that it was on Baisakhi in 1699 that Guru Gobind
Singh Ji, the tenth Sikh Guru, laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth. It is
also believed that the festival marks the time for harvest of rabi crops,
meaning that it is of great importance for the large farming community of
Punjab.
On the day of Baisakhi, the devotees wake up early and get
ready in new clothes, and the first thing they do is visit the Gurudwara to
express gratitude to God and seek blessings of the Guru Granth Sahib. One of
the most important places to be visited on this day is the Golden Temple in
Amritsar in the state of Punjab. Baisakhi involves great deal of feasting, along
with performing Bhangra and Gidda on folk music, which makes the area
surrounding the Golden Temple in Amritsar carnival-like!
The site of The Golden Temple was gifted by the Mughal
emperor Akbar as a wedding present to Bibi Bhani, the daughter of the third
Sikh Guru – Guru Amar Das, when she married Jetha. It was then that Jetha
carried out the task of building the town named Amritsar there, with the lake
named Amritsarovar. However, it was in 1588 that Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Sikh
Guru, laid the foundation of the grand Gurudwara in the middle of the lake. It
took 16 years for the construction to complete in 1604. But in 1762, an Afghani
invader attacked the temple and damaged it. Maharaja Ranjit Singh then in 1830,
renovated the temple with marble and top-coated it with gold, after which it is
known as ‘The Golden Temple’.
If you are in the city of Punjab on the auspicious day of
Baisakhi, make sure to visit The Golden Temple to be mesmerized beyond the
realm of words. Over one lakh people visit the temple on a daily basis, so you
can imagine the sight at this temple on this grand day! Seek blessings of the
Guru Granth Sahib, and also indulge in the grand community lunch known as
‘Langar’.
The day of Baisakhi is also important for the Hindus as it
is believed that it was on this day in the year 1875 that the Arya Samaj was
founded. Also, Baisakhi marks the entry of the sun into the Mesh Rashi, which
is why many astrological Pujas are also conducted on this day. People who are
negatively influenced by the Mangal and Surya grahas are specially advised to
perform appropriate Pujas on this day. You can get in touch with the reliable
and experienced Pandits at MakeMyPuja who can check for any such ill-effects in
your horoscope and perform the correct rituals to solve the same.
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