List of Sikh festivals

This is the list of festivals observed by the followers of Sikh religion.

Sikh festival

The Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb cherished the ambition of converting India into a land of Islam. His experiment was first carried out in Kashmir. The viceroy of Kashmir carried out the policy vigorously and set about converting non-Muslims by force.

Orders of the arrest of the Guru were issued by Aurangzeb and the Guru was arrested at a place called Malikhpur near Anandpur after he had departed from Anandpur for Delhi. He was arrested, along with some of his followers and sent to Sirhind the following day. The Governor ordered him to be detained in Bassi Pathana and reported the news to Delhi. His arrest was made in July 1675 and he was kept in custody for over three months. He was then cast in an iron cage and taken to Delhi in November 1675. The Guru was put in chains and ordered to be tortured until he would accept Islam. When he could not be persuaded to abandon his faith to save himself from persecution, he was asked to perform some miracles to prove his divinity. On his refusal, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded in public at Chandni Chowk on 11 November 1675. Guru Ji is also known as "Hind Di Chadar" i.e. "the shield of India", suggesting that to save Hinduism, Guru Ji gave his life.

There are some other (around 45) festivals that are celebrated at a much smaller scale with some being centred in particular regions or towns that are not included in the above list. Thoses include Parkash Utsavs (Birth anniversaries of the other 8 Sikh gurus), Gurgadi Divas (passing of guruship), Jyotijot Divas (death anniversaries of other Sikh gurus), Basant Festival of kites which is celebrated in Chheharta Sahib Gurdwara in the village of Wadali where Sri Guru Hargobind Ji was born in 1595, to celebrate the birth and many other such festivals. All Sikh festival include celebrating by gathering at Gurdwara, paying obeisance to the Guru Granth Sahib and listening to Gurbani, Kirtan and reciting Paath.

However, there are quite a few other local fairs which are historically important to the Sikhs and attract crowds in hundreds of thousands and last two to three days. The most important of these are:

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