Islamabad, April 13: Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims from across the world have converged in Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal, about 40km north-west of Islamabad, to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi that started on Monday.
Baisakhi is a festival attached with wheat harvesting.
The three-day festival also marks the beginning of Sikhs’ New Year and founding of Khalsa Panth in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj, with whom the miraculous tales of Punja (hand print) are associated.
Followers of Sikh religion, who have come from India, Canada, the US and Europe besides different parts of Pakistan, including the tribal region, will be renewing the pledge to exercise brotherhood and harmony, as enshrined in the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib – the last Guru of the Sikh religion, a keeper of the shrine told reporters.
Baisakhi has its own sights and sounds and the Sikh community celebrates it to lift up their spirits and add colour to life. The Khalsa Panth was meant for protecting sanctity of Sikh religion and fighting out social evils.
Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj was born in Patna (Indian) and later migrated to Hassanabdal in Pakistan, where he continued preaching Sikh religion.
Sikhs believe that during Guru Gobind Sahib Maharaj’s stay at Hassanabdal, he was one day refused water by a local man and on insistence, a huge stone was hurled on Guru Gobind’s followers from the top of a hill.
The Sikh believe that when Guru Gobind Singh stopped this stone with his hand, it miraculously turned into a loaf of wax and still bears the imprint of the Punja of the Guru.
They declare the Punja imprint, a symbol of Shanti (peace) and a source of inspiration to motivate them to piety and brotherhood.
They touch the handprint of Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj with a belief that its touch mitigates their miseries and hardships. The continuously oozing water from underneath this stone affix in the premises of Gurdwara Punja Sahib is also described as a miracle of the Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj.
During their stay at the Gurdwara, Sikh pilgrims sleep on the floor as a ritual and the requirement of their belief. The Baisakhi festival is celebrated throughout the world, but its celebrations in Pakistan bear special significance for being the birth place of the founder of the Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak, at Nankana Sahib, and settlement of their last Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj, at Hassanabdal.
Meanwhile, the Punjab home department has imposed a complete ban on the movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims to the places for which they did not have visas.
–Agencies