Basant Panchmi in Sikh history: Raag Basant, Chheharta Sahib and Guru Ka Lahore

Basant Panchmi, the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Magh, is the festival of spring across North India, when the fields of Punjab turn yellow with mustard flowers. In the Sikh tradition it is a day of several memories, and the SGPC's calendar keeps it as a day in Sikh history.

Raag Basant

Raag Basant, the raag of spring, is one of the thirty-one raags of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, with bani by the Gurus and the Bhagats. The Gurus used the images of spring, of fresh growth and blossoming, to speak of the soul that blossoms when it remembers the Divine, rather than of outward festivity. At Sri Harmandir Sahib, by long tradition, kirtan in Raag Basant is sung through the season, beginning around Maghi and continuing until Hola Mohalla.

Chheharta Sahib

At Chheharta, near Amritsar, Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji had a large well dug for the villages around, worked by six Persian wheels, the chhe harte that gave the place its name. Gurdwara Chheharta Sahib marks the place, and a large mela is held there on Basant Panchmi, when sangats come for kirtan and to drink from the well.

Guru Ka Lahore

Basant Panchmi is also the day on which Sikhs remember the marriage of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Mata Jito Ji at Guru Ka Lahore, near Anandpur Sahib, where a mela is held. Read about the marriage at Guru Ka Lahore.

How the day is observed

Gurdwaras hold kirtan in Raag Basant, and many Sikhs wear yellow, the colour of the season and of the mustard fields.