Gurgaddi Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji: the nine-year-old tenth Guru

The Gurgaddi Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji remembers the day in 1675 when Gobind Rai, nine years old, became the tenth Sikh Guru at Anandpur Sahib, after his father, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji, gave his life in Delhi.

A child's answer

Earlier that year a group of Kashmiri Pandits, led by Pandit Kirpa Ram of Mattan, came to Anandpur Sahib. They were being pressed to convert under the emperor Aurangzeb and asked the Guru for help. Sikh tradition remembers the Guru sitting deep in thought and saying that only the sacrifice of a great soul could turn the tide. The young Gobind Rai, coming in, asked who could be greater than his father to make that sacrifice. Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji told the Pandits to inform the emperor that if he could convert the Guru, they would all follow.

The Guruship

Before leaving for Delhi, Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji named his son as his successor. After the shaheedi at Chandni Chowk, Bhai Jaita Ji carried the Guru's head to Anandpur Sahib, where the young Guru received it with honour and declared that his followers would never again be hard to recognise. Over the next thirty-three years Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji trained the Sikhs in arms and letters, created the Khalsa in 1699, wrote a large body of bani and poetry, and at the end passed the Guruship to Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the Guru Khalsa Panth.

How the day is observed

The day is marked with kirtan, katha and Ardas, especially at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib. Katha on the day often tells of the courage of the child who sent his father to stand for the faith of others.