Guru Angad Dev Ji Prakash Purab: the second Guru and the Gurmukhi script

The Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji celebrates the birth in 1504 of the second Sikh Guru. He was born Bhai Lehna at Matte di Sarai, near today's Sri Muktsar Sahib, to Bhai Pheru Mal and Mata Ramo (Mata Sabhirai). His life is remembered above all as an example of how far devotion and service can carry a person.

From Bhai Lehna to Guru Angad

Bhai Lehna led groups of pilgrims each year to the shrine of the goddess Durga. On one journey he heard a Sikh reciting the bani of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, went to Kartarpur to meet the Guru, and stayed. For years he served without asking anything: carrying bundles of wet grass, working in the fields and doing whatever the Guru asked, when others turned away. Guru Nanak Dev Ji chose him as his successor over his own sons and named him Angad, a limb of his own body.

As Guru, he made Khadur Sahib the centre of the Sikh faith. He gave shape to the Gurmukhi script and taught children to read it, so that the Guru's bani could be read by ordinary people in their own language. With Mata Khivi Ji, he made langar a daily practice in which everyone sat and ate as equals. He encouraged wrestling and physical fitness among the young, and his saloks are included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

How the day is observed

Sangats gather at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Khadur Sahib and at gurdwaras everywhere for kirtan, katha and langar, and many complete an Akhand Paath. Because of his work on Gurmukhi, many families use the day to teach children to read the script, starting with the opening of Japji Sahib.