Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji Prakash Purab: the Bal Guru and Gurdwara Bangla Sahib

The Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji celebrates the birth in 1656 of the eighth Sikh Guru at Kiratpur Sahib, to Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji and Mata Kishan Kaur Ji. He became Guru at the age of five and is remembered with deep affection as the Bal Guru, the child Guru.

The child who became Guru

Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji passed over his elder son, Ram Rai, who had altered a line of the Guru's bani to please the emperor Aurangzeb, and entrusted the Guruship to his younger son. Despite his age, Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji was known for his calm wisdom and composure. Sikh tradition tells of a proud pandit at Panjokhra who challenged the young Guru to explain the Gita; the Guru asked a passing water-carrier, Chhajju, to answer instead, and the unlettered man spoke with such insight that the pandit was humbled.

Summoned to Delhi by the emperor, the Guru stayed at the bungalow of Raja Jai Singh of Amber. When smallpox and cholera spread through the city, he served the sick of every faith and gave them water from the well there. He caught smallpox himself and passed away in 1664, aged about eight, after indicating that the next Guru would be found at Bakala. The bungalow is now Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.

How the day is observed

Sangats mark the day with Akhand Paath, kirtan and langar, especially at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and Gurdwara Bala Sahib in Delhi. Many take home water from the sarovar at Bangla Sahib, and Sikhs everywhere remember him at the close of every Ardas, which asks that the sorrows of all who remember him be taken away.