Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 16 June 2027
- Friday, 16 June 2028
- Saturday, 16 June 2029
Where Guru Arjan Dev Shaheedi Purab falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 16 Jun
- 2028: 16 Jun, 1 day later
- 2029: 16 Jun, 1 day earlier
The dates, year by year
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, put to death at Lahore in 1606 on the orders of Jahangir. He compiled the Adi Granth and built the Harmandir Sahib, and he is held to have been made to sit on a heated plate with hot sand poured over him for days before he was taken to the Ravi. Chhabeels, stalls of sweetened cold water and milk, are set out at the roadside for anyone who passes, through the hottest days of June.
- Deity
- Guru Arjan Dev
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Guru Arjan is remembered as the first of the Sikh martyrs, shaheedan de sirtaj, the crown of the martyrs. He composed the Sukhmani Sahib, the Psalm of Peace, and gathered the bani of the Gurus before him and of saints such as Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas and Sheikh Farid into one book, open to anyone who would read it. The calm with which he bore the torture, accepting the Creator's will as sweet, is what the day holds up, and his martyrdom led his son Guru Hargobind to take up the two swords of miri and piri. The chhabeel answers cruelty with kindness: the Guru who was tortured with heat is remembered by giving cool water to strangers on the hottest days of the year.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Guru Arjan Dev Shaheedi Purab: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a table and some shade
- a drum or large pot of cold water
- sugar, milk and rose syrup
- ice
- steel glasses
- a gutka of the Sukhmani Sahib
- a head covering
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The chhabeel drink is kacchi lassi, cold water with a little milk and sugar, or water sweetened with rose syrup, and some chhabeels add boiled chana and halwa. At the gurdwara the karah prashad is given and the langar served as on every day.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 16 June 2027 at Chennai
Harh 2 of the fixed Nanakshahi calendar, the sixteenth of June; the diwan and the chhabeels run through the day.
The main rite. Harh 2 of the fixed Nanakshahi calendar, the day the calendar prints; sangats that follow the Bikrami moon keep Jeth Sudi Chauth instead. The chhabeels run from morning into the evening.
This day's rule names no hour of its own: it is fixed by the tithi or the nakshatra running at sunrise. The rule above is the whole of it, and the day's own times are below.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Trayodasi from 02:31 until next day 03:21 | then Shukla Chaturdasi until 2 days later, 04:35 |
| Nakshatra | Vishakha until 19:44 | then Anuradha until next day 21:30 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:10 to 13:46 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:19 to 08:56 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:33 to 12:10 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:44 to 12:35 (0 h 52 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 16:24 | moonset next day 03:58 |
For Wednesday, 16 June 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept; the Sikh tradition sets no store by fasting. The langar runs through the day and everyone eats it sitting in the same rows, and karah prasad is given out at the end of the diwan.
What is avoided
It is a day of remembrance, not celebration, so no greeting of congratulation is given and there is no music but kirtan. Nobody is refused at a chhabeel or asked his faith, and the water is never sold.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The gurdwaras of the Punjab, Delhi, the historic takhts and the diaspora keep the gurpurabs alike, with an akhand path over the two days before and a nagar kirtan behind the panj pyare. The Nanakshahi calendar of 2003 fixed several of these to Gregorian dates and the revert of 2010 put some of them back on the Bikrami moon, so the date can differ between the SGPC calendar and a local sangat; traditions vary, and the gurdwara notice is the one to follow.
In other regions
- North India
- Delhi, Haryana and the Punjabi quarters of the north set out the same chhabeels, and the Delhi gurdwaras hold their diwans through the day.
- Punjab (the dates above)
- The Punjab lines its roads and highways with chhabeels through the day, from the villages to Amritsar, and jathas cross to Lahore for Gurdwara Dera Sahib, which marks the place of the martyrdom beside the fort.
The dates above are the Punjab reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Mool Mantar (Ik Onkar)
- Japji Sahib
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.