Festival Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak Gurpurab · Prakash Purab
The prakash purab of Guru Nanak, the first Guru, born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, which is Nankana Sahib now.
Guru Nanak Gurpurab · Prakash Purab 2026 falls on Tuesday, 24 November, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
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
- Tuesday, 24 November 2026
- Sunday, 14 November 2027
- Thursday, 2 November 2028
Where Guru Nanak Gurpurab · Prakash Purab falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 24 Nov
- 2027: 14 Nov, 10 days earlier
- 2028: 2 Nov, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The prakash purab of Guru Nanak, the first Guru, born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, which is Nankana Sahib now. It is the largest gurpurab of the year: the akhand path is read over the two days before, the nagar kirtan goes out the day before behind the panj pyare, and the diwan begins before dawn with Asa di Var. Jatha cross to Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur for it, and the langar runs in every gurdwara from morning to night.
- Deity
- Guru Nanak
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Guru Nanak taught that there is one Creator, Ik Onkar, beyond the divisions of Hindu and Muslim, caste and ritual, and he put the teaching into three plain duties: naam japna, to keep the Name in mind, kirat karni, to earn by honest work, and vand chhakna, to share what one has. For the better part of twenty years he walked on his udasis, the long journeys east, south, north and west as far as Mecca and Baghdad, with Bhai Mardana playing the rabab while he sang. In his last years he settled at Kartarpur, farmed his own fields and fed all who came from a common kitchen, which is where the langar of every gurdwara begins. The Mool Mantar that opens the Guru Granth Sahib is his, and families keep the day by returning to it and to those three duties.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Guru Nanak Gurpurab · Prakash Purab: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a head covering for everyone
- langar rations: atta, dal, rice, ghee, sugar and milk
- lamps and candles for the house
- flowers for the palki
- the family's daswandh
- tea and snacks for the Prabhat Pheri
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Karah prashad, made with equal measures of whole wheat flour, ghee and sugar, is given at every diwan. The langar is dal, a sabzi, rotis, rice and kheer, all vegetarian and served to anyone in the same rows; the houses on the Prabhat Pheri route put out tea, pakoras and sweets, and many families send sweets to the gurdwara and to the neighbours.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartik Puranmashi, the full moon of Kartik, at sunrise. This is a Bikrami date rather than a Nanakshahi one, so it moves through November.
The main rite. Kartik Puranmashi at sunrise, the full moon of Kartik; the diwan begins in the amrit vela, the hours before dawn, with the Asa di Var, and the Akhand Path begun two days earlier ends that morning.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:12 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:12, sunset 17:39, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Pournami from previous day 23:43 until 20:24 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 16:51 |
| Nakshatra | Krittika until 23:25 | then Rohini until next day 20:36 |
| Rahu kaal | 14:47 to 16:13 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:04 to 10:30 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 11:55 to 13:21 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:33 to 12:18 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 17:19 | moonset next day 06:44 |
For Tuesday, 24 November 2026 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
Pictures of the Guru are not garlanded or given arati, and nothing is offered to an image; the reverence is to the Guru Granth Sahib and the Shabad. Tobacco and alcohol stay far from the diwan, the langar and the nagar kirtan, and caste and rank are left at the door of the pangat, which is the whole point of it.
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
- Bangla Sahib and Sis Ganj in Delhi, and gurdwaras across the Hindi belt, keep the gurpurab as the Punjab does, and many Punjabi Hindu and Sindhi families, who hold Guru Nanak as their own, go to the gurdwara the same morning.
- Punjab (the dates above)
- The Punjab keeps its largest day at the Harmandir Sahib and at Gurdwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi, where Guru Nanak is held to have had his call in the Bein; jathas cross into Pakistan for Nankana Sahib, and the Kartarpur corridor takes pilgrims over the border to Kartarpur Sahib.
- Sindhi
- A great many Sindhi families are Nanakpanthi and keep the Guru Granth Sahib in the darbar beside Jhulelal, with the Akhand Path read for the gurpurab, so this is a Sindhi day and not a borrowed one.
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.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਦੀਆਂ ਲੱਖ ਲੱਖ ਵਧਾਈਆਂGurpurab diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Guru Nanak Gurpurab · Prakash Purab's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
Read more Show less
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.