Observance Guru Tegh Bahadur
Guru Tegh Bahadur Shaheedi Purab
The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, beheaded at Chandni Chowk in Delhi in 1675 for refusing to convert and for standing up for the right of the Kashmiri Pandits to their own faith, which was not his.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Shaheedi 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.
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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
- Tuesday, 24 November 2026
- Wednesday, 24 November 2027
- Friday, 24 November 2028
Where Guru Tegh Bahadur Shaheedi Purab falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 24 Nov
- 2027: 24 Nov, the same day of the year
- 2028: 24 Nov, 1 day later
The dates, year by year
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, beheaded at Chandni Chowk in Delhi in 1675 for refusing to convert and for standing up for the right of the Kashmiri Pandits to their own faith, which was not his. Gurdwara Sis Ganj stands where he was killed and Rakab Ganj where his body was cremated, and both keep the day with a diwan and shabad kirtan. His son Gobind Rai, nine years old, became the tenth Guru.
- Deity
- Guru Tegh Bahadur
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Sikhs call him Hind di Chadar, the shield of India, because he gave his life for the right of people of another faith to keep their own. His companions were killed before his eyes first: Bhai Mati Das was sawn in two, Bhai Sati Das wrapped in cotton and set alight, and Bhai Dayala boiled in a cauldron, and none of them gave way. Bhai Jaita carried the Guru's head through the night to Anandpur, where Gurdwara Sis Ganj of Anandpur now stands, and Lakhi Shah Vanjara took the body to his house and burnt the house over it to cremate it, where Rakab Ganj is now. His fifty-nine shabads and fifty-seven saloks in the Guru Granth Sahib speak of detachment and fearlessness, and the saloks are read near the close of every complete reading.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Shaheedi Purab: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a head covering
- a gutka with the Salok Mahalla Nauvan
- langar rations to give
- a warm shawl for the morning diwan
The steps
0 of 6 done
What is cooked
Karah prashad is given at the close of the diwan and the langar is served as on any day, with hot tea in the Maghar cold; no special dish belongs to a day of remembrance.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at Chennai
Maghar 11 of the fixed Nanakshahi calendar, the twenty-fourth of November; the diwan is held at Sis Ganj and at the local gurdwara through the day.
The main rite. Maghar 11 of the fixed Nanakshahi calendar, the day the calendar prints; sangats that follow the Bikrami moon keep Maghar Sudi Panchami instead. The diwan runs through the day, largest at Sis Ganj in Chandni Chowk.
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 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
No greeting of congratulation is given on a shaheedi day, and there is no celebration with music or fireworks; the day is kept with kirtan and remembrance. Nothing is done in his name as worship of a picture or an image.
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 keeps it largest, at Sis Ganj in Chandni Chowk and at Rakab Ganj near Parliament, with sangats from across the north through the day.
- Punjab (the dates above)
- The Punjab keeps it at every gurdwara, and above all at Anandpur Sahib, where his head was cremated, and at Baba Bakala, where the sangat found him and knew him for the Guru.
- Assam
- Assam keeps it at the gurdwara at Dhubri, which stands where he stayed on his journey east in the 1670s, with sangats from across the Northeast.
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.