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Sikhs received warmly for ‘Besakhi’
The Sikh festival ‘Besakhi,’ the day when the ‘Khalsa Panth’ was founded by Guru Gobind Singh, is being celebrated by hundreds of Sikh pilgrims, who have come from many parts of the world to take part in the celebrations.
The festival, being held in Hassanabdal with religious fervour and traditional rituals, is an important event for Sikhs and they are warmly welcomed by the town people who show their hospitality by showering love and affection on the visitors. The town is decorated with festive buntings and banners and the road to the shrine is lit up at night.
According to the religious tenets, ‘Besakhi’ can only be celebrated in the city of Hassanabdal, (just beyond Taxila) where the Gurdwara Punja Sahib is located. In 1921, it was decided by the elders of the Sikh religion to celebrate ‘Besakhi’ on the first day of Sanskrit month of ‘Besakh’ in memory of the day of the first ‘Besakh’ in the year 1699 when the 10th Guru of the Sikh religion awarded the ‘Punj Kaaf’ symbol to Guru Goband in the city of Anandpur Sahib (India).
‘Gurdwara’ means ‘a door to Guru’ and refers to Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion. A story about the Gurdwara Panja Sahib, which is told by one of the caretakers of the shrine to those who care to hear it, makes for an interesting insight into the religious rites and why this shrine is so revered by the Sikh community.
The shrine houses a rock with the imprint of a hand believed to have belonged to the revered saint. It is believed that a few thirsty men wanted a drink of water and were told by the saint to go and get it from a spring located on top of a nearby hill. The person in charge refused them three times, so the saint told them to pick up a rock in the barren field below the hill and lo and behold, a spring gushed from beneath the stone and they assuaged their thirst. This made the man on the hill so angry that he hurled a rock at the group of travellers but the saint managed to stop it with his hand, hence the imprint. This rock is placed inside an enclosure from where the spring flows, pilgrims take a drink of the pure water and it also fills a pool in which pilgrims purify themselves.
The shrine is very well looked after and was given a bright new look for the festival. Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Evacuee Trust Property Board have made special arrangements for the boarding and lodging of the pilgrims, known as ‘yatrees’ in local parlance. The pilgrims will leave happy and satisfied with their visit and the welcome they received in Pakistan after the festival concludes.
being celebrated by hundreds of Sikh pilgrims, who have come from many parts of the world to take part in the celebrations. 
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