550th Guru Nanak Jayanti Celebrations Around the World

The first guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev ji is observed on on Karthik Poornima  every year. Union Cabinet to celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Devji throughout the country and across the globe, Ministry of External Affairs is commemorating the Anniversary in a grand and befitting manner.

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UNESCO is partnering in translations of Nanak’s teachings in many International languages for wider dissemination and outreach. As part of the celebrations, Missions will be unveiling the special commemorative stamps issued by Department of Posts and also presenting the same to foreign dignitaries.

Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti is observed to celebrate the birth of Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539), who is first of the 10 Sikh Gurus and the founder of Sikhism. He advocated the ‘Nirguna’ (devotion to and worship of formless divine) form of bhakti. He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims. He organised his followers into a community. He set up rules for congregational worship (Sangat) involving collective recitation. The fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan Dev, compiled Guru Nanak Dev’s hymns along with those of his four successors and other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir in the Adi Granth Sahib. These hymns, called ‘Gurbani’, are composed in many languages. In the late seventeenth century the tenth preceptor, Guru Gobind Singh, included the compositions of the ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and this scripture was called the Guru Granth Sahib.