Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti 2028: Date, History & Significance

The day is kept like other Gurpurabs — Akhand Path completed on the morning, Nagar Kirtan, dawn diwan, Ardas, Hukamnama and Langar — with the tenth Guru's bani (Jaap Sahib, the Chaupai, the Zafarnama) sung and expounded, and gatka displays recalling his warrior-saint ideal.

It also brings to mind his sacrifices: his father Guru Tegh Bahadur martyred for the freedom of another faith; his four sons all killed young — the two elder in battle at Chamkaur, the two younger, aged nine and seven, bricked alive at Sirhind for refusing to convert (remembered separately at Shaheedi Sabha, late December). Patna Sahib and Anandpur Sahib hold the largest observances.

Gobind Rai became Guru at nine, when Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded in Delhi for defending the Kashmiri Pandits' right to their faith. On Vaisakhi 1699 at Anandpur he called for five who would give their heads, initiated the Panj Pyare with amrit, and was initiated by them in turn — founding the Khalsa. Before his death at Nanded in 1708, from an assassin's wound, he ended the line of human Gurus and vested the Guruship for all time in the Guru Granth Sahib.

Source: Sikh historical sources and the janamsakhi tradition

Guru Gobind Singh was born 22 December 1666 at Patna; the traditional Gurpurab follows the Bikrami date (Pausha Shukla Saptami), so it sometimes falls twice or not at all in a Gregorian year, which is part of why the Nanakshahi calendar fixed it to a set date in Poh.

• SGPC and Sikh historical scholarship
• Nanakshahi and Bikrami calendar reckonings

1. Gurdwaras hold kirtan, katha on the tenth Guru's life and the Akhand Path's conclusion; the largest gathering is at Takht Sri Patna Sahib, his birthplace.
2. Nagar Kirtans with the Panj Pyare feature gatka, the Sikh martial art, and the recitation of his compositions from the Dasam Granth.
3. Homes and gurdwaras are lit, and the langar serves everyone.

• Punjab, Bihar (Patna Sahib), worldwide. Akhand Path, Nagar Kirtan, diwan and Langar; recitation of the Dasam Granth bani and gatka.
• Anandpur Sahib and Sirhind. The Khalsa's founding place; the Fatehgarh Sahib Shaheedi Jor Mela remembers the younger Sahibzadas in late December.

• Langar — The community meal, served through the day at Patna Sahib and every gurdwara.
• Pinni and karah prasad — Winter sweets shared in the January cold.

Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti falls on Wednesday, 5 January 2028. The birth of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru.

at sunrise

Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti follows the Pausha Shukla Saptami (also kept on the Nanakshahi fixed date, Poh). Most Gurpurabs use the lunar Bikrami calendar, so the Gregorian date shifts each year; the Nanakshahi calendar (2003, revised) assigns several of them fixed solar dates, and both reckonings are in use in different quarters of the Panth.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.