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Vaisakhi, also pronounced Baisakhi as well as Basoa (among Dogras), marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a celebration of spring harvest primarily in Northern India. Further, other Indian cultures and diaspora celebrate this festival too. Whilst it is culturally significant as a festival of harvest, in many parts of India, Vaisakhi is also the date for the Indian Solar New Year. According to legend, some 5298 years ago, on this day Raja Shaktikaran Dogra, also known as Raja Shastri, commenced the Shastra Samvat alias Dogra-Pahari Calendar, so this day predates special historical significance with Dogras of Himalayas. For Sikhs, in addition to its significance as the harvest festival, during which Sikhs hold kirtans, visit local Gurdwaras, community fairs, hold nagar kirtan processions, raise the Nishan Sahib flag, and gather to socialize and share festive foods, Vaisakhi observes major events in the history of Sikhism and the Indian subcontinent that happened in the Punjab region. Vaisakhi as a major Sikh festival marks the birth of the Khalsa order by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhism, on 13 April 1699. Later, Ranjit Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Vaisakhi), creating a unified political state, Vaisakhi was also the day when Bengal Army officer Reginald Dyer orders his troops to shoot into a protesting crowd, an event which would come to be known the Jallianwala Bagh massacre; the massacre proved influential to the history of the Indian independence movement. This holiday also is known as Vaisakhi Festival by Hindus and Sikhs and is known by various regional names in other parts of India. For many Hindu communities, the festival is an occasion to ritually bathe in sacred rivers such as Ganges, Jhelum, and Kaveri, visit temples, meet friends, take part in other festivities, and perform a mandatory daan (charity) especially of hand fans, water pitchers and seasonal fruits.

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Related concepts (21)

Sikh Empire

The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the British East India Company in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east as far as Oudh.

Khalsa

Khalsa (ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, ˈkhaːlsaː, to be pure) refers to both a community that considers Sikhism as its faith, as well as a special group of initiated Sikhs. The Khalsa tradition was initiated in 1699 by the Tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh. Its formation was a key event in the history of Sikhism. The founding of Khalsa is celebrated by Sikhs during the festival of Vaisakhi. Guru Gobind Singh started the Khalsa tradition after his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded during the Islamic sharia rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Golden Temple

The Golden Temple (also known as the Harimandir Sahib (abode of God, ɦəɾəmən̪d̪əɾə saːɦ(ɪ)bə), or the Darbār Sahib, 'exalted court', d̪əɾəbaːɾə saːɦ(ɪ)bə or Suvaran Mandir) is a gurdwara located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the preeminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib. The man-made pool on the site of the temple was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577.