Ram Nath Kovind pays obeisance at Sultanpur Lodhi on Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2019: President Ram Nath Kovind paid obeisance at the historic Gurdwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi on Tuesday morning on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev.

President Kovind will visit the pandals (stages) put up by the Punjab government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as to Hindustan Times.

 

Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh received the President after paying obeisance at the gurdwara.

Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal also offered prayers at the gurdwara. Akali president Sukhbir Singh Badal and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia welcomed the President.

Capt Amarinder Singh will preside over the function organised by the Punjab government at the Guru Nanak darbar pandal put up by the government to commemorate the event.

The SGPC celebrations started on November 1, while the Punjab government put up its stage on November 5.

More than 30 lakh devotees have already attended the celebrations at Sultanpur Lodhi since the beginning of this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also paid obeisance at Gurdwara Ber Sahib on November 9 before heading for Dera Baba Nanak to inaugurate the Kartarpur Corridor.

Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees queued up for a darshan at Gurdwara Ber Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 14 years of his early life. After Nankana Sahib (now in Pakistan), Sultanpur Lodhi is the most related to the life of the first Sikh Guru.

In 1475, his elder sister, Bebe Nanaki, was married to Jai Ram of Sultanpur Lodhi. In 1483, Guru Nanak was sent to the custody of Jai Ram and five years later, he married Sulakhni and they had two sons in 1494 and 1497.

In 1497, Guru Nanak Dev disappeared in the Holy Bein flowing along Sultanpur Lodhi and reappeared three days later with the teaching of “na koi Hindu, na koi Musalman (no one is Hindu, no one is Muslim)” which led to the birth of Sikhism. Thereafter, the Guru left his job and the city to start with the first Udasi (sacramental journey).