550th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev | 12 Nov 2019

Why in News

Recently, the Prime Minister of India participated in the special event organised at Dera Baba Nanak to inaugurate the Integrated Check Post (ICP) and the Kartarpur Corridor. He also released commemorative coin celebrating 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Guru Nanak Dev

  • 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.

Source: PIB