Devotees, martial arts, chants fill Hyderabad streets for Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary

Vibrant celebrations of Guru Nanak's birth anniversary in Afzalgunj with traditional attire, martial arts, and community participation.

About 3 km away from the iconic Charminar, the bylanes of Afzalgunj were lit up and adorned with the hues of yellow, saffron and blue as devotees assembled to celebrate the 555th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism and the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus.

Devotees, including children, dressed up in bright traditional attires could be seen navigating the narrow roads.. Many who are settled in the city have been participating since their childhood, while others, who have just moved in, expressed how they felt at home during the festivities. This was the second major procession to be carried out as part of the week-long celebrations in the twin cities and saw over 2,000 participants from different parts of the country. On November 11 (Monday), a similar procession with over 4,000 devotees was taken out in Secunderabad covering key landmarks including the Clock Tower, Patny Circle and Monda Market among others.

These final processions marked the conclusion of a series of ‘Prabhat Pheris’ (procession organised in the early morning hours) in different localities since November 4. Preparations were in full force around 3.30 p.m. at Afazalgunj’s gurudwara located between the Gowliguda and Maharani Jhansi roads. The smell of piping hot dal-chawal (rice and lentils) and channa (chickpea curry) being served at multiple stalls placed a few metres apart on a one kilometre stretch and the sound from the overhead speakers guided the locals and devotees to the gurudwara.

On one side of the flower-clad palanquin carrying the holy book of the Sikhs, a team of 12 men dressed in deep blue with their weapons, displayed Sikh martial art “Gatka”. Headed by Gur Captain Singh, this team arrived from Amritsar to be a part of the procession.

On the other side, a team of 10 men from Nanded dressed in white dhoti-kurta with saffron turbans, sat with mridangam (a percussion instrument) to recite the words of worship during the procession. Led by Ranjit Singh, the ‘Marathi Kirtan Jatha’ have been attending the procession since 1970s. “Coming here gives us immense joy. We will continue to do this forever,” said Angad Hambardde, 37, a teacher at the Government ITI in Nanded and among the younger teammates.

Over 100 law and order and traffic police officials manned the traffic on the road leading to Moazzamjahi market.

Satvinder Singh Bagga, president of the Afazalgunj Gurudwara said that while there are not many from the Sikh community in Hyderabad, the gusto with which the celebration is carried out remains high.