Guru Ram Das Prakash Purab 2027

About Guru Ram Das Prakash Purab

The Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji is the birth anniversary of the fourth Sikh Guru, who founded Amritsar and wrote the Lavan sung at every Sikh wedding. The SGPC keeps it on Kartik Vadi 2, the second lunar day after the Ashwin full moon, which in 2027 falls on Sunday, 17 October 2027. The biggest celebrations are at Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.

Amritsar has a founder, and this is his birthday. On the Prakash Purab of Guru Ram Das, the city that grew around his sarovar lights up for him, and Sikhs everywhere sing the hymns he wrote, including the four Lavan that every Sikh couple walks to at their wedding.

Who was Guru Ram Das?

He was born Jetha, the eldest child of Hari Das and Anup Devi, a Sodhi Khatri family of Chuna Mandi in Lahore, on a date usually given as 24 September 1534. Some accounts say Ram Das was his birth name and Jetha a nickname.

His parents died when he was about seven. His maternal grandmother took him to her village, Basarke, and as a boy he sold boiled chickpeas and wheat in its market to get by. Guru Amar Das, also from Basarke, noticed him there. Jetha followed him to Khadur in 1546 and to Goindwal in 1552, and in 1553 married the Guru's younger daughter, Bibi Bhani.

Sikh tradition tells how Guru Amar Das tested his two sons-in-law by asking each to build a platform, then had it pulled down. Ramo gave up after four tries. Jetha rebuilt it seven times without complaint. In 1574 he was made the fourth Guru and named Ram Das, "servant of God". He died at Goindwal on 1 September 1581, after naming his youngest son, Arjan, as the fifth Guru over the claims of the eldest, Prithi Chand.

Amritsar, the masands and the Lavan

Guru Amar Das began digging a pool in 1573 at a spot then called Guru da Chakk. Guru Ram Das finished it in 1577 with help from Baba Buddha, and the settlement around it became Ramdaspur, later Amritsar. He invited merchants and artisans to settle there. Accounts differ on the land: a gazetteer says Sikhs bought it for 700 rupees from the villagers of Tung; another tradition says Akbar granted it to Bibi Bhani. His son Guru Arjan began the Harmandir Sahib in 1581.

To fund the work and reach distant congregations, Guru Ram Das set up the masands, deputies who led sangats and collected offerings.

His most familiar hymns are the Lavan, four stanzas in Raag Suhi on Ang 773–774 of the Guru Granth Sahib. In the Anand Karaj, each stanza is read and then sung while the couple, joined by a scarf, walk round the Guru Granth Sahib. The Anand Marriage Act of 1909 gave this ceremony legal standing.

Why there are two dates

The SGPC, which runs Harmandir Sahib, keeps the day on Kartik Vadi 2: the second lunar day of the dark fortnight that follows the Ashwin full moon. Because it is lunar, the Gregorian date moves each year, usually within October, and lands about two weeks before Bandi Chhor Divas. In 2026 the second tithi fell entirely between two sunrises, so the SGPC fixed the day on Tuesday 27 October (11 Katak, Nanakshahi 558). The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and the Nihang, Nirmala, Udasi and Damdami Taksal traditions follow the same calendar, which the Akal Takht endorses.

The original Nanakshahi calendar of 2003 set a fixed solar date instead: 25 Assu, which is 9 October. The SGPC moved most gurpurabs back to lunar dates in 2010. The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee still uses the 2003 version and holds the gurpurab on 9 October at Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Chuna Mandi, which Maharaja Ranjit Singh built on the site of the Guru's birthplace. Some groups in India and abroad keep 9 October too. The same split affects other gurpurabs: the 2003 calendar fixes Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti on 5 January, while the SGPC keeps it on a lunar date.

How Amritsar marks the day

The SGPC builds up to the gurpurab for weeks. Its 2026 programme ran like this:

1. About six weeks before
   Evening gurmat samagams

   Kirtan and katha at a different city gurdwara each evening

2. Two days before
   Raag darbar

   Classical kirtan at Gurdwara Manji Sahib

3. The day before
   Nagar kirtan

   A procession from Sri Akal Takht Sahib round the walled city's gates, including Hall Gate and Lahori Gate

4. Gurpurab, dawn
   Prabhat pheris

   Dawn hymn processions from across the city converge on Darbar Sahib

5. Gurpurab, morning
   Jalau

   Historic treasures displayed at Harmandir Sahib and Akal Takht

6. Gurpurab, noon
   Amrit Sanchar

   Initiation into the Khalsa at Sri Akal Takht Sahib

7. Gurpurab, night
   Deepmala

   Lamps across the complex, with fireworks after the evening Rehras prayer

Elsewhere it is a gurpurab like others: often an Akhand Path ending that morning, kirtan of the Guru's own shabads, Ardas and langar. The next gurpurab in the season is Guru Nanak Gurpurab on the Kartik full moon.

What to write

Prakash Purab

Prakash means light or appearance and purab a holy day; the Sikh term for a Guru's birth anniversary.

Vadi

The dark fortnight after a full moon; Kartik Vadi 2 is its second day.

Lavan

The four stanzas of the Sikh wedding; one round is a laav.

Anand Karaj

The Sikh marriage ceremony, held before the Guru Granth Sahib.

Jalau

A ceremonial display of a gurdwara's historic treasures on gurpurabs.

Deepmala

Rows of lamps lit at gurdwaras on a festival night.

Vadhaiyan

Punjabi for congratulations; "lakh lakh vadhaiyan" means countless greetings.

How to wish someone on Guru Ram Das Prakash Purab

A good wish names the day properly, "Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji", and says something true about him: the orphan from Lahore who became Guru, the founder of Amritsar, the author of the Lavan. Keep it devotional and warm rather than party-like. In Punjabi, "Prakash Purab diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan" suits elders and friends alike. Some Sikhs keep the day on 9 October instead, so wish them on the date they observe.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Punjabi.

When is Guru Ram Das Prakash Purab in each year?

Guru Ram Das Prakash Purab is set by the Sikh lunisolar (Bikrami) calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 10 days earlier than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions