The date moves every year
It follows Kartik Purnima, so it lands in November but not on the same day. Recent years have run from the first week to the last. Order when the date is announced rather than in the week itself.
Svastika's
Guru Nanak Jayanti
Ek Onkar, the Khanda and a folding Harmandir Sahib keepsake, given at Guru Nanak Jayanti, a new home or a new car.
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Before you bring one home
Choosing a Gurpurab gift
A gift to a person, not an offering
Sikhi keeps no idols and nothing is placed before an image. So a Gurpurab gift is judged the way a birthday gift is, by whether the person wants it, rather than by whether it is correct for a rite.
Three pieces, three occasions
Ek Onkar where there is a new car. The folding Golden Temple for a house move, an elder or a colleague, since it asks nothing of the room. The Khanda where identity fits better than devotion.
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A short guide
What the day is, and when it falls
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Guru Nanak Jayanti marks the birth of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first of the ten Gurus and the founder of Sikhi. Most Sikhs call it Gurpurab, or Guru Nanak's Prakash Purab, the festival of his light. Guru Nanak Jayanti is the name it goes by across most of India and it is what nearly everyone types into a search box. Both are used, and neither is wrong.
It follows Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, so the date moves with the lunar calendar rather than sitting on a fixed day. In practice it lands in November almost every year, and within the last few years alone it has swung from the first week of the month to the last, which is why so many people look the date up each autumn rather than remembering it. It is a gazetted public holiday across India.
How the day is kept
An Akhand Path, the unbroken reading of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end, is started about two days ahead and finishes on the morning itself. A Nagar Kirtan goes through the streets the day before, led by the Panj Pyare with the Guru Granth Sahib carried on a decorated float and shabads sung along the route. Prabhat Pheris, early morning processions, run in the days leading up. On the day the Gurdwara begins at Amrit Vela, around three in the morning, with Asa di Var, and langar runs through it: the free meal served to anyone who comes, everyone seated together on the floor, which is Guru Nanak's argument about equality turned into a habit rather than a sermon.
Almost none of that involves an object, and that is worth knowing while you are choosing, because it sets what a gift is for here. Nothing is placed before an image and nothing is offered. A gift at Gurpurab is a gift to a person, the way a gift at anyone's birthday is, and it is judged by whether they want it rather than by whether it is correct for a rite.
Why nothing here is an idol
Sikhi keeps no idols. The Guru Granth Sahib is the living Guru, and the faith is explicit that God is not depicted and not housed in a form. So the three things we make for this occasion are emblems and a picture of a place. Ik Onkar, which opens the Mool Mantar and means one creator. The Khanda, the emblem of the Khalsa. And Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple at Amritsar, as a gold keepsake that folds shut. They are kept as reminders and as a statement of who someone is, on a dashboard, a desk or a shelf, and nothing is offered to them. The year round Sikh page explains each of the three properly, including the difference between Ik Onkar and Om, which is the mistake a buyer outside the faith is most likely to make.
We do not make a picture of Guru Nanak
A framed picture of Guru Nanak Dev Ji appears on every Gurpurab gift list you will read, and we do not make one. No photograph of him exists, so every image is an artist's imagining, and the Akal Takht has objected more than once to the Gurus being shown in human form. Many households keep a picture and we are not ruling on that. We are saying it is not ours to make, and a figure of a Guru would be further still.
The same goes for what is given to a Gurdwara rather than to a person. A Rumala Sahib, a saroop or a gutka, a rehal to rest it on: those come from a Sikh religious supplier, and should. If that is what you came for, this is not the page, and saying so is more use to you than a near miss.
What to give, and to whom
The most common Gurpurab gift is eaten within the week. A box of sweets, pinni or kaju katli, or dry fruit, and that is a sensible choice rather than a lazy one, because the day falls in a season of visiting and food gets shared. If you want to give something that stays, the question is which of three it should be.
The dashboard Ek Onkar is the one for a new car in the family, and since it is the standard gift for that in Sikh households it needs no explaining when it is handed over. The Golden Temple keepsake suits a house move, an elder, or anyone who has made the pilgrimage to Amritsar, and it is also the one to give at work, because it folds shut and asks nothing of the room it sits in. The Khanda reads as identity rather than devotion, which makes it the comfortable gift to a younger person, or to a Sikh friend whose practice you would rather not presume about.
If you are not Sikh yourself, all three are entirely normal things to give, and a Sikh emblem from a friend outside the faith is read as attention rather than as trespass. The thing that would land badly is treating the emblem as a deity, so do not pair it with anything meant for puja.
Ordering, and the rest of the year
Because the date moves and lands in November, the fortnight before it is the crowded one for delivery. Order when the date is announced rather than in the week itself, particularly if the gift has to reach Punjab or travel abroad.
Gurpurab is also not one day. The word means a Guru's anniversary, and there are several across the year: Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Prakash Purab in the winter, the Shaheedi days of Guru Arjan Dev Ji in the summer and Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji in November, and beyond those Vaisakhi in April, when the Khalsa was founded, and Bandi Chhor Divas, which falls with Diwali. The same three pieces suit any of them, and they suit a wedding, a griha pravesh and a new car just as well, which is what they are bought for the rest of the year. See griha pravesh and housewarming gifts, the wider car dashboard range, or for a Gurdwara programme, a Nagar Kirtan or an office set, corporate gifts and the bulk order enquiry page. Where numbers are involved, one design in quantity reads better than a mixture.
Everything here is under 3,000 and none of it under 1,000. Each piece is a resin core with a layer of copper over it and gold electroplated on top, which is why it is light and why the detail holds at this size, and why water is the one thing that ends it rather than age: keep it dry, dust it with a soft cloth, and use no metal polish. Every piece is checked at our own warehouse before it goes out, and everything ships in our own packaging, made to be opened rather than merely to survive the journey, which counts on a day when a gift is handed over in a room full of people.
✦ Questions, carefully answered
The small things you wondered about
It follows Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, so it moves with the lunar calendar rather than falling on a fixed date. In practice it lands in November almost every year, and within the last few years it has swung from the first week of the month to the last. It is a gazetted public holiday across India.
Both are used. Most Sikhs say Gurpurab, or Guru Nanak's Prakash Purab, the festival of his light. Guru Nanak Jayanti is the name it goes by across most of India and it is what nearly everyone searches for. Neither is wrong, and you will hear them used interchangeably in the same conversation.
It marks the birth of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first of the ten Gurus and the founder of Sikhi. What is being remembered is not only a birthday but a teaching: one creator, one humanity, and equality practised rather than preached, which is why langar, the meal where everyone eats seated together on the floor, sits at the centre of the day.
An Akhand Path, the unbroken reading of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end, starts about two days ahead and concludes on the morning itself. A Nagar Kirtan processes through the streets the day before, led by the Panj Pyare. Prabhat Pheris, early morning processions, run in the days leading up. On the day the Gurdwara begins at Amrit Vela, around three in the morning, with Asa di Var, and langar runs throughout.
Most Gurpurab gifts are eaten within the week: sweets, pinni or kaju katli, or dry fruit, and that is a sensible choice because the day falls in a season of visiting. If you want something that stays, match the piece to the person. A dashboard Ek Onkar where there is a new car, the folding Golden Temple keepsake for a house move, an elder or a colleague, and the Khanda where identity fits better than devotion.
No, and we do not intend to. No photograph of Guru Nanak exists, so every image is an artist's imagining, and the Akal Takht has objected more than once to the Gurus being shown in human form. Many households keep a framed picture and we are not ruling on that. We are saying it is not ours to make, and a figure of a Guru would be further still.
No. Those are given to a Gurdwara rather than to a person, and they should come from a Sikh religious supplier, along with a rehal to rest a saroop on. If that is what you came for, this is not the right page. What we make is emblems and a keepsake of Harmandir Sahib.
Because Sikhi keeps none. The Guru Granth Sahib is the living Guru, and the faith is explicit that God is not depicted or housed in a form. So these are emblems and a picture of a place: Ik Onkar, the Khanda, and Harmandir Sahib as a keepsake. They are kept as reminders on a dashboard, a desk or a shelf, and nothing is offered to them.
Yes. A Sikh emblem given by a friend outside the faith reads as attention rather than as trespass, and all three of these are normal things to give. The thing that would land badly is treating the emblem as a deity, so do not pair it with anything meant for puja or suggest that it be offered to.
No. Gurpurab means a Guru's anniversary and several fall across the year: Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Prakash Purab in winter, the Shaheedi days of Guru Arjan Dev Ji in summer and Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji in November. Vaisakhi in April marks the founding of the Khalsa, and Bandi Chhor Divas falls with Diwali. The same three pieces suit any of them.
When the date is announced rather than in the week itself. Because the date moves and lands in November, the fortnight before it is the crowded one for delivery, and that matters more if the gift has to reach Punjab or travel abroad.
Everything here is under 3,000 and none of it under 1,000. Each piece is a resin core with a layer of copper over it and gold electroplated on top. Resin cannot be plated directly, so the copper is what the gold keys onto, and it is why these are light and why the detail holds at this size. Water ends them rather than age, so keep them dry and use no metal polish. Every piece is checked at our own warehouse before it goes out, and everything ships in our own packaging.
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