Guru Nanak Jayanti 2026 falls on Tuesday, 24 November, on Kartik Purnima — and unlike the tithi-timed vrats around it in the panchang, it is not kept by a puja muhurat at all. It is the Prakash Utsav, the festival of light, marking the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first of the Sikh Gurus, born in 1469. Prakash means the dawning of light and inner awakening, and the day honours the enlightenment his life and teaching brought into the world, not an auspicious hour read off a clock.
Because it is a Gurpurab and not an astrological rite, the day belongs to the gurdwara and the sangat, the congregation. Preparations begin two days earlier with the Akhand Path — an unbroken, forty-eight-hour reading of the entire Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture revered as the living, eternal Guru, timed to be completed on the morning of the Gurpurab. At dawn devotees walk the Prabhat Pheri, a procession through the streets singing shabads, and the day's Nagar Kirtan is led by the Panj Pyare, the five beloved ones, walking ahead of the Guru Granth Sahib. Kirtan, katha and the Langar — the free community meal open to all — carry the celebration through the day.
Guru Nanak Jayanti 2026 at a glance
Gurpurab
Tue, 24 November 2026
Tithi
Kartik Purnima (full moon)
Prakash Utsav
Festival of light · b. 1469
Akhand Path
48-hour scripture reading
Prabhat Pheri
Dawn procession of shabads
Langar
Free community meal for all
The Gurpurab and its observances
The date, and what fills the day
Gurpurab
Tuesday, 24 November 2026
Kartik Purnima — the full-moon day
Observances
Prabhat Pheri, Nagar Kirtan, Langar
From dawn, through the day, at the gurdwara
The date is fixed by tradition to the full-moon day of Kartik, and in 2026 that Purnima falls on Tuesday, 24 November — the same night the lamps of Kartik are already lit, so the Prakash Utsav, the festival of light, sits naturally on it. There is no puja muhurat to catch here as there is for a tithi-timed vrat: the day is measured not in auspicious minutes but in the flow of devotion at the gurdwara. It opens before sunrise with the Prabhat Pheri, builds through the Nagar Kirtan and the kirtan-katha of the morning, and stays open late through the Langar, so that anyone who comes is fed and included.
How the Gurpurab is kept
Akhand Path, Prabhat Pheri, Nagar Kirtan and Langar
Preparations begin two days before the Gurpurab with the Akhand Path — a continuous, unbroken reading of the entire Guru Granth Sahib that runs for about forty-eight hours and is timed to conclude on the morning of the day itself, relays of readers taking over so the recitation never stops. On the Gurpurab, devotees set out at dawn on the Prabhat Pheri, walking the neighbourhood singing shabads as the sky lightens. The great procession of the day is the Nagar Kirtan, led by the Panj Pyare — the five beloved ones — who walk ahead of the Guru Granth Sahib as it is carried in honour, while the sangat sing, sweep the road and offer sweets along the route. Inside the gurdwara the day is filled with kirtan and katha, and everyone shares the Langar — the free community meal cooked and served by volunteers and eaten sitting together as equals on the floor, the practice through which Guru Nanak taught that no one is high or low.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his teaching
Ik Onkar and the three pillars
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, born in 1469, was the first of the Sikh Gurus and the founder of the Sikh path. He travelled widely and taught, above all, Ik Onkar — that there is one God, one divine reality behind all names and forms, present in every being, beyond ritual and beyond the divisions of caste and creed. From that single truth he drew a way of living a householder could follow, summed up in three pillars: Naam Japo, to remember and repeat the divine name; Kirat Karo, to earn an honest living by one's own work; and Vand Chhako, to share what one earns with those in need. The Langar and the seva of the Gurpurab are these teachings made visible — devotion, honest labour and sharing, offered not as ceremony but as a way to live.
See the Kartik Purnima panchang for your city
Guru Nanak Jayanti is kept by devotion, not a muhurat — but for the Kartik Purnima tithi, sunrise, moonrise and choghadiya in your own city on 24 November, open the live panchang.
Guru Nanak Jayanti 2026 — your questions
The date, the observances and the teaching