ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PAÑCHAM&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="PAÑCHAM*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279PAÑCHAM&#298, <i>lit</i>. the fifth day of either phase (<i>vad&#299</i> or <i>sud&#299</i>) of the moon. Pañcham&#299 of the <i>sud&#299</i>, i.e. the brighter, phase is considered an auspicious day in the Hindu tradition, with some ritualistic observances attached to it. In the three Sikh hymns entitled Thit&#299&#7749/ Th&#299t&#299 devoted to the lunar days of the month, the point commonly made in verses on Pañcham&#299 is that the people are too engrossed in the worldy pursuits to take to remembrance of the Divine which alone can bring real joy and bliss. Gur&#363 N&#257nak says that people are mad about the world and the creation made up of the five elements, and fail to understand the Incomprehensible Unattached Being. Gur&#363 Arjan has affirmed that those saints are really great who understand the reality of the five elements and, thus, get rid of the five lusts. Men are exhorted in all the three compositions to observe Pañcham&#299 not by performing any rituals but by living unattached in the material world and by being devoted to the Name. By custom, however, Pañcham&#299, particularly of the bright phase, is observed in some of the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> when special <i>d&#299v&#257ns</i> take place. Devotees forgather from distant places to offer homage and make ablutions in the holy tanks. The Basant Pañcham&#299 (fifth day of the bright phase of the moon in the month of M&#257gh) falling in late January or early February is marked by special celebrations, especially at the historical Gurdw&#257r&#257 at Chhehar&#7789&#257, about three miles from Amritsar, and at Gurdw&#257r&#257 D&#363kh Niv&#257ran S&#257hib, in Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. On that day women generally dressed in yellow garments and men wearing yellow coloured turbans join the festival. In Lahore, a largely attended fair used to be held until the partition of 1947 at the Sam&#257dh&#299 of Haq&#299qat R&#257i, the martyr, who was executed on the Basant Pañcham&#299 day in AD 1734.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>