BAISAKHI: THE SPRING HARVEST FESTIVAL
Baisakhi (sometimes written Vaisakhi) is primarily a Sikh religious festival held in April each year; Hindus also mark it religiously, although Muslims in Punjab have traditionally celebrated it as a harvest fair. Baisakh, also known as Vaisakh in Punjabi, is the first month of the Punjabi calendar. The Baisakhi is the most respected religious fair of the Sikh community, and it is observed to honour or remember the Khalsa (warrior panth) that was formed by the tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh (Jacobsen, 2008, 192).
Ancient Punjab – Volume 10, 2022 54 The Baisakhi mela was a vibrant trait of cultural landscape of Lahore; partition of the Punjab and modernization of Lahore has swallowed its real flavour. This mela was used to be held on the river Ravi in Lahore. All three communities, mentioned above already,were used to attend with enthusiasm.
All participants were used to take bath in the river Ravi and dance on the beats of drums. However later, when Hindu-Muslim relations were at tightrope due to political affiliation before the partition of India, the Muslims abandoned the Baisakhi mela and until the partition of mass migration of 1947 the Baisakhi mela had been observed by the Sikhs and the Hindus (Nizami, 1962, 766). Another venue of the Baisakhi mela was Gurdwara Chota Nanakiana at Manga in Lahore, now mela on this gurdwara has been elapsed while the gurdwara is in pathetic condition, victim of negligence of concerned quarters (Qaiser, 1998, 76). In modern Lahore, still it is being observed however with no comparison to pre-partition fair. The Government of Pakistan runs special trains for Sikhs to attend the Baisakhi at Lahore (Raza, 2008, 78). The Sikh yatris visit Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, Janam Asthan in Nankana and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur during Baisakhi.
KITE-FLYING THE BASANT MELA
From older time to the present, the Basant has been Lahore’s most joyous event. It had been the most celebrated fair by all populations in Lahore, regardless of faith, throughout history, and even the partition of the Punjab had little effect on it. The Basant is mostly associated with the spring season that is seen in February, when spring arrives after the winter season. The Basant celebration involving kite-flying has two centres in the Indian subcontinent: Lahore and Kasur (Waheed & Nayer, 1988, 6). According to history old Basant mela was held at shrine of Hazrat Madho Lal Hussain (RA) while the Hindus were used to visit the samdhi of Haqeeqat Rai (Latif, 1892/2010, 373) near the shrine of
Madho Lal Hussain. Because Haqeeqat Rai was put to death for blasphemy (Lal, 1884/2012, 211-12) during the reign of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, he is considered a Hindu hero.
However, both historians Latif and Kanniayah Lal did not mention any kite-flying during the Basant festival at the closing of the 19th century. An English explorer and diplomat, Alexander Burnes, give an account of the Basant festival during the reign of Ranjit Singh in 1832. In the first week of February 1832, he took part in the Basant festival. Ranjit Singh invited him as a diplomat, and he was mounted on an elephant. Burnes gives an account of the Basant that there were two parallel rows of Punjab’s troops, in Lahore, having length of two miles, all were dressed in yellow uniform the dress code of the festival, at the end of rows royal tents were pitched where Ranjit Singh heard Grant Sahib and later the king was offered fruits, yellow flowers and gifts (Burnes,1834, 26-28). Burnes also did not mention any kite-flying during the festival, perhaps it was not an important trait of the festival at that time.
The Basant had been held in Lahore till recent past, even it got the international fame and had attracted thousands of international tourists every year. However, by the end Ancient Punjab – Volume 10, 2022 55 of the twentieth century, this vibrant festival had begun to fade from Pakistan’s culturalmosaic. In our boyhood, the Basant meant largely kite-flying over the roofs and parks. Lahore’s sky had been offering a glimpse of a massive colourful canvas, full of kites of different sizes, shapes, and colours. However, in later days’ innovations were added to
Basant; now it was not merely a kite-flying event rather than get-to-gather, treats, musical shows, dance parties, drum-beating and fireworks. One more flavour was added to the Basant was night celebrations and now the kite lovers had extra fun time. For kite-flying at night special white coloured kites (patang and gudday) and flood lights with noisy music had been arranged over the rooftops. It had been phenomenal night event of the history of Lahore; almost sleepless Lahore for one day and one night.Later, at eve of the twenty-first century, the patang-baz and guddi firosh added a dangerous innovation in material of kite-flying.
The string usually was coated with grinded glass and was a little harmful to cut fingers of patang-baz and sometimes other peoples as well. But it was the chemical string that delivered the fair’s true horror. It was extremely sharp and lethal, and it killed many innocent Lahoris. Reading newspaper reports about through-cutting with strings caused alarm. Dr. Syed Ali Raza recalls another reason for the prohibition in his academic research that a lawyer from Lahore challenged the Basant in the Lahore High Court on the grounds of religion. To persuade the court, the lawyer asserted that Basant was a solely Hindu celebration, and he also mentioned the loss of life and electronic goods as a result of the Basant. As a result, the Basant was outlawed in the town in 2005. (Raza, 2008, 93-94).