Sikhs' commemorative Yatra enters UP

Lucknow, Jan 23 (UNI) Large number of devotees today thronged to welcome the Sikhs' holy 'Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra' with religious fervour here.

The Yatra is traversing across the country on the occasion of 300th Gurugaddi divas of the Sikh spiritual book Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Breaking barriers of caste and religion, devotees assembled in Sarojini Nagar area to pay obeisance to the kaleidoscopic Yatra arriving from Kanpur.

The holy procession was presented a rare 'Guard of Honour' by the UP Police.

A strong posse of police were garrisoned along the course for security reasons.

Traffic routes were diverted, as the Yatra accompained by thousands of devouts and other vehicles passed through the busy thoroughfare of the capital city.

Allahabad High Court Justice K S Rakhra and UP Principal Secretary Surjit Kaur Sandhu were also present on the occasion.

''Sri Guru Granth Sahib is a religion of humanity. The Yatra is spreading the teachings of the spiritual book across the country,'' Lucknow Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee President Rajendra Singh Bagga noted.

The Yatra, displaying a hand written Sri Guru Granth Sahib, medieval weapons and other relics used by the Sikh community's 10th Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singhji and other Sikh martyrs in a chariot, is traversing across the country.

The Yatra that would pass through 24 districts in UP, had already crossed Gorakhpur, Basti, Faizabad, Varanasi, Allahabad, Rae Bareli, Kanpur and Unnao.

The holy procession that started from Takht Sri Hazur Zahib, Nanded (Maharashtra) had already covered Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgrah, Orissa and Jharkhand.

The Yatra would proceed for Sitapur district from here tomorrow and conclude on October 2008 in Nanded (Maharashtra).

In 1708, the holy scripture of Sikhs was empowered with the status of Guru by Guru Gobind Singh.

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