HASAN ABDAL
Panja Sahib readies for its first televised Vaisakhi
Local authorities confirm broadcast access for the April diwan — a first in the shrine's two-century history.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT AT HASAN ABDAL
For two hundred years, the Vaisakhi diwan at Gurdwara Panja Sahib has been witnessed only by those who could make the journey to Hasan Abdal. Next April, for the first time in the shrine's history, it will be witnessed by the world.
Authorities responsible for the shrine have confirmed broadcast access for the full Vaisakhi programme — the amrit vela diwan, the kirtan darbar, and the sangat's beloved tradition of gathering at the sacred boulder that bears the panja, the handprint of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
The gurdwara, raised by Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa in the 1830s, draws pilgrims from more than fourteen countries each Vaisakhi. Yet for every pilgrim who reaches Hasan Abdal, thousands more apply for visas that never come. It is for them, above all, that these cameras will stand.
Preparations are deliberately unobtrusive: fixed camera positions agreed with the shrine's caretakers, cabling laid along existing channels, and a strict maryada brief for every member of the crew. The diwan will proceed exactly as it has for two centuries; the only difference is who will be able to see it.
The April broadcast will be free to air on every platform. In the words of one elderly sevadar who has served at Panja Sahib for forty years: "The Guru's langar was never rationed. Why should his darshan be?"
— AS·TV NEWS DESK