Amritsar, Jan 5: The 343rd birth anniversary of the 10th Sikh Guru Sri Guru Govind Singh is being celebrated today with great fervour.

Devotees began thronging at the ''Golden Temple'' here to pray and to listen to Shabad Kirtans.

" We celebrate this day as ''Gurupurab''. A religious procession is taken out on this occasion, devotees sing religious hymns. It is a secular day and people from all walks of life take part in the celebrations," said Surinder Singh, a devotee.

A free community kitchen has also been arranged on the occasion.

"Since yesterday night all of us were excited about the festival and a large number of devotees have been thronging the Gurudwara to seek the blessings of Guru Gobind Singh. Devotees are standing in long queues and they are taking part in community kitchens also," said Jaswinder Singh Jassi, information officer of the Golden Temple.

Guru Govind Singh, a warrior-martyr, a poet and a social reformer, all rolled in one, was born at Patna Sahib in 1666.

He moulded the Sikh religion into its present form with the formation of the Khalsa. All members of the "Khalsa" sect have to possess the five K''s - "Kes" (long hair), "Kangha" (comb), "Kirpan" (dagger), "Kachha" (shorts) and "Kara" (steel bracelet).

The Guru''s birth anniversary commemorates his brave deeds to counter the Mughal might in the early part of 18th and the latter part of the 17th centuries. (ANI)