INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

in the Sikh history: the birth of Guru Nanak in 1469 CE and the creation of Khalsa in
1699 CE. For example, in 2001 the year of the Nanakshahi era was 532 while the
Khalsa era corresponded to year 302.
In more recent years Sikh institutions and communities have adopted a new
version of the Nanakshahi calendar according to which most Sikh festivals are celebrated
on fixed solar dates and not according to the dates of the bright and dark fortnights
in the lunar calendar. In the 1990s both Sikhs in India and the Diaspora
pleaded for a new calendar as the lunar months wander in seasons and would therefore
create a lot of ambiguity in the Sikh ritual life. For instance, the birthday of Guru
Gobind Singh which occurred on day 7 in the bright fortnight in the month of Poh
(sudi 7 Poh) in the year 1723 (1666 CE) according to the lunar Vikrami calendar and on
day 23 (23 Poh) in the solar system of the same calendar would sometimes occur twice
in a year and some years not at all if the lunar dates were to be followed. Monthly
festivals related to specific seasons would be slowly pushed forward in time and thus
disturb the relationship between certain months and seasons which are described in
the Guru Granth Sahib. As proponents of the new system argued, a new calendar
based on a tropical solar year and not the lunar system would resolve many practical
problems regarding exact dates of Sikh holidays and give the community its very
own religious almanac. 647 A number of Sikh communities in the Diaspora adopted the
new Nanakshahi almanac by the end of the 1990s and after due deliberation the
SGPC implemented the calendric system during the Vaisakhi celebrations in 2003. 648
Except for the anniversary day of Guru Nanak, which continues to be celebrated
according to the lunar system on the full moon day in the month Katak, all other Sikh
Gurpurubs are thus fixed to solar dates in the new Nanakshahi calendar. The new year
begins on the first day of the month Chet (corresponding to March 14) in accordance
with the compositions Barah Maha ‒ the Gurus’ descriptions of the twelve months in a
year.
But the new Sikh almanac has not gained support from all Sikh communities in
India. Two of the major pilgrimage centers outside the state of Punjab and beyond the
religious jurisdiction of SGPC ‒ Patna Sahib and Hazoor Sahib ‒ still continue to
celebrate gurpurubs according to the Vikrami calendar. 649 The local community in
Varanasi, which by tradition complies with decrees issued at Patna Sahib, has also
not implemented the new solar system. Thus, when I re-visited India in January 2004,
Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday was commemorated in the Punjab on the fixed date of
January 5, while Sikhs in Varanasi and Bihar observed the festival on January 16 in
consistency with the ancient system. Conscious of the dissention the use of two calendars
may create within the broader Sikh community, a local granthi in Varanasi
emphatically maintained that the new Nanakshahi calendar should not be imple-
647
The Tribune, 2003-03-09.
648
The Tribune, 2003-04-13. Already in 1999 the then president of SGPC, Bibi Jagir Kaur, made an
unsuccessful attempt to put the new Nanakshahi calendar into practice. She was excommunicated
from the Sikh panth for doing this without consensus or directives from the Akal Takht.
649
The Tribune, 2005-01-05.
395
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008