A date with a lot of trouble

The controversy began with the introduction of a new calendar which sought to shift all Sikh religious festivals from the lunar to the solar calendar. "The solar calendar is easier to follow for the masses and is more scientific," reasoned themakers of the new calendar and after a series of seminars, the SGPC agreed. However, following a representation by the Sant Samaj (a group of Sikh religious bodies), the then Akal Takht Jathedar, Bhai Ranjit Singh, stopped its implementation. But the controversy had already started. Sikhs had celebrated the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev on different days. The present Jathedar, Giani Puran Singh, summoned a meeting of the five Sikh Head Priests to discuss the issue on December 23, where he also sought the opinion of supporters and critics of the calendar, apart from SGPC President Jagir Kaur.

Following noisy scenes, the Akal Takht decided that a seven-member panel would finalise the calendar, and asked everyone to withhold its implementation until a new draft was finally approved. However the SGPC went ahead with the decision to celebrate the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh on January 5, as prescribed by the Nanakshahi calendar, instead of the traditional date of January 14. The seven-member committee decided tointroduce a new calendar which was presented by the media as a rejection of the Nanakshahi calendar. Then three of the committee members led by the originator of the calendar, Pal Singh Purewal, quit. The Akal Takhat Jathedar rejected their resignations.

It is true that all dates can be fixed for all time if one goes by the solar calendar. The birthday of Guru Gobind Singh would fall on January 5 instead of shifting from one day to another every year, and his martyrdom day would fall on November 24.

By the lunar calendar, his birthday would often fall twice during the same solar year, or not even once. The calendar fixed dates of 33 Gurparabs and this was accepted by the SGPC. An estimated 2 lakh jantris (traditional calendars) were printed for circulation.

For devising this new calendar, which he named Nanakshahi after Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, Purewal decided to draw on history. The calendar was to begin from 1469, Guru Nanak’s birth year.

Other reasons are proffered as well. All communitieshave their calendars, like the Bikrami and the Hijri of the Hindus and Muslims respectively. In the introduction to the calendar, printed by the SGPC, Purewal says that it would fulfil the aspirations of the Sikh community.

He reasons that the Bikrami calendar is not a proper measure of time and the Common Era (CE) is a better measure. The CE is incorrect by only 26 seconds, while the Bikrami is incorrect by 20 minutes annually and requires a correction of one day every 70 years. In 1799, Baisakhi fell on April 10 but in 1899 it fell on April 12, and in 1999, it fell on April 14. By the year 2100, it would shift to April 15. If the Nanakshahi calendar followed the Bikrami year instead of the Common Era, in 1,100 years, Baisakhi would fall in May and 13,000 years later, it would fall in October.

Moreover, an attempt has also been made in this calendar to follow the traditional Bara Mah, the months in the Granth Sahib. This is not the first attempt to shift to a solar calendar. Eminent Sikh historians likeKaram Singh were involved in the process at the beginning of this century.

The Nanakshahi calendar also makes some changes to the traditional Bikrami calendar. For instance, the month does not begin from the day the Sun enters any astronomical sign, or Sangrand. Instead, the calendar begins in the month of Chet, and March 14 is the first day of the Nanakshahi calendar.Critics like Lt Col S.S. Nishan, secretary general of the World Sikh Intellectual Council, dismiss the calendar. "The solar calendar has not been accepted by any religion for the observance of holy days. Instead, the full moon and new moon, which are beyond the interference of man, have been accepted as the determinants of events," he says.

He adds that Pope Gregory, who had reformed the Julian calendar to give us the CE calendar, did not think it proper to shift Good Friday, Easter or other feasts. "Hence, the new solar calendar proposed to be adopted by the SGPC cannot be accepted," he says.

He also rejects the calendar on mathematicalgrounds. "The base year has not been observed properly — instead of 1469, it is 1999." He feels that this is akin to using two different scales for measurement, one for 1469-1999 when the community followed the Bikrami calendar and the other from 1999 onwards, with the solar calendar.

Diwali, which is celebrated by Sikhs, has also become a major point of contention. Sikhs call it andi Chor Divas — the day when Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, secured the release of all those incarcerated in the Gwalior jail. Traditionally, these festivals fall on the same date, but the new calendar will end that. Kashmira Singh, a preacher opposing the calendar, has even stated that this would divide the Sikhs andHindus. Opponents say that Sikhs should continue to celebrate Diwali on the same day as the Hindus, as this is a social norm.

Similarly, the Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla has been delinked from Holi by the Nanakshahi calendar. Col Nishan says that Hola will be separated from Holi by a couple of days,defeating the purpose for which the festival was started by Guru Gobind Singh.

But others among the Sikh intelligentsia support the calendar. The president of the Institute of Sikh Studies, Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, states that the Nanakshahi is a much more scientific calendar. His institute has been actively involved in the introduction of the calendar and had also organised seminars in which representatives of prominent Sikh organisations participated.

Prof Darshan Singh, Chairman of Guru Nanak Sikh Studies, Punjab University, backs the Nanakshahi calendar. "The Sikh diaspora is spread all over the globe and many are often confused about dates," he reasons. Similarly, Sikhs living in remote areas often miss festivals. Now that the controversy has begun, Prof Darshan Singh suggests that the issue be debated by the whole community.