COURTESY HT DEC 29
Confusion as Nanakshahi calendar has different dates
Surjit Singh
surjit.singh@htlive.com
AMRITSAR : The long-standing controversy over the Sikh calendar is all set to loom over ninth Sikh master Guru Teg Bahadur’s 400th birth anniversary celebrations scheduled next year.
While the event is being planned on a large scale by the Punjab government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the Sikh community is divided over the issue of calendar. Whereas a section follows the original Nanakshahi calendar, the others observe the days as per its modified version.
As per the original version, April 18 is the date of the birth anniversary while it varies every year as per the modified version which is basically existing Bikrami calendar. According to it, the anniversary falls on May 1, with a gap of 13 days between the two dates.
Last year, the gap was only of five days.
As the Akal Takht, the SGPC and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) recognise the modified version, the 400th birth anniversary will be celebrated on May 1 in major historic gurdwaras. On the other hand, most of the gurdwara managements abroad, including the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC), will mark the event as the date is as per the original version which they term a symbol of the distinct identity of the Sikh religion.
Over this controversy, the SGPC and DSGMC always pass the ball in the court of the Takht, this highest temporal seat of Sikhism. However, Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh is silent over the issue.
Former Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar Giani Kewal Singh, convener of Panthic Talmel Sangathan, an umbrella body of small Sikh outfits, said, “The SGPC president should come forward to re-implement the original Nanakshahi calendar as she took stand in its support during her previous term.”
A similar controversy erupted during the celebrations of the 351st birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10nth Sikh master, in 2017, when Gurpurb, as per Bikrami or modified Nanakshahi calendar, fell on December 25, coinciding with the sombre occasion of martyrdom anniversaries of his family members.
Thus an appeal was made by the Sikh bodies for extending the date of the birth anniversary celebrations to January 5, the date fixed for Gurpurb in the original version.
The original version was introduced by the SGPC in 2003. However, SGPC rolled it back under pressure from Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Khalsa-led Sant Samaj, which was in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during the gurdwara committee polls, in 2010. Citing amendments, the original version was replaced with the new one which was modified as per the Bikrami calendar, but its nomenclature ‘Nanaksahi calendar’ was not changed.