1999: *WHY NANAKSHAHI SAMVAT ? A REFORM OVERDUE !
We are familiar with different seasons. We also know, as the Guru tells us,
that seasons arise from the position of the earth on its orbit around the sun.
It is obvious, therefore, that in order to maintain a constant relationship
between particular months and seasons, a calendar should be based on the exact
length of the solar year, which is the time taken by the earth to complete one
revolution around the sun. This has been assessed accurately, and is 365 days,
5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds (365.2422 days). Any deviation from this
will inevitably disturb the relationship between seasons and months.
Nanakshahi Samvat, introduced to commemorate the advent of our great prophet,
Guru Nanak, is linked, like the Bikrami Samvat, with a sidereal year based on
fixed stars, with a length of 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9,5 seconds.
This is longer than the solar year by about 24 minutes and 24,5 seconds. The
result is there for all to see. Vaisakhi which fell on 27th March in 1469 CE
(the year Guru Nanak was born), moved to 29th March in 1699 ( the year the Khalsa
was created), and will fall on 14th April in 1999 when we celebrate the 300th
anniversary of the Khalsa. It has been calculated that in approximately 70 year
Vaisakhi, as well as other sangrands, is delayed by one day, so that after ten
centuries or so, Vaisakhi will go into May. In 13,000 years Vaisakhi will move
into October. In that situation the metaphors used in Gurbani and the seasons
ascribed to specific months will no more be valid or relevant. References will
appear very odd indeed, if katik, chet and sawan fall, respectively, in April,
September, and January, as they will if the calendar is not corrected.
The Julian Calendar followed earlier by Christians was also longer than the
solar year, so that the spring equinox which occurred on 21st March in 502 CE,
advanced to 11th March in 1582 CE. The Christian leadership took a serious view
of this shift, and replaced the Julian Calendar with their present Calendar
(Gregorian Calendar) based on the solar year. Pope Gregory also designated 5th
October as 15th October in 1582, in order to bring the spring equinox back to
the original date, viz., 21st March.
We have noted above the slide in Vaisakhi over the years. There is no reason
why we should stubbornly let this disturbing slide continue, and let the months
in the Nanakshahi Calendar get out of step with the seasons. We have to adopt
the solar calendar and fall in line with the rest of the world.
The matter received serious consideration in the Institute of Sikh Studies in
1995, which led to the historic meeting of Sikh scholars representing a large
number of leading Panthic organisations and universities in Punjab, on the 14th
November. The minutes of this meeting were reported in the Abstracts of Sikh
Studies, January-March 1996, p. 109. It was unanimously resolved in this meeting
that Nanakshahi Samvat should be based on the solar year so as to conform to
the international system. Another major decision taken in this meeting was to
set up a committee of historians and Sikh scholars to determine the actual dates
of gurpurbs and other major events in Sikh history for the revised Calendar.
This Committee in due course examined voluminous data and unanimously came out
with their recommendations on the dates of gurpurbs. These recommendations were
discussed in detail in a general meeting attended by participants representing
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala, Panjab University
Chandigarh, S.G.P.C., Sikh Missionary College (Amritsar, Ludhiana, Ropar), Chief
Khalsa Diwan, managements of gurdwaras in Chandigarh, besides a large number
of historians and Sikh scholars. The recommendations of the Committee were unanimously
adopted, and it was agreed that all gurpurbs be observed on fixed dates based
on the solar year alone in the Nanakshahi Calendar.
The findings of the study groups on the actual gurpurb dates, are particularly
welcome. The dates connected with the lives of the Gurus are sacred and, should
not be shuttled back and forth. The sudis and vadis that cause the avoidable
confusion should be dispensed with in the determination of all gurpurbs in future,
as is already being done in the case of some major events like the creation
of the Khalsa, and martyrdom of sahibzadas and the 40 muktas, etc. The adoption
of fixed dates is indeed a progressive step, and the only way to avoid an embarrassing
situation like the one pointed out by one of our readers (Sardar Ajit Singh
Sahota) in the Abstracts, October-December, 1996, reproduced below :
"About a year ago, a local Board of Education called WSO, and enquired
about important dates in Sikh history, as they were in the process of publishing
a multicultural calendar for their schools. As the education year in Canada
goes from September to August each year, we had to provide dates for two years
in order to fulfil this request. The dates for the current year were readily
available, but the dates for the following year had to be determined.
"We unsuccessfully tried to determine those dates from local sources. Finally,
a phone call to the S.G.P.C. office had to be made. The S.G.P.C. office was
unable to provide this information, and they told us to go to book publishers
of the city, from where they receive their annual information on dates.
"When I made this request to M/S. Singh Brothers in Amritsar, they were
also unable to oblige. The explanation given was that a couple of weeks before
the end of each year they place their order with some Patriwala Bhatra or Pandit.
They pay Rs. 200/- to Rs. 300/- for this service, and double check the information
with some other Patriwala before publishing their annual Jantris and calendars.
The S.G.P.C. uses the same information to publish its calendars.
"I wondered why, in spite of 75 years of glorious history, the S.G.P.C.,
had not put up a sound mechanism for the determination of gurpurbs dates. The
Sikh Nation has produced soldiers, scientists and scholars of unmatched renown.
In the computer age of today why do Patriwalas have to be used to determine
the gurpurb dates ?"
It is gratifying that the initiative taken by the Institute of Sikh Studies,
and the strenous efforts made by scholars and various Panthic organisations,
have fructified. The S.G.P.C. President, Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, while
inaugurating the Sardar Jagjit Singh Memorial Seminar on Gurdwara Legislation,
organised by the Institute of Sikh Studies on the 18th October, 1997, at Chandigarh,
made the historic declaration that the revised Nanakshahi Calendar based on
the solar year and with fixed Gurpurb dates will be adopted with effect from
1999, when we celebrate the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa.
The announcement which was received with a thunderous applause and jaikaras
of Sat Sri Akal from the audience, did not come a day too soon. The anomalies
in the prevailing system are too glaring to be ignored any longer. For example,
in this system, there will be no birthday of Guru Gobind Singh in 1999, the
Tercentenary year of the Khalsa !
The role of Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra in this historic reform is comparable
to that of Pope Gregory in 1582, who replaced the earlier Julian Calendar with
the present CE Calendar. We are also happy to note that Sardar Pal Singh, who
played a very important role in the deliberations, and who is an international
authority on almanacs, has been appointed as Adviser to the S.G.P.C. on the
Nanakshahi Calendar to ensure a smooth switch over. We are hoping that for 1999,
and possibly for 1998, also, the S.G.P.C. and other publishers will adopt the
reform introduced in the Nanakshahi Samvat.
[ * Dr Kharak Singh IOSS, Chandigarh, Punjab ]