Nanakshahi calendar
The Nanakshahi calendar, or Sikh calendar, is a tropical solar calendar used in Sikhism. It is based on the "Barah Maha", a composition composed by the Sikh gurus reflecting the changes in nature conveyed in the twelve-month cycle of the year. The year begins with the month of Chet, with 1 Chet corresponding to 14 March. The reference epoch of the Nanakshahi calendar is the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, corresponding to the year 1469 CE. The Nanakshahi calendar allows for all important dates to occur on the same day as the Gregorian calendar indicates.
In modern-times, Sikhs also use the Gregorian calendar and historically, the Bikrami and Hijri calendars were influential. For centuries, Sikhs used the Bikrami calendar predominantly but the proposal of an independent Sikh calendar first arose in the 1960s by Pal Singh Purewal to help demarcate the religion from Hinduism. By the 1990s, the sidereal-year calendar Purewal created was adopted by Sikh institutions in Punjab, with slight changes by a committee to correct the differences it had with the tropical-year Gregorian calendar. Since 1999, the calendar is used to determine the dates of important Sikh events, holidays, celebrations, and festivals, aside from three, namely Guru Nanak Gurpurab, Vaisakhi, and Bandi Chhor Divas, which are still determined based upon the traditional Bikrami calendar. Other sources also state that the date of observing Hola Mohalla is also based upon the Bikrami calendar still. The Punjabi cultural festivals of Basant and Lohri are also still determined through the Bikrami rather than the Nanakshahi calendar. The celebration of those specific events based upon the Bikrami calendar was done to continue the joint-celebration of these holidays as part of a common cultural tradition shared by both Sikhs and Hindus. The dates of celebrations of all gurpurabs aside from Guru Nanak's are now fixed, with for example Guru Gobind Singh's always being celebrated on January 5. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee officially approved the Nanakshahi calendar in January 2003. However, the adoption of the calendar has been controversial and its acceptance in the wider Sikh community is an ongoing process.
Etymology
The Nanakshahi Calendar is named after the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak. The names of the months of the calendar are the Punjabi forms of general Indic month names.History
The predominant calendar systems in Northern India at the time of the emergence of Sikhism were the Bikrami and Hijri calendars. The Bikrami calendar was used predominantly by Hindus while the Hijri calendar was used by Muslims. Later, the Fasli calendar was introduced during the reign of Akbar in 1573 CE for revenue records, as it was better suited to the harvest seasons. Meanwhile, there is also the Saka calendar. The arrival of the British introduced the Christian calendar, with its use amongst Sikhs increasing due to colonization. Due to a reform of the Gregorian calendar regarding leap-years, it no longer corresponded well with the Indic calendars, with the gap being eleven days by the time the British adopted the Gregorian calendar in September 1752. Therefore, the British decided that the next Wednesday, on 2 September 1752, would become a Thursday, 14 September 1752. Therefore, this change also impacted when comparing Indic and Gregorian dates with one another, with there being a difference in the length of the solar-year. This leads to greater differences between the correspondance of dates between the Gregorian and Indic calendars over-time.Historical Sikh chroniclers tended to use the lunar-Bikrami calendar to record dates, thus important dates recorded in Sikh history, such as the births, guruship term, and death of the Sikh gurus, were originally recorded as a lunar-Bikrami date. However, the solar-Bikrami calendar was also used by historical Sikhs, such as for marking the celebrations of Baisakhi, Lohri, and Maghi, and also to commemorate the anniversaries of the Battle of Chamkaur and Battle of Muktsar. The martyrdom dates of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh are also traced using the solar-Bikrami calendar. Furthermore, Sikhs traditionally celebrated the first day of every month as per the solar-Bikrami calendar as sangrand. The Islamic Hijri calendar was also historically used in-relation to Sikhs, especially by Muslim writers when recording events related to Sikhs but also by non-Muslim writers occasionally. The Sikhs historically used the Fasli calendar in documents such as revenue grants. The Haijri calendar is a completely lunar system, thus is based entirely on the phases of the Moon. There are two calendars which are exclusively Sikh in-origin: the Nanakshahi and Khalsa calendars. However, according to Louis E. Fenech, the usage of the Nanakshahi calendar was not common until the later 20th century.
Sikhs have traditionally recognised two eras and luni-solar calendars: the Nanakshahi and Khalsa. Traditionally, both these calendars closely followed the Bikrami calendar with the Nanakshahi year beginning on Kattak Pooranmashi and the Khalsa year commencing with Vaisakhi. The methods for calculating the beginning of the Khalsa era were based on the Bikrami calendar. The year length was also the same as the Bikrami solar year. According to Steel,, the calendar has twelve lunar months that are determined by the lunar phase, but thirteen months in leap years which occur every 2–3 years in the Bikrami calendar to sync the lunar calendar with its solar counterpart. Kay abbreviates the Khalsa Era as KE.
References to the Nanakshahi Era have been made in historic documents. Banda Singh Bahadur adopted the Nanakshahi calendar in 1710 CE after his victory in Sirhind according to which the year 1710 CE became Nanakshahi 241. However, Singh states the date of the victory as 14 May 1710 CE. According to Dilgeer, Banda "continued adopting the months and the days of the months according to the Bikrami calendar". Banda Singh Bahadur also minted new coins also called Nanakshahi. Herrli states that "Banda is supposed to have dated his coins according to his new calendar. Although Banda may have proclaimed this era, it cannot be traced in contemporary documents and does not seem to have been actually used for dating". According to The Panjab Past and Present, it is Gian Singh who "is the first to use Nanak Shahi Samvats along with those of Bikrami Samvats" in the Twarikh Guru Khalsa. According to Singha, Gian Singh was a Punjabi author born in 1822. Gian Singh wrote the Twarikh Guru Khalsa in 1891.
The revised Nanakshahi calendar was designed by Pal Singh Purewal to replace the Bikrami calendar. The epoch of this calendar is the birth of the first Sikh Guru, Nanak Dev in 1469 and the Nanakshahi year commences on 1 Chet. New Year's Day falls annually on what is 14 March in the Gregorian Western calendar. The start of each month is fixed. According to Kapel, the solar accuracy of the Nanakshahi calendar is linked to the Gregorian civil calendar. This is because the Nanaskhahi calendar uses the tropical year instead of using the sidereal year which is used in the Bikrami calendar or the old Nanakshahi and Khalsa calendars.
The amended Nanakshahi calendar was adopted in 1998 and released in 1999 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee to determine the dates for important Sikh events. Due to controversy surrounding the amended calendar, it was shortly retracted. The calendar was re-released in 2003 by the SGPC with three dates: Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Birth, Holla Mohalla, and Bandi Chhor Divas kept movable as per the old Bikrami system as a compromise. The calendar was implemented during the SGPC presidency of Sikh scholar Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar at Takhat Sri Damdama Sahib in the presence of Sikh leadership. The Mool Nanakshahi Calendar recognizes the adoption event, of 1999 CE, in the Sikh history when SGPC released the first calendar with permanently fixed dates in the Tropical Calendar. Therefore, the calculations of this calendar do not regress back from 1999 CE into the Bikrami era, and accurately fixes for all time in the future.
The dates of Sikh celebrations are now calculated by the Nanakshahi calendar, however the observances of Guru Nanak Gurpurab, Vaisakhi, and Bandi Chhor Divas continue to be calculated according to the traditional Bikrami calendar.