Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam have their calendars. Now Sikhs too have their own calendar. But the sad thing is that in Punjab, the cradle of Sikhism, the Punjab Government chose to adopt the old calendar. The Nanakshahi Calendar has many benefits:
· it is a solar calendar
· it is called Nanakshahi after Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism)
· it starts in 1469 CE, the year Guru Nanak was born
· uses most of the mechanics of the Western calendar
· year length is the same as Western calendar (365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 45 seconds)
· contains 5 months of 31 days followed by 7 months of 30 days
· leap year every 4 years in which the last month (Phagun) has an extra day
The Sikhs have been celebrating important days of the Gurus as found in the words of Bhai Gurdas, a 17th century exponent of the Sikhism: "Balhar tina Gursikhan bhav bhagat Gurpurb Karande (I am sacrifice to those Sikhs who celebrate the days of Guru with devotion). Sikhs, therefore, been in constant quest to find the actual dates relating to birth, succession and death of the Gurus. The literature of Gurparnalis is the result of this quest. Bhai Randhir Singh has compiled these Gurparnalis, which were published by the S.G.P.C. He tried to find the correct dates with the help of newly the discovered Bhatt Vahis. But more scientific work was done by Karam Singh who first wrote Katak Ke Vaisakh to find the correct date of Guru Nanak’s birth. Later he wrote Gurpurb Nirnay in which he has discussed and worked out the birth dates, succession dates, and death dates of the Gurus. His findings are mostly considered correct. He has correlated these dates to the common calendar.
Some people allege that following his whims one N.R.I. has converted Guru’s dates to solar reckoning. This is not correct. The late Karam Singh, who has done pioneering work in Sikh history research, wrote in his monograph Gurpurb Nirnay (published by Patiala State in 1912 A.D.) that the dates fixed by lunar calculation are variable each year and cannot be fixed once for all. Moreover, if we celebrate events using lunar calculation we shall be celebrating the day before or after the actual date. We can find the exact date by solar calculation only. Similarly, late Prof. Sahib Singh, the great theologian wrote in 1948: "Having lunar calculation the Sikhs had started believing in tithes, which is against the Sikhs way of life (Gurmat). We should delink Gurus from lunar calendar".
Nanakshahi Calendar is a laudable attempt in preparing the new Sikh almanac, popularly known as Nanakshahi Jantri, by making two fold reforms. The Bikarmi dates relating to the Gurus have been converted to the common calculator Christian calendar prevalent in all other countries. Secondly, uniformity in the length of months has been brought. Though Amavas and Puranmashis have been shown in the Nanakshahi Jantri, the Gurpurb dates have been linked with the solar calculation, and delinked from lunar calculation.
It may be noted here that calendar reform is not in violation of any religious principles. The Christians have twice reformed their calendar once on 5th October 1582 and for the second time on 2nd September 1752. Pope Gregory reformed the calendar. It is unfortunate that the Sikhs, who have been spearheading reform in every field, are now bogged down with needless controversy over the calendar reforms which have been overdue for long.
The creator of the calendar Pal Singh Purewal says, “All communities and faiths have their own calendar as a mark of their distinct cultural identity. Just as the Islamic world has the Hijri calendar and Hindus have Vikrami calendar, the Sikhs will have a Nanakshahi calendar along with the common era (CE) calendar which is in use throughout the world.”
In fact after the Nanakshahi calendar was adopted by the Sikhs, Capt. Amrinder Singh did his best to undermine it because he is at loggerheads with SGPC and the Akalis. But all his efforts have come to naught as Sikhs all over the world have started following the Nanakshahi Calendar. This was evident from the Baisakhi celebrations this year.
What is interesting is that two political parties that disagree on everything have found common ground on the Nanakshahi calendar. RSS and Congress both are doing their best to undermine the Nanakshahi calendar. RSS’s chief, Sudarshan has commented that Nanakshahi calendar will not be accepted.
Sikhs do not question the calendar RSS follows and neither do they object to Amrinder’s choice of a Christian calendar. However, neither have the right to interfere in Sikh affairs. For all purposes, both have no locus- standi in Sikhism as RSS is a Hindu organization and Amrinder is not a Sikh religious leader; he heads the Congress party in Punjab. As for Sudarshan’s claim he needs to step out of his citadel and visit any Gurudwara and see for himself!
II
Kanishka
I recall that the day after the judgment in the Kanishka case an Indian news channel got the Canadian prosecutor on line and the anchor questioned him saying that there was a perception in India that the prosecutor had been lax in this case. The prosecutor responded by saying that in Canadian investigation and judicial system evidence is not manufactured.
The problem today is that the Government of India and the Indian media are used to the Indian way of investigation and prosecution. In our system there are numerous examples where the rich and the powerful have gotten away with murder and innocent people have been implicated and punished. In India, justice is delayed and denied, and this is an everyday affair!
Shouldn’t the Indian government introspect before pointing fingers at Canada? The Nanawati Commission Report on the 1984 riots has not been made public by the Government of India because it implicates the Congress party and its leaders. How can a Government that stalls judicial process point fingers at a country that in many ways is the epitome of freedom and justice?
The Indian Government is worried about the death of 329 passengers, and they should be. What about the thousands who were murdered by Punjab police in the recent past, and the thousands who were killed in the 1984 genocide? Mass graves have been found in Punjab and the government is not at all worried about the hundreds who were buried in these graves! Is there no value for a Sikh life in India or are Sikhs lesser Indians and the 329 lives more valuable?
Today, Congress and the media go hammer and tongs after Modi. What about Congress itself and its leaders like Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and Bhagat who aided and abetted the 1984 riots? What about Rajiv Gandhi who justified the riots saying that when a big tree falls the earth is bound to shake?
NHRC, which to a great extent is maneuvered by NGOs, has been vociferous in the Gujarat riot cases. Modi was denied visa to visit USA on the plea made by NHRC. Will the NHRC make a similar plea against Tytler who will be traveling to USA very soon?
The sad part is that Government of India, which has a Sikh at the helm, is not prepared to make the Nanawati Report public. But then Manmohan’s supporters absolve him saying that he does not have enough authority. It is up to Manmohan whether he wants to go down in Sikh history as another Giani Zail Singh.
Sikhs are taught to pick up the sword and wage war only as an extreme measure when all other means have failed. Sikhism does not espouser the killing of innocents howsoever extreme may be the provocation. In Islam, a jehadi achives janat (heaven) if he wages war in the name of Islam and dies doing so. For a Sikh janat is sacrificing oneself for Sikhism.
There are stray incidents that emit the wrong impression. Recently Manjit Singh Calcutta honored one of Bagri’s relatives with a Siropa (robe of honor). This is wrong and should be deplored. After the 1984 riots Rajiv Gandhi was honored by many Hindu organizations.
As Manmohan’s Government points fingers at Canada someone should show the Hon. Prime Minister and his Government the mirror.
III
Child of 1984
He cried …..and he was scared,
As they lynched his Dad he helplessly stared.
They came and set his Dad alight,
His Mother tried to stop them by putting up a brave fight
They pushed her aside and trampled on her to get to his Dad,
Had this kid been older he would have gone mad.
But his innocence saved him and all he could do at that time was cry,
As he saw his Mom and Dad die.
Now they say a Kangaroo Commission has done what it was set up to do,
Flushed justice down the loo!!!!
Now today those memories make his eyes well up with tears and unashamedly they cry,
All the time looking up and questioning ‘Why???”
He is now no longer a child and he understands and feels the pain,
How can his own (Navjyot Singh Sidhu) look at what happened with such disdain???
Wipe your tears ……your Guru sacrificed his four sons and did not shed a tear,
Like Him accept Waheguru’s Bhaana and get over your sorrow, anger and fear.
Stand up ……live by the motto of earning, sharing and praying,
Sikhs live by this saying.
Best way to remember your parents is become a true Sikh,
Sikh who only in front of Guruji extends his hand for bhik (alms).
Fight adversity and make something of your life,
Even though you’ve always faced strife.
A day will come when this pain inside you will start to ebb and will be replaced by a feeling of solace,
Remember all this can happen…….just hold His Hand and believe in His Grace.
