CHANDIGARH, Punjab—On the eve of the beginning of a new lunar year, the apex Sikh body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee today released the amended Nanakshahi calendar for Samat 552 (2020-21) at the Akal Takht Secretariat. The SGPC has dedicated this year’s calendar to the 100th foundation anniversary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee.
This calendar consists of six pages, on which photos of SGPC run Gurdwara Sahibans, Educational Institutions, Gurmat Vidyalyas, Missionary Colleges, Medical and Engineering colleges have been published. Every page contains details of two lunar months.
Interacting with media, SGPC appointed Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh appealed the Sikh community to mark historic Gurpurabs as per this amended Nanakshahi calendar. He added that the upcoming centenaries will be enthusiastically celebrated.
It is pertinent to note here that there has been a widespread controversy over the amendments made by SGPC in the basic Nanakshahi calendar.
The antagonists of these amendments say that the SGPC has converted the basic Nanakshahi calendar into Vikrami calendar i.e. a Hindu calendar.
However, the SGPC says that the basic Nanakshahi calendar, which was designed by Canada based Sikh scholar Pal Singh Purewal and was implemented by SGPC in 2003, was deviating from the original Puranmasi (full moon night) and Massia (no moon night) due to which amendments were made.
A lunar year consists of 12 lunar months, which sums up into 354 days. This is in contrast to the solar year, in which there are 365.24 days.
This is the reason why the dates of Gurpurabs get changed every year because the evidences about the dates of Gurpurabs are available in lunar format, not in solar one.
It’s impossible to fully map the traditional lunar calendar with the prevailing solar calendar.
all I can say is…….do you celebrate your birthday on the same date every year or do you also change the dates of your birthday every year?