Nearly 7 years ago, World Sikh News editor Jagmohan Singh met Pal Singh Purewal while he was in Delhi en route to Edmonton, after a brief trip to Punjab during which neither Akal Takht Sahib authorities nor the SGPC thought it wise to discuss with him the proposed changes to the Nanakshahi Calendar.

Pal Singh Purewal was not apologetic about anything, forthright and clear about every aspect of the calendar. Suave, gentle Gursikh, Pal Singh Purewal was determination personified while talking about the Nanakshahi Calendar.

WSN: Pal Singh Ji, tell us a little about yourself?

Pal Singh: I belong to village Shankar in Jalandar district and I my father and grandfather had inculcated love for Sikhi in me at a very early age. I migrated to the UK in 1965 and worked my way up the ladder to the position of Senior Engineer with Texas Instruments in Bedford. I moved to Canada in 1974 along with my family. Here I changed my profession to computing, and eventually became manager of the Data Processing Department of a local company. Now I am retired. I gave up work at the age of 54 and spent full time on my pet project Jantri 500 Years.

WSN: Tell us about your father and grandfather?

Pal Singh: My grandfather Deva Singh, who was a real Gurmukh, was my greatest inspiration. He was a true Gursikh and he inculcated the spirit of enquiry, the spirit to learn throughout life in me. Similarly my father –Harbans Singh who died a couple of months back at the ripe age of 95, also influenced me a lot and helped me in my journey of Sikhi.

WSN: What prompted you to make the Nanakshahi Calendar?

Pal Singh: If you go back on the calendar that the Sikh nation had been using, you will find that it was the Bikrami calendar for most of the years in history. I thought that it was very necessary that the Sikh nation had its very own calendar. We also knew that the Bikrami calendar was not according to Gurbani, the months according to the Bikrami calendar were slipping in seasons and we wanted to make a calendar in which we could fix the months in seasons for all times to come. It was also known that the lunar part of the Bikrami calendar was such that the Gurpurabs were shifting from year to year and they were going back by 11-10 days next year and the year after and then go forward by 19 days  in the subsequent year, making the predictability of the Gurpurabs very difficult . One had to wait for the Pandit’s Jantris to find out the dates of the Gurpurabs.

WSN: What all did you study for standardization of the Nanakshahi Calendar?

Pal Singh: For this work I had to study on my own, ancient Hindu astronomical works like Surya Siddhanta, Graha Laghava, and Makrand Sarni, and many more books including books on modern astronomy.

WSN: How much time have you spent on this project?

Pal Singh: I have spent years and years on the calendar. Working on this project was my hobby for the past more than 40 years, off and on. Since my retirement, it has become a passion and continues to this day. It took efforts of many many years. Before the Nanakshahi calendar could see the light of the day, a lot preparatory work had to be done.

WSN: What kind of preparatory work had to be done?

Pal Singh: First, we had to settle about the correct dates of the historical events and for this I had to calculate and prepare a 500 year Jantri, beginning with 1469 and continuing for 2000 years, which Jantri had comparative dates of the Bikrami calendar,  the Hijri calendar, the Gregorian and Julian calendar, the Shaka  calendar. Of course at that time, the Nanakshahi calendar was the same as the Bikrami calendar.  This made it easier for us to check the historical dates. This took many years of calculation and preparation. It also involved the study of Hindu Granths like Surya Sidhant, which I mastered as it was necessary for the calculation of 500 year Jantri.

WSN: Was there any other factor which contributed to the making of the calendar?

Pal Singh: The tragic events of 1984 affected every Sikh’s psyche and I was also deeply moved and I redoubled my efforts so that the Sikh nation has its own calendar.

WSN: What do you think is the basis of the present efforts of the Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib and other Jathedars to incorporate certain older aspects into the Nanakshahi calendar?

Pal Singh: I think the whole thing is motivated by political pressures and I want to say that the Nanakshahi calendar should not be bartered for dera votes. The calendar is accurate, it has been tried for seven years, its acceptability is more than 95 percent from Norway to New Zealand, from Hong Kong to India, to Middle-east, Europe, USA and Canada. The Sikh Panth has whole-heartedly accepted it and greeted it with great joy, as the Sikhs have their own calendar.

WSN: What are the problems that are being talked about?

Pal Singh: There are no problems. What they are trying to do is to go back to the Sangrands of the Bikrami calendar, which will end the identity of the Nanakshahi calendar.

WSN: You have often said that the Nanakshahi calendar has Gurbani as its base, can you dwell on this a little more?

Pal Singh: Yes, there are three Banis which give us some direction towards calendar science, Baramaha of Guru Arjan Sahib in Maajh Raag, Baramah of Guru Nanak Sahib in Raag Tukhari and Ruti Slok of Guru Arjan Sahib in Raag Ramkali. These banis mention the months and the seasons of these months.  We have to ensure that the calendar is such that the seasons stay in those months for all times to come, as per Gurbani. Secondly, in the month of Asar in Baramaha Tukhari, there is a line from Guru Nanak Sahib which reads,

The process of “Rath phiran”, the turning of the chariot of the sun is in June when the length of the day is the greatest, and when the sun comes back from its maximum declination and starts on its southward journey –that is called the turning of the sun or the turning of the chariot of the sun –”rath phiran”. The moment the rath turns, and the moment the rath turns in the next year, it is called the tropical year –that is the length of the tropical year and this is an accepted fact all over the world by all astronomers.

WSN: How can this present move to undermine the Nanakshahi calendar be stopped? Those who want to distract Sikhs away from this, say that apart from Sangrands, there is problem of other dates too? As I was also a member of the committee formed by Akal Takht Sahib for the implementation of the Nanakshahi calendar, I believe that you in your initial draft had solved those problems, Can you tell us more?

Pal Singh: Absolutely, there is no problem with dates. All the dates given in the Nanakshahi calendar are accurate and correct. They have not read the introduction to the calendar, which is published by the SGPC in the initial pages of the Nanakshahi calendar every year. In the introduction it is mentioned that we have not accepted the English dates, we have not accepted the tithi-sudi dates, and we have accepted the dates according to the solar calendar. For example, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Sahib according to the English calendar was 30 May 1606 and according to the Bikrami calendar, which is a lunar calendar, it was Jeth Sudi 4. We have not accepted any of these, we have accepted the solar date of that calendar which was 2 Harr, and if you look into the Nanashahi calendar, you will find 2 Harr as the Shaheedi Day of Guru Arjan Sahib Ji. So the date is correct. Similarly, 23 Poh is the date of Parkash of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and we have used that date. 11 Maghar is the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib and we have used that. We did not care whether 11 Maghar comes on 24 November, 2 Harr comes on 6 June or 23 Poh comes on 5 January because we have not used the English dates.

WSN: What is your appeal to the Jathedars and the dera people who want to tamper with the calendar?

Pal Singh: Go with the opinion of the Panth. Awaaz–e-Khalak ko Naqara eh Khuda samjho–Consider the voice of the People as the voice of God.

WSN: What is your message to the next generation in terms of keeping the spirit of Nanakshahi calendar alive?

Pal Singh: I think they should study the Nanakshahi calendar, then have faith in it after studying it and then make sure that they follow it.