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The Nanakshahi calendar is a solar calendar that was adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee to determine the dates for important Sikh events. It was designed by Pal Singh Purewal to replace the Hindu calendar and has been in use since 1998. The epoch of this calendar is the birth of the first Sikh Guru, Nanak Dev in 1469.
Background of Nanakshahi calendar states that it has been a recent invention, devised through years of research and thorough study of Sikhism. But before that Sikhism has used the traditional Vikrami calendar, normally shanavy by Sikhs and Hindus in Northern India, to set the date of its festivals. The 1st of Chet on March 14, 1998 marked the beginning of Nanakshahi calendar year.
Significance of Nanakshahi calendar lies in the fact that the new standardized Sikh calendar will help Sikhs in making arrangements for celebrating or commemorating upcoming events that relating to Sikh history which would lead to a better organization as well as more united approach to the community events. The months in Nanakshahi calendar begins with Chet on March 14 of every year and ends with phagan on February 12.Various religious observances like the ‘Khalsa Vaisakhi’ and ‘Martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s Elder Sons’ are observed accordingly.
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