Nanakshahi Calendar gets popular vote

[me moorakh mugadh]

CHANDIGARH: The Sikhs have finally adopted the ‘‘Nanakshahi Calendar'' as the Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular observed the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on Monday by organising langar and chhabeels throughout the state.

According to the government calender, the martyrdom day was on June 4 and the state government had declared it a holiday. Because of initial confusion, people who had already made preparations observed it on June 4 but the scale of participation of people clearly indicated that now onwards people would celebrate Sikh festivals including ‘‘Gurpurabs'' according to the Nanakshahi Calendar.

The Nanakshahi Calendar has already been adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Sikh high priests and Singh Sabhas but now it has the social sanction of the Sikh community. Reports reaching here show that the Sikhs around the world have observed martyrdom day on Monday and thus adopted the new calender.

However, the Nanakshahi Calendar is still not widely publicised resulting in confusion. Over 4,000 devotees had gathered on Sunday night at Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh's younger son Fateh Singh but they were told the birth anniversary was on November 22, according to the Nanakshahi Calendar.

This confusion is likely to continue till the festival dates are widely publicised or the government adopt this calendar for declaring public holidays on the Sikh festivals.

‘‘Gradually, every Sikh would follow Nanakshahi Calendar,'' said SGPC secretary Harbeant Singh but its president Kirpal Singh

Badungar was more jubilant over public response and asserted that people have accepted the Akal Takht's decision and rejected the government.

Given the response, the government is likely to fall in line, was the refrain of the people.

[Son of Guru Gobind Singh Ji]

bhai sahib, can u please post the link of news articles when u post them?

[me moorakh mugadh]

gur fathe!!!! haji veerje its times of india ,in cities ,chandigarh i will post it hence forth