Historical evidence tell us that Guru Nanak was born in the month of Vasakh (which corresponds to the month April in the Gregorian calendar). But the Sikh world celebrates the birthday in Kathik (October or November). Why is that?
Sikh author Dr Karminder Singh Dhillon takes up the question in this video.
He argues that the birth date was hijacked seven months down the calendar to Kathik di Puranmashi by virtue of a conspiracy. Here are some of the points discussed in the video.
1) Where does the first of Vasakh date come from? Five of the six janam sakhis point to a Vaisakh birth date for Guru Nanak. Only the Bhai Bala janam sakhi points to a Kathik birth. “This cannot be a genuine error. It is purposive, a tale of conspiracy and a saga of hijacking,” says Karminder. He provides three reasons to support his assertion.
2) Seven prominent Sikh and non-Sikh writers have argued Guru Nanak was born in Vasakh. They include historian Karam Singh, Sikh scholar and scholar and encyclopaedist Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha (author of Mahan Kosh), Prof Sahib Singh (author of Sri Guru Granth Darpan or the Punjabi translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib) and M.A. Macauliffe (author of the The Sikh Religion, Vol 1-VI).
FOR MORE STORIES ON GURU NANAK’S BIRTHDAY, CLICK HERE
3) Macauliffe has said that the official corruption of the date of Guru Nanak’s birth happened during the era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. What’s the story here?
4) Historian Karam Singh(1884-1930) wrote the book Katak Kay Vesakh (ਕੱਤਕ ਕਿ ਵਿਸਾਖ). In the thoroughly researched book, he concluded that Guru Nanak’s birth date was in Vasakh. He blames the Bhai Bala janamsakhi for the Kathik fiasco.
“This janam sakhi beats virtually everything that has ever been concocted, fabricated and manufactured against Guru Nanak,” says Karminder. “Prof S.S. Padam has labelled this janam sakhi as the big Bala bluff. The bluff was that Bhai Bala was a companion of Guru Nanak and that he narrated the entire janamsakhi to Guru Angad who had it scribed.”
5) The Kathik date is actually the birthday of Guru Nanak’s son, Sri Chand.
So, if that is the case with the actual date of Guru Nanak’s birth date, why can’t the Sikh world revert to celebrating it in Vasakh (April)? Karminder outlined three obstacles standing in the way, with the first being that the hijackers of Sikhi – the Nirmlas – are still very much in control of the Sikh psyche. Check the video for the other two.
“It is sad, pathetic indeed, that we have got the most basic thing – the birth date of our founder Guru – wrong,” he says.
LINKS TO VIDEOS AND LECTURE NOTES FOR ‘THE HIJACKING OF SIKHI’
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 1 (The Plot): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 2 (Udasis): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 3 (Udasis): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 4 (Nirmlas): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 5 (Nirmlas): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 6 (Nirmlas – Sooraj Parkash): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 7 (Distorting Gurbani: The Nirmalas): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 8 (Dera Sants & Taksali Babas): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 9 (The Hijacked Turn into Hijackers / Stockholm Syndrome): Video | Notes
Hijacking of Sikhi – Part 10 (Dasam Granth: The weapon of mass control): Video | Notes
RELATED STORY:
Hijacking Sikhi (Asia Samachar, 19 Dec 2020)
Sikhi Concepts: Complete links to videos and lecture notes (Asia Samachar, 3 July 2021)
The Hijacking of Sikhi: After releasing book, Dr Karminder starts 12-part video series (Asia Samachar, 18 July 2021)
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Heartiest Congratulations to the Canadian Sikhs in passing a resolution today (28 September 2022) that Guru Nanak’s Birthday be celebrated on the 14th of April 2023, the same date as Vaisakhi. Now the Sikhs in other parts of the world, outside Canada, should have the will and courage to follow suit and celebrate these two auspicious events, in the Sikh calendar, on the same day. Way to go to remedy the Hijacking of the birthdate of our founder Guru. See the Canadian Sikhs resolution here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anzD4TdXEw4
I reckon the author has chosen the word hijacking as the theme of his current book. This is the common thread in all his recent articles. In most of them he also says that the community is lazy and complacent as it does not challenge the narratives that he believes are wrong. To make his case stronger he proposes a conspiracy theory that there has been a very clever concerted effort.by groups to distract the Sikhs away from the teachings of Baba Nanak. This narrative seems to win some followers and to keep it alive there is the need to keep beating the drum. We now have a situation as to how hard or how loud this should be and how relevant or important it is to be taking this approach. Does it have the potential of producing a positive outcome for the community. Do we want to create so many enimies that we have no friends while creating a group of staunch believers who feel everyone out there is out to get us and we need to have a bunker mentality. Are there not more sensible ways to project our ways and raise the well being, confidence and status in society by developing a strong sense of community by practicing the fundamental values that Baba Nanak taught us which include Compassion, Truthfulness, Contentment, Contemplation, sharing our blessing with other so that we can make the world a better place.
The word “Hijacking” is a word that creates deeper wounds and split in the social fabric amongst people from the Indian Continent. Who “hijacked Sikhi”? I have met many among us, even amongst the highly educated society, who talk a “bias language” pointing their fingers towards a race and thus creating animosity and a split in friendship. I wished the author had carefully chosen his title giving deeper thoughts into the consequences.
This goes against the principle of “Nirwair” our Guru’s Mool Mantar.
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