Bikrami Calendar - A Hindu Calendar

[WaljinderSingh]

Is Bikrami a Hindu Calendar ?

What is actually Bikrami Calendar?

A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. A date is the designation of a single, specific day within such a system. Periods in a calendar (such as years and months) are synchronized with the cycle of the sun or the moon.

Bikrami Calendar starts with installation of King Vikramaditya as Emperor of India 2072 years ago. When he became Emperor, the royal stamp and coins started in his name carried the year of his becoming King. As he is considered a just and pious ruler, the calendar continued even after death of King Vikram and ending of reign of his dynasty from India. It is mostly followed in Northern India. While in Hindi Belt it is called Vikram Samvat, in Punjab ( which includes East Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Kashmir, West Punjab and upto borders of Iran) it is called Bikrami Sammat.

Now, important point to be understood. Bikrami is the name of Calendar started in honour of Vikramaditya, it was an administrative system, but this Calendar itself (Dating system) was prevalent even before King Vikram. It is only his ascension to the thrown of Ujjain which took place 2072 years ago, but the Calendar itself was being used all over this region thousands of years before him for Social, religious and commercial purposes.

What was and is this system which was present before Vikram and is present till today ?

This Calendar, or dating system, is called LUNISOLAR CALENDAR. There are Lunar Calendars and Solar Calendars in use on our Planet. Solar Calendar counts Days and dates as per Earth's revolution around the Sun, while the Lunar Calendar is based on Moon's movement around Earth. Solar Calendar is approx 365 days long while Lunar year is 354-355 days long. This Lunisolar Calendar is based on movements of BOTH the Moon and Sun. While Full Moon Day is End of Month and New Moon Day is beginning of Month in Lunar aspect of Calendar, Movement of Sun in correspondence to Constellations of Our Galaxy determines the beginning and End of Month.

This subject is related to astronomy, geography and mathematics.

Worship of Sun and Moon is different subject and topic, but studying their Movement and carrying out calculations to create Calendar is not worship of Planets and Stars. Afterall, it is not a Brahmin or a Hindu who holds and revolves Earth around Sun, or who revolves Moon around Earth. All the movement of Stars, revolution and rotation of Planets and Moons is happening with Hukam of Akaal Purkh Waheguru.

Calling Bikrami Calendar a ''Hindu Calendar'' is part of divisive propaganda and mischievious lies being spread by these people. They know how to fool gullible Sikhs and emotionally blackmail them. Those who know about India and Hinduism, they know that every region of India has a different aspect of Lunisolar in use. Maharashtra has its own Calendar, South India, Bengal, Assam, Orissa and other regions have their own very different calendars. Some Hindus celebrate New Year on Diwali, some on Makar Sakranti, some on Vaisakhi and some in Chaitra. Calling the Lunisolar Calendar a Hindu Calendar is absurd and foolishness in itself.

Lunisolar calculation system bases itself on movement of Sun, Moon and Earth, which happens in will of Akal Purkh. Any one, a Sikh, a Hindu, a Muslim or Jew or Buddhist can study these movements and positions and use them for their Social and Religious and Political Calendars. Many of you who might not know this. This Lunisolar Calendar was used in ancient times by Greeks, Mayans, Babylonians and Egyptians.

In present times, this Lunisolar calendar is used by -

Jews,

Buddhists,

Hindus,

Muslims (Muslims go a step further and use only LUNAR aspect of this Calendar to determine their festivals)

Christians,

Chinese,

Japanese,

Parsis and many more nations, communities and tribes around the world.

This very system was being used in Ancient Punjabaswell. Our Guru Sahibans also used this prevalent Calendar in their day-to-day lives.

Please read Gurbaani of Baba Farid Ji, a Sufi Muslim Saint, who belonged to Punjab and walked on these lands a thousand years ago-

ਕਤਿਕ ਕੂੰਜਾਂ ਚੇਤਿ ਡਉ ਸਾਵਣਿ ਬਿਜੁਲੀਆਂ ||

ਸੀਆਲੇ ਸੋਹੰਦੀਆਂ ਪਿਰ ਗਲਿ ਬਾਹੜੀਆਂ ||੬||

As the swallows appear in the month of Katik, forest fires in the month of Chayt, and lightning in Saawan,

and as the bride's arms adorn her husband's neck in winter;||6|| (Ang 488)

He used not Islamic Calendar but the prevalent Punjabi Calendar in his Baani. Thousand years have not changed anything. Swallows still come in Kattak to visit open lands which are getting cooler (as winter nears), and clouds and lightning still decorate the Sky in month of Saawan.

To be continued --

- Kamaljeet Singh

Source : FB

[WaljinderSingh]

Part 2

Continued

Did Pal Singh Purewal create the Sikh Calendar ?

In the Calendar, Pal Singh Purewal and his associates have taken the shelter of mendacious assertions and perfidious lies and till date neither Purewal nor his associates, could either confront or controvert or weaken in any manner the following historical facts pointed out by me and other scholars exposing the misleading lies of Mr Purewal:

Before introduction of this distorted Calendar, a Sikh Calendar was/is used, and Nanakshahi Samvat was also used. This fact has been highlighted in 1993, long before the so-called Nanakshahi Calendar was introduced, in the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions(EdJohn Bowker):

The Sikhs religious Calendar is a modified form of the Bikrami Calendar. (p 188). The first perfidy of Mr Purewal was exposed, who claimed that he is the architect of the Sikh Calendar.

Secondly, the tall claim of Mr Purewal that he is the maker of Nanakshahi Calendar, which is original, was also exposed as it is nothing but a carbon copy of the National Calendar of India, introduced in March 1957 by Indian Government as a Civil Calendar, and is based on Saka Calendar, on which the Hindu Religious Calendar is also based. In the Nanakshahi Calendar and the National Calendar of India, five months are of 31 days and seven months are of 30 days. Whereas in Saka Hindu Calendar the month of Chet is of 31 days in during leap year and in Nanakshahi the month of Phagan is of 31 days. Mr Purewal has confirmed this fact in his book Jantri 500 Years,saying The Saka year that starts in Common Era leap year will also be a leap year. The year will always begin on March 21 is a leap year. This way the months of the Saka Era will maintain constant relationship with those of CommonEra. (p iv). In this way, Mr Purewal cleverly introduced the National Calendar of India, based on Saka Calendar (on which the Hindu Religion Calendar is based) as Nanakshahi Calendar. Interested readers may consult The Hindu Religious Year by M.M. Underhill (1921).

On January 31, 2003, RSS Chief Sudarshan loudly proclaimed that they will not allow the implementation of Nanakshahi Calendar, since the Sikhs are already using Hindu Saka Calendar, and not knowing that the Sikhs are using Sikh Calendar, a modified form of Vikarmi Calendar (The Tribune, Chandigarh).

Mr Pal Singh Purewal, who was up till that time had proposed Khalsa Samvat Calendar,immediately switched to Indian National Saka Calendar, and obliged the RSS bosses. The so-called Nanakshahi Calendar was released about two months later on Vaisakhi, April 14, 2003 AD, and RSS was happy, and remained silent. RSS was happy that what they failed to achieve in 50 years, was achieved it with one stroke through Comrade Purewal.

Our present day political outfits, who are not competent to win any election, are easing their tensions by using political jargons and polemics to outwit their opponents, but without much success. They are free to use any language for their political tussle, but my objection is that in this dirty political games of unprincipled politics they are using the Guru, his Bani and his calendar as shield to promote their brand of religion; diluted, distorted and full of individualism and not of ecumenicalism, for which our Scriptures preach.

They follow the commandments of RSS on Dasam Granth, and loudly preach that Dasam Granth is not the Granth of the Khalsa, as Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale said, but call it a Hindu Granth and had the audacity to use the name of Sant Jarnail Singh to promote Khalistan movement, particularly Dr Amarjit Singh of Washington. Let him clear his stand on his loyalty to the exposition of Sant Jarnail Singh with his views whether the Sikhs are interested to follow his Camel' ride to Himalaya or Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Dasam Granth? Here, I am reminded of words of wisdom by Jeannette Bastian, which reads: "A community without its records is a community under siege, defending itself, its identity and its version of history, without a firm foundation on which it stand." This is the dilemma of RSS as well as the half-baked Gianis, active only on Newspapers, Electronic Media and You Tube.

Complied from articles by Prof. Anurag Singh

To be continued --

- Kamaljeet Singh

Source : FB

[Supreet123]

Lots of great information... I still don’t know what to follow. I just want to follow the calendar system our Guru used. Do the dates change of birthdays in that system?