Real Date of Birth of Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji

Guru Nanak Sahib was born on the full moon day of Katak in 1526 (October 20, 1469). Another date for the birth of Guru Nanak Sahib is also recorded as Baisakh Sudi 3 (15 April 1469). The incorrect date of Baisakh (April) was first written by Miharban, son of Prithi Chand Meena. He was the first Sikh culprit to distort Sikh history. Second, there is a misconception among some Hindus that a baby born in the month of Katak is doomed. It seems that Hindu and Hindu-like writers had preached the birth of Baisakh to the Sikhs out of fear of this superstition, which some naive Sikhs quietly accepted.

Real Date of Birth

Guru Nanak Sahib founded Sikhism, as revealed to him by Akaal Purakh (God). Guru Nanak (20.10.1469-7.9.1539), son of (Mata) Tripta and(Baba) Kalyan Das (son of Baba Shiv Narayan and grandson of Baba Ram Narayan Bedi, was born at village Rai-Bhoi-Di-Talwandi*(now Nanakana Sahib).

Another date (the 15th of April 1469) has also been mentioned by some writers as Guru’s birth date. This mistake occurred due to distortion by Mehrban (who wrote a biography of Guru Nanak suiting his planning to establish himself in the Sikh world). Meharban, who had been functioning under the guidance of the Brahmins, who assert that a child born in the Katak month of Bikrami calendar(October-November of Gregorian calendar or Common Era/ C.E.) is in-auspicious; hence he changed the date of birth of Guru Nanak.

The date 15th of April 1469 has been accepted by those who have followed Janamsakhi Meharban Wali. Well-known writer Karam Singh Historian too accepted the April date. Karam Singh, in his book “Katak Ke Visakh”, rejected the authenticity of the book “Bhai Bale Wali Janamsakhi“, and proved that it (book) was the work of the descendants of Handal (of Jandiala, district Amritsar), who wanted to present Handal as superior to Guru Nanak. Karam Singh Historian totally rejected this ‘Janamsakhi’ and with this, he rejected even the date of the birth of Guru Nanak Sahib. But, Karam Singh made a mistake; he accepted Meharban’s date of birth of Guru Nanak without analyzing it. (Meharban’s Janamsakhi is the basis of the rest of the Janamsakhis, i.e. Bhai Mani Singh Wali Janamsakhi, Puratan Janamakhi, Wilayat Wali Janamsakhi etc).

But, there are numerous references in earlier and most authentic books mentioning the celebration of the birthday of Guru Nanak by the sixth and the ninth Guru Sahib, in the Katak month. Several other works from an earlier period confirm the date of Katak (the 20th of October).

References:

Bhai Gurdas, the 1630s ( Kabit no. 345);
Guru Kian Sakhian, 1790, by Swarup Singh Kaushish;
Sakhi Pothi, 1726 (unknown author),
Kesar Singh Chhiber, 1780, BansavalinamaDasan Patsahina Da;
Gulab Singh Nirmala, 1753, Guru Parnali;
Sant Singh Chhhiber, early 19th Century,
Janamsakhi Baba Nanak; Ram Sukh Rao, c.1820s,
Jassa Singh Binod & Sri Fateh Singh Partap Parbhakar,
Santokh Singh, 1832, Nanak Parkash;
Gulab Singh IInd, 1851, Gurparnali;
Nihal Singh – Gurmukh Singh, 1890, Khursheed Khalsa;
Sondha Kavi, end of 18h century, Guru Bansavali;
Tara Singh Narotam, 1884, Gur Teerath Sangrah,
J.D. Cunningham, 1848, History of the Sikhs and several others.

Janam Sakhi Bhai Bale Wali

There is also a need to talk about ‘Bhai Bale Wali Janam Sakhi‘. It seems that Guru Angad Sahib had written the Twarikh (Janamsakhi) of Guru Nanak Sahib. It is a different matter that due to the state of emergency of wars and atrocities the Sikh community could not take care of that Twarikh (that Janam Sakhi).

The “Janam Sakhi of Bhai Bala” which is found today is full of defects in the original Janam Sakhi which was added by the Handalis (Bidhichandis) of Jandiala town. They preached it as the real Janamsakhi. However, it seems that when Bhai Gurdas wrote ‘Vaaran’ and ‘Kbitt’ for the first time, he still had that Janam Sakhi because without him Bhai Gurdas would not have been able to give such details at that time.

Even if we have to reject the Janmasakhi of Bala altogether or accept the whole of it as the writing of Handalis, it would not be wrong to assume that there must have been some Janamsakhi before Bhai Gurdas on the basis of which Bhai Gurdas in his time described The life of Guru Nanak Sahib in great detail. But keep in mind that Bala was not Guru Nanak’s companion; Guru Sahib was accompanied only by Bhai Mardana Ji; The move to introduce Bala as Guru Sahib’s companion was made by the Handalis so that they could prove the new Janam Sakhi to be real and thus prove their great Handal to be greater than Guru Nanak. It seems that Bala was a resident of Khadur; There is also a mausoleum of this controversial character in Khadur Sahib.

Other Janamsakhis

As far as the other three Janamsakhis are concerned (Kirpal Singh has given four Janamsakhis in ‘Antaka’ in ‘Janamsakhi Parampara’) the Meharbaan Wali Janamsakhi is the largest – it has 112 + 64 pages (of the first and second volume); Mani Singh Wali Janamsakhi has 78 pages and Wilayat Wali Janamsakhi has only 60 pages.

Most of the mythical gossip is in the Meharbaan Wali Janamsakhi, which seems to be the result of a conspiracy of Meharbaan’s dynasty like the Handalis. Similarly, the other two Janamsakhis (whose basis is the Meharbaan Wali Janamsakhi) also cannot be considered sealed. Truth can only be extracted by keeping and examining all the writings.

McAuliffe’s Views

Shortly after the publication of Karam Singh Historian’s book, it was rumored that Guru Nanak Sahib’s birthday was celebrated on Baisakh Sudi Teej, but during the Singh Sabha movement, it was celebrated in Katak. There is no evidence of this at all.

McAuliffe even wrote that until the time of Ranjit Singh (Maharaja) Guru Nanak’s birthday was celebrated in Baisakh. But on the same day Ram Naomi came and instead of celebrating the day of Guru Sahib, the people of Punjab used to get tired after celebrating the fair of Ram Naomi and there was no excitement on Gurpurab. So Ranjit Singh (Maharaja) started celebrating in Katak. This is completely wrong. There are three major mistakes in this point:

1. In any source, there is not a single proof of Guru Nanak’s birthday being celebrated in Baisakh (yes there are many examples of Katak day).
2. First of all, the Hindus of Punjab did not celebrate Ram Naomi Day, but, even if they did, the Sikhs did not celebrate this day (Ram Naomi) or any other Hindu festival at all. So it did not matter to them on what day any other religion celebrated its festival. In this way, the Eid of Muslims would also come in Katak / Baisakh sometimes. Could this have any effect on Sikh ancestry? Absolutely not. [This is Writer’s view, Sikhizm.com do not agree on this point as research at our end suggests Sikhs and Hindus of Punjab celebrated festivals with brotherhood, as there were not many differences between Hindus and Sikhs at that time.]
3. Thirdly, in those days Gurpurab or Hindu festivals were not celebrated at such a level that one’s festival was in conflict with another’s. Nowhere in the record of the daily proceedings of Ranjit Singh’s court (Umdatut Twarikh) is there any hint of this. McAuliffe also writes of the birth of Atal Rai, and of Baba Gurditta, the full moon of Katak. He had even written in one place: His form was very similar to that of Guru Nanak ”(The Sikh Religion, Volume 4, Page 56).

Evidence

The first preaching of Baisakh Sudi III was not by Karam Singh but by Prof. Gurmukh Singh. He was the leading leader of the Singh Sabha movement but was also an English devotee. When the British accepted the leave of Guru Nanak Purab, they took the date of Katak as their date; even if Prof. Gurmukh Singh had a strong impact on the government.

There is a lot of evidence in ancient writings about the celebration of Guru Sahib’s birthday on the full moon day of Katak, for example:

ਗੁਰੂ ਕੀਆਂ ਸਾਖੀਆਂ, 1790 ਦੀ ਲਿਖਤ:

(ਸਾਖੀ 24) :
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਾਂ ਧੰਮਤਾਨ ਨਗਰੀ ਸੇ ਤਿਆਰੀ ਕੀ। ਭਾਈ ਦਗੋ ਨੇ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਕਰ ਕੇ ਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੋ ਕਾਰਤਕ ਕੀ ਪੂਰਨਮਾਸ਼ੀ ਤੀਕ ਇਥੇ ਹੀ ਠਹਿਰਾਇ ਲਿਆ। ਬਚਨ ਹੋਆ ਮਹਾਰਾਜ! ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਜੀ ਕੇ ਅਵਤਾਰ ਧਾਰਨ ਕਾ ਸ਼ੁਭ ਦਿਹਾੜਾ ਆਇ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ, ਯਹਾਂ ਹੀ ਮਨਾਨਾ ਚਾਹੀਏ।

(ਸਾਖੀ 45) :
ਕਾਰਤਕ ਸੁਦੀ ਤ੍ਰੋਸਦੀ ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ ਕੋ ਦਿਹੁੰ ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ ਕੇ ਦਿਹੁੰ ਪਾਂਵਟਾਂ ਯੁਧ ਸੇ ਏਕ ਮਹੀਨਾ ਦਸ ਦਿਵਸ ਬਾਦ ਪਾਂਵਟੇ ਠਹਿਰ ਕੇ ਕਪਾਲ ਮੋਚਨ ਤੀਰਥ ਆਇ ਬਿਰਾਜੇ। ਯਹਾਂ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਾਂ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਪਾਵਨ ਪੁਰਬ ਜਾਨ ਕੇ ਪੂਰਨਮਾ ਕੇ ਦਿਹੁੰ ਮੁਖੀ ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਕੋ ਸਿਰੋਪਾਇ ਦੀਏ।

(ਸਾਖੀ 51) :
ਪਾਤੀ ਮੇਂ ਲਿਖਾ ਥਾ-ਗਰੀਬਨਿਵਾਜ਼! ਤੋਕੀ ਕਾਰਤਕ ਕੀ ਪੂਰਨਮਾਂ ਕਾ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ ਖੁਰਵੱਧੀ ਨਗਰ ਮੇਂ ਆਇ ਕੇ ਮਨਾਈਏ…

(ਸਾਖੀ ਪੋਥੀ, 1745) :
“…ਦੀਵਾਲੀ ਦਾ ਮੇਲਾ ਆਇਆ, ਸੰਗਤਾਂ ਆਈਆਂ। ਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਬਚਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਪੰਦਰਾਂ ਦਿਨ ਇਥੇ ਹੋਰ ਰਹਿਣਾ ਹੈ। ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਪੂਰਣਿਮਾਂ ਕਾ ਪੁਰਬ ਕਰ ਕੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਾਂਗੇ…।”

ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਏਨਾ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋਰ ਬਹੁਤ ਸਾਰੀਆਂ ਪੁਰਾਣੀਆਂ ਲਿਖਤਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਵੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਜਨਮ ਦਿਨ ਕੱਤਕ ਦੀ ਪੂਰਨਮਾਸ਼ੀ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਜ਼ਿਕਰ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਹੈ :

ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ (ਮੌਤ 1638) :

ਕਾਰਤਕ ਮਾਸ ਰੁਤਿ ਸ਼ਰਤ ਪੂਰਨਮਾਸ਼ੀ, ਆਠ ਜਾਮ ਸਾਠ ਘੜੀ ਆਜ ਤੇਰੀ ਬਾਰੀ ਹੈ।
ਅਉਸਰ ਅਭੀਚ ਬਹੁ ਨਾਇਕ ਕੀ ਨਾਇਕਾ ਹੈ, ਰੂਪ ਗੁਣ ਜੋਬਨ ਸ਼ਿੰਗਾਰ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀ ਹੈ।
ਚਾਤਰ ਚਤਰ ਪਾਠ, ਸੇਵਕ ਸਹੇਲੀ ਸਾਠ, ਸੰਪਦਾ ਸਮਗਰੀ ਸੁਖ ਸਜਿਹ ਸੰਚਾਰੀ ਹੈ।
ਸੁੰਦਰ ਮੰਦਰ ਸਦਿਨ ਚਾਰ। ਸ਼ੁਭ ਲਗਨ ਸੰਜੋਗ ਭੋਗ, ਜੀਵਨ ਜਨਮ ਧੰਨ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਪਿਆਰੀ ਹੈ (ਕਬਿਤ 345)

For the analytical study of this issue, read the book Nanakshahi Calendar, 2010, by Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer.

{*Only Meharban has written that Guru Nanak was born at Chahal, at the residence of his maternal grandfather (Naanaa in Punjabi), hence his name Nanak; and Meharban further says that Guru Nanak spent the first seven years of his life at Chahal; all other writers accept that he was born at Talwandi (now Nanakana Sahib).

It is remarkable that several places of Nanakana Sahib are associated with Guru Nanak’s childhood whereas there is not a single such place at Chahal village. It seems that all the wrong traditions about Guru Nanak had been started by Meharban in his Janamsakhi; including his date (Visakh) and place (Chahal) of birth and date of death (22.9.1539 instead of 7.9.1539) etc. Meharban also shows Guru Nanak wearing Janeo; and, several other distortions also go to his credit}.