Nanakshahi calendar
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The Nanakshahi calendar (Gurmukhi: ਨਾਨਕਸ਼ਾਹੀ, romanized: Nānakshāhī), or Sikh calendar, is a tropical solar calendar used in Sikhism. It is based on the "Barah Maha" (Twelve Months), a composition composed by the Sikh gurus reflecting the changes in nature conveyed in the twelve-month cycle of the year. The year begins with the month of Chet, with 1 Chet corresponding to 14 March. The reference epoch of the Nanakshahi calendar is the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, corresponding to the year 1469 CE. The Nanakshahi calendar allows for all important dates to occur on the same day as the Gregorian calendar indicates.
In modern-times, Sikhs also use the Gregorian calendar and historically, the Bikrami and Hijri calendars were influential. For centuries, Sikhs used the Bikrami calendar predominantly but the proposal of an independent Sikh calendar first arose in the 1960s by Pal Singh Purewal to help demarcate the religion from Hinduism. By the 1990s, the sidereal-year calendar Purewal created was adopted by Sikh institutions in Punjab, with slight changes by a committee to correct the differences it had with the tropical-year Gregorian calendar. Since 1999, the calendar is used to determine the dates of important Sikh events, holidays, celebrations, and festivals, aside from three, namely Guru Nanak Gurpurab, Vaisakhi, and Bandi Chhor Divas, which are still determined based upon the traditional Bikrami calendar. Other sources also state that the date of observing Hola Mohalla is also based upon the Bikrami calendar still. The Punjabi cultural festivals of Basant and Lohri are also still determined through the Bikrami rather than the Nanakshahi calendar. The celebration of those specific events based upon the Bikrami calendar was done to continue the joint-celebration of these holidays as part of a common cultural tradition shared by both Sikhs and Hindus. The dates of celebrations of all gurpurabs aside from Guru Nanak's are now fixed, with for example Guru Gobind Singh's always being celebrated on January 5. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee officially approved the Nanakshahi calendar in January 2003. However, the adoption of the calendar has been controversial and its acceptance in the wider Sikh community is an ongoing process.