Guru Nanak was probably born in April, so why celebrate in November?
Most traditional biographies place the birth of Sikhism's founder in the spring month of Baisakh in 1469, and as late as 1815 his birthday was marked in April. Today Sikhs celebrate it at the full moon of Kattak in November. The switch involves rival sects, a harvest calendar and donation boxes.
Nanak was born in the village of Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib, in the Lahore province of the Delhi Sultanate. His father, known as Mehta Kalu, kept crop-revenue accounts for a local landlord, Rai Bullar, a recent convert to Islam, and a Muslim midwife attended his mother. Sikh records say he died on 22 September 1539 aged 70 years, 5 months and 7 days, which counts back to an April birth. The one early biography that puts his birth in Kattak, the Bala Janamsakhi, was produced by a breakaway sect keen to make him look inferior, at a time when Kattak babies were thought weak and unlucky.
Other writers nevertheless adopted Kattak, possibly because it marked his spiritual awakening in 1496. The Victorian scholar Max Macauliffe offered earthier reasons. A Sikh leader disliked seeing his community flock to a Hindu full-moon festival in Amritsar and launched a rival celebration at the Golden Temple. Spring was also crowded with festivals and farm work, whereas by November Diwali was over and peasants had cash from their harvests to give generously.
The boy himself was a quick study. Stories say that at five he outpaced his village teacher and read the first letter of the alphabet, shaped like the numeral one, as a sign of God's unity. He went on to learn the Vedas and Hindu philosophy, then Persian and Arabic at a Muslim school. His father wanted a businessman; Nanak preferred talking with wandering holy men and minding cattle. In 1477, as a young boy, he refused the sacred thread of Hindu initiation, calling it impermanent.
He spent his life travelling across Asia with the message of Ik Onkar, one God present in all creation, and built a community on equality and virtue. His 974 hymns sit in the Guru Granth Sahib, opening with the Japji Sahib. Sikhs believe his spiritual authority passed to each of the nine Gurus after him. His Muslim childhood friend Mardana, a rabab player, belongs to the same story.
Source: Guru Nanak
