Architect of Nanakshahi Calendar, Canada-based Sikh scholar Purewal passes away

Ottawa: Pal Singh Purewal, who prepared the original Nanakshahi calendar, has passed away. Pal Singh Purewal, a 90-year-old Sikh scholar and former engineer who prepared the original Nanakshahi calendar (which was accepted by a large section of its members as a separate calendar of the Sikh community), passed away in Canada on Thursday afternoon.

The rumor of his death also spread on social media a few days ago. According to his family members, he was under the supervision of doctors but breathed his last in the on Thursday. His demise is a major setback for the supporters of the original Nanakshahi calendar adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. He was a retired engineer, writer, scholar and a teacher.

He moved to the United Kingdom in 1965 and worked as a senior engineer at Texas Instruments. He moved to Canada in 1974. He wrote various research papers establishing the authenticity of the Sikh calendar since the 1960s.

Among his published works, Jantri 500 Saal Ek Almanak (published by the Punjab School Education Board in November 1994) and hijri calendar – he received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for a book.