Page:The Sikh Religion, its gurus, sacred writings and authors Vol 1.djvu/92

lxxxvi Kartik, there being a considerable difference between these forms of chronology. The partisans of the lunar Kartik, however, prevailed, the lunar month being the earlier form of calculation, and consequently the most acceptable to all persons whose religion is based on any form of Hinduism. Generally the confusion of solar and lunar chronology is the cause of much perplexity and qualms of conscience to the pious.

The last Janamsakhi which we shall notice was written by a Sikh called Sewa Das. Of this we have obtained several copies. One of them in our possession bears the date Sambat 1645 = 1588. It was therefore completed at least sixteen years before the compilation of the Granth Sahib by Guru Arjan, which is admitted to have taken place in 1604. Its language is that of Pothohar, the country between the Jihlam and the Indus, and its written character is unmistakably more ancient than that of any other Gurumukhi book now in existence.

This Janamsakhi appears to have escaped the notice of both Gur Das and Mani Singh. Had Gur Das seen it, he would doubtless have given a fuller account of the life of Guru Nanak; and, had it been known to Mani Singh, he would probably have referred to it or criticized its details. While persecutions of the Sikhs were raging south of Lahore, and the other detailed memoirs of Guru Nanak's life, including those of Bhai Mani Singh, were destroyed, this Janamsakhi was preserved in Pothohar, where Moslem bigotry was not then aggressively exercised.

In this biography there is no mention whatever of Bhai