Time and place of revelation
According to Max Arthur Macauliffe, this composition was revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib at Kartarpur Sahib. According to Macauliffe, from an environmental point of view, its description matches the seasons of the Guru’s own country, Panjab.

According to Shabdarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, this composition is the last revelation by Guru Nanak Sahib, uttered at Kartarpur Sahib at the time of his merging with One light (departure from the earthly realm). In the Shabdarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the context of the uttering of this Bani is described through a very touching vocabulary. There, it is stated that at the invitation of the Master, Guru Nanak Sahib feels, “like a woman living at her parents’ house, who gets ready to see her husband. First, the pangs of separation arise, and she grieves in the absence of the beloved, and calls out ‘beloved, beloved,’ as she waits for her husband. At the same time, while remembering his sweet qualities, she expresses her yearning for union. When this yearning seems to be getting fulfilled, and hope of union with her husband becomes stronger, then, one by one, glimpses of her home appear before her eyes, and remind her of the grief of separation from the husband. This beautiful and captivating narrative, starting from the anguish of separation and ending in the bliss of union, has the potential of awakening love even in a common person... Although the Guru leaves the earthly realm in Kartarpur Sahib, the scenes that he brings in front of the eyes are that of Nankana Sahib, where he spent his childhood, and while grazing cattle, lying somewhere on a hot afternoon, he heard the ‘crickets singing in the Bar region’ (ṭīḍu lavai manjhi bāre). Half a century later, he is remembering that in the ‘Bar,’ the tree of ‘Van’ must have blossomed, now the tall grass must have grown bristles in his birthplace. In the first four verses, the separation and then the union have been described in a few words, in a simple manner, and then in detail through the twelve months; the last verse is the summary (of the composition), which is a picturization of the union.”

The Puratan Janamsakhis (biographical narratives of Guru Nanak Sahib) also provide evidence that Guru Nanak Sahib’s Barah Maha was revealed at the time of his leaving the earthly realm. When the Guru was about to depart, the congregation started singing the verses of 'Alahanian' (a composition recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib). Then, the Guru, in a state of divine amazement, revealed ‘Barahamaha.’ The author describes: “the sangat started singing the composition of Alahanian, [and] then Baba reached a state of amazement. The revelation came to Baba. Rag Tukhari was played. Baba revealed Barah Maha. Early morning hours dawned at the time of [Baba] leaving the earthly realm; he revealed the composition ‘Tukhari Chant Mahala 1 Barah Maha Ik Oaṅkar, Satigur Prasadi.’ (tab saṅgati lagī sabadu gāvaṇi alāhaṇīā. tab bābā vismād dai ghari āiā. titu mahali hukamu hoiā. rāg tukhārī kītā. bābā boliā bārahmāhā. rāti ammrit velā hoā calāṇai ke vakhati tukhārī chant mahalā 1 bārahmāhā 1[oaṅkār] satigur prasādi. tū suṇi kirat karammā purabi kamāiā. ... nānak ahinisi rāvai prītam hari varu thiru sohāgo.17.1.”)

In a book written by Bhai Harji, the son of Bhai Meharban, this composition is said to have been revealed at the court of IkOankar.

Sirdar Kapur Singh in Guru Nanak’s Life and Thought captures how the Guru presents his Panjab in Barah Maha: “One of his very last revelations is Tukhari Chant. In it, Guru recalls with a rare, chaste passion, in a diction at once sophisticated and simple, the seasonally changing face of the land where he was born, a land which, before it is seen through the eyes of the poet and the prophet Nanak, is a barren dry alluvial plain, studded with stunted monotonous shrubbery. Guru Nanak reveals the hidden beauties of this land changing face in response to the changing seasons of nature, month by month, in the literary tradition and genre of the baramaha, ‘the Twelve Months!’ In the background of these changing moods of nature in the land of his birth and childhood, Guru Nanak speaks of his passionate love of God, the restlessness of the soul, in search of its true nature and its yearning for unison with its original source and ultimate base, the abiding significance of human life and actions on this earth and now this life and human actions may be coordinated to the totality of these forces, as sustain the universe. He speaks of the totality of these forces, as a Person (Purakh), and how the varying moods of nature provide an aid to the endeavors of the individual soul for unison with this Person.” (p. 18)