The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar (, colloquially বাংলা সন, Bāṅlā Sôn or বাংলা সাল, Bāṅlā Sāl, "Bangla Year") is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. In contrast to the traditional Indian Hindu calendar, which begins with the month Chaitra, The Bengali Calendar starts with Baishakh. A revised version of the Bangladeshi calendar is officially used in Bangladesh, while an earlier, traditional version continues to be followed in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam. The Bengali calendar began in 590–600 CE to commemorate the ascension of Shashanka, the first independent king in Bengal's unified polity. Some modifications were done to the original calendar during Mughal emperor Akbar's era, to facilitate the collection of land revenue at the start of bengali harvesting season. The first day of the Bengali year is known as Pohela Boishakh (1st of Boishakh) which is a public holiday in Bangladesh.
The Bengali era is called Bengali Sambat (BS) and has a zero year that starts in 593/594 CE. It is 594 less than the Anno Domini or Common Era year in the Gregorian calendar if it is before Pohela Boishakh, or 593 less if after Pohela Boishakh.
Hindus developed a calendar system in ancient times. Jyotisha, one of the six ancient ,James Lochtefeld (2002), "Jyotisha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, , pages 326–327 was the Vedic era field of tracking and predicting the movements of astronomical bodies in order to keep time. The ancient Indian culture developed a sophisticated time keeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals.
The Hindu Vikrami calendar is named after king Vikramaditya and starts in 57 BCE. In rural Bengali communities of India, the Bengali calendar is credited to "Bikromaditto", like many other parts of India and Nepal. However, unlike these regions where it starts in 57 BCE, the Bengali calendar starts from 593 suggesting that the starting reference year was adjusted at some point.
Various dynasties whose territories extended into Bengal, prior to the early 13th-century, used the Vikrami calendar. For example, Buddhist texts and inscriptions created in the Pala Empire era mention "Vikrama" and the months such as Ashvin, a system found in Sanskrit texts elsewhere in ancient and medieval Indian subcontinent.
Hindu scholars attempted to keep time by observing and calculating the cycles of the Sun (Surya), Moon, and the planets. These calculations about the Sun appear in various Sanskrit astronomical texts in Sanskrit, such as the 5th century Aryabhatiya by Aryabhata, the 6th century Romaka by Latadeva and Panca Siddhantika by Varahamihira, the 7th century Khandakhadyaka by Brahmagupta and the 8th century Sisyadhivrddida by Lalla.
The current Bengali calendar in use by Bengali people in the Indian states such as West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, andJharkhand is based on the Sanskrit text Surya Siddhanta and includes the modifications introduced during the reign of Shashanka, the first independent ruler of Gauda Kingdom. The timeline Shashanka becoming the sovereign ruler of Bengal rising from a territorial ruler matches with the first year of Bangabda. It retains the historic Sanskrit names of the months, with the first month as Baishakh. Their calendar remains tied to the Hindu calendar system and is used to set the various Bengali Hindu festivals.
During the Mughal Empire rule, land taxes were collected from Bengali people according to the Islamic Hijri calendar. This calendar was a lunar calendar, and its new year did not coincide with the solar agricultural cycles. The current Bengali calendar owes its origin in Bengal to the rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar who adopted it to time the tax year to the harvest. The Bangla year was therewith called Bangabda. Akbar asked the royal astronomer Fathullah Shirazi to create a new calendar by combining the lunar Islamic Calendar and solar Hindu calendar already in use, and this was known as Fasholi shan (harvest calendar). According to some historians, this started the Bengali calendar. According to Shamsuzzaman Khan, it could be Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, a Mughal governor, who first used the tradition of Punyaho as "a day for ceremonial land tax collection", and used Akbar's fiscal policy to start the Bangla calendar.
It is unclear whether it was adopted by Hussain Shah or Akbar. The tradition to use the Bengali calendar may have been started by Hussain Shah before Akbar. According to Amartya Sen, Akbar's official calendar "Tarikh-ilahi" with the zero year of 1556 was a blend of pre-existing Hindu and Islamic calendars. It was not used much in India outside of Akbar's Mughal court, and after his death the calendar he launched was abandoned. However, adds Sen, there are traces of the "Tarikh-ilahi" that survive in the Bengali calendar. Regardless of who adopted the Bengali calendar and the new year, states Sen, it helped collect land taxes after the spring harvest based on traditional Bengali calendar, because the Islamic Hijri calendar created administrative difficulties in setting the collection date. The government and newspapers of Bangladesh widely use the term Bangla shal (B.S.). For example, the last paragraph in the preamble of the Constitution of Bangladesh reads "In our Constituent Assembly, this eighteenth day of Kartick, 1379 B.S., corresponding to the fourth day of November, 1972 A.D., do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution."
The zero year in the Bangladeshi calendar era is 593 CE.
Shamsuzzaman Khan wrote, "that it is called Bangla san or saal, which are Arabic and Parsee words respectively, suggests that it was introduced by a Muslim king or sultan." In contrast, according to Sen, its traditional name is Bangabda.Syed Ashraf Ali, Bangabda , National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh In the era of the Akbar, the calendar was called as Tarikh-e-Elahi (তারিখ-ই ইলাহি). In the "Tarikh-e-Elahi" version of the calendar, each day of the month had a separate name, and the months had different names from what they have now. According to Banglapedia, Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan reformed the calendar to use a seven-day week that begins on Sunday, and the names of the months were changed at an unknown time to match the month names of the existing Saka calendar. This calendar is the foundation of the calendar that has been in use by the people of Bangladesh.
According to some scholars, in the calendar originally introduced by Akbar in the year 1584 CE, each day of the month had a different name, but this was cumbersome, and his grandson Shah Jahan changed this to a 7-day week as in the Gregorian calendar, with the week also starting on a Sunday.
In Bangladesh, however, the old Bengali calendar was modified in 1966 by a committee headed by Muhammad Shahidullah, making the first five months 31 days long, the rest 30 days each, with the month of Falgun adjusted to 31 days in every leap year. This was officially adopted by Bangladesh in 1987.
The Bengali New Year's Day is a Public holiday in Bangladesh and Indian state of West Bengal, observed on 14 and 15 April on each region, respectively.
Influence of Islamic Calendar
Calendar structure
Months
বৈশাখ Boishakh 31 31 14 April 30/31 (30.950) গ্রীষ্ম ( Grishshô)
SummerApril–May Mesha জ্যৈষ্ঠ Joishtho 31 31 15 May 31/32 (31.429) May–June Vrshaba আষাঢ় Asharh 31 31 15 June 31/32 (31.638) বর্ষা ( Bôrsha)
Wet season/MonsoonJune–July Mithuna শ্রাবণ Srabon 31 31 16 July 31/32 (31.463) July–August Karkataka ভাদ্র Bhadro 31 31 16 August 31/32 (31.012) শরৎ ( Shôrôd)
AutumnAugust–September Simha আশ্বিন Ashvin 30 31 16 September 30/31 (30.428) September–October Kanya কার্তিক Kartik 30 30 17 October 29/30 (29.879) হেমন্ত ( Hemonto)
Dry seasonOctober–November Tula অগ্রহায়ণ Ogrohayon 30 30 16 November 29/30 (29.475) November–December Vrschika পৌষ Poush 30 30 16 December 29/30 (29.310) শীত ( Sheet)
WinterDecember–January Dhanu মাঘ Magh 30 30 15 January 29/30 (29.457) January–February Makara ফাল্গুন/ ফাগুন Falgun/ Fagun 30 / 31 (leap year) 29 / 30 (leap year) 14 February 29/30 (29.841) বসন্ত ( Bôsôntô)
SpringFebruary–March Kumbha চৈত্র Choitro 30 30 15 March 30/31 (30.377) March–April Meena
Days
রবিবার/ রোববার Rôbibar/ Robbar Surya/Sun Sunday Roibbár Rooibar সোমবার Shombar Som/Moon Monday Shombár Cómbar মঙ্গলবার Mônggôlbar Mangala/Mars Tuesday Mongolbár Mongolbar বুধবার Budhbar Budha/Mercury Wednesday Budbár Buidbar বৃহস্পতিবার Brihôspôtibar Brihaspati/Jupiter Thursday Bishudbár Bicíbbar শুক্রবার Shukrôbar Shukra/Venus Friday Shukkurbár Cúkkurbar শনিবার Shônibar Shani/Saturn Saturday Shonibár Cónibar
Traditional and revised versions
Festivals
Pohela Boishakh
Haal Khata
Boishakhi Mela
Spring festival
Boli Khela
Cattle racing
See also
Bibliography
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