The Hindu calendar, also called Panchangam (), is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on sidereal year for solar cycle and adjustment of lunar cycles in every three years, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle and the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start.[ Of the various regional calendars, the most studied and known Hindu calendars are the Shaka era (Based on the Shalivahana, also the Indian national calendar) found in the Deccan Plateau of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the solar cycle is emphasized and this is called the Tamil calendar (though Tamil Calendar uses month names like in Hindu Calendar) and Malayalam calendar and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE.]
The ancient Hindu calendar conceptual design is also found in the Babylonian calendar, the Chinese calendar, and the Hebrew calendar, but different from the Gregorian calendar.[, Quote: "the lunar year consists of 354 days".] and approximately 365 solar days, the Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month, but inserts an extra full month, once every 32–33 months, to ensure that the festivals and crop-related rituals fall in the appropriate season.[
]
The Hindu calendars have been in use in the Indian subcontinent since Vedic times, and remain in use by the all over the world, particularly to set Hindu festival dates. Early Buddhist communities of India adopted the ancient Vedic calendar, later Vikrami calendar and then local Buddhist calendars. Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system.
The Hindu calendar is also important to the practice of Hindu astrology and zodiac system. It is also employed for observing the auspicious days of deities and occasions of fasting, such as Ekadashi.
Origins
The Vedic culture developed a sophisticated time keeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals, and timekeeping as well as the nature of solar and Moon movements are mentioned in Vedic texts. For example, Kaushitaki Brahmana chapter 19.3 mentions the shift in the relative location of the Sun towards north for 6 months, and south for 6 months.
Time keeping was important to Vedic rituals, and Jyotisha was the Vedic era field of tracking and predicting the movements of astronomical bodies in order to keep time, in order to fix the day and time of these rituals.[James Lochtefeld (2002), "Jyotisha" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, , pp. 326–327]
Yukio Ohashi states that this Vedanga field developed from actual astronomical studies in ancient Vedic Period. The texts of Vedic Jyotisha sciences were translated into the Chinese language in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, and the Rigvedic passages on astronomy are found in the works of Zhu Jiangyan and Zhi Qian. According to Subhash Kak, the beginning of the Hindu calendar was much earlier. He cites Greek historians describing Maurya kings referring to a calendar which originated in 6676 BCE known as Saptarsi calendar.
The Vikrami calendar is named after king Vikramaditya and starts in 57 BCE.
Texts
Hindu scholars kept precise time by observing and calculating the cycles of Surya (the Sun), Moon and the planets. These calculations about the Sun appear in various 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 manuscripts of these texts exist in slightly different versions. They present Surya, planet-based calculations and Surya's relative motion to Earth. These vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and revised over their lives.
| >'''Hindu text''' | '''Estimated length of the [[sidereal year]]''' |
| >''[[Surya Siddhanta]]'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 36.56 seconds
|
| >''Paulica Siddhanta'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 36 seconds
|
| >''Paracara Siddhanta'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 31.50 seconds
|
| >''Arya Siddhanta'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 30.84 seconds
|
| >''Laghu Arya Siddhanta'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds
|
| >''Siddhanta Shiromani'' | 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 9 seconds
|
The Hindu texts used the lunar cycle for setting months and days, but the solar cycle to set the complete year. This system is similar to the Jewish and Babylonian ancient calendars, creating the same challenge of accounting for the mismatch between the nearly 354 lunar days in twelve months, versus over 365 solar days in a year.
According to Scott Montgomery, the Siddhanta tradition at the foundation of Hindu calendars predate the Christian era, once had 18 texts of which only 5 have survived into the modern era.
Hindu calendars were refined during the Gupta period astronomy by Āryabhaṭa and Varahamihira in the 5th to 6th century. These, in turn, were based in the Hindu astronomy of Vedanga Jyotisha, which in the preceding centuries had been standardised in a number of (non-extant) works known as Surya Siddhanta. Regional diversification took place in the medieval period. The astronomical foundations were further developed in the medieval period, notably by Bhāskara II (12th century).
Balinese Hindu calendar
Hinduism and Buddhism were the prominent religions of southeast Asia in the 1st millennium CE, prior to the Islamic conquest that started in the 14th century. The Hindus prevailed in Bali, Indonesia, and they have two types of Hindu calendar. One is a 210-day based Pawukon calendar which likely is a pre-Hindu system, and another is similar to lunisolar calendar system found in South India and it is called the Balinese saka calendar which uses Hindu methodology.
Astronomical basis
The Hindu calendar is based on a geocentric model of the Solar System. A large part of this calendar is defined based on the movement of the Sun and the Moon around the Earth (saura māna and cāndra māna respectively). Furthermore, it includes synodic, Sidereal year, and Tropical year elements. Many variants of the Hindu calendar have been created by including and excluding these elements (solar, lunar, lunisolar etc.) and are in use in different parts of India.
| Elements of the Hindu calendar |
|
| saura māna | | rāśi, sauramāsa, varṣa
| uttarāyaṇa, dakṣiṇāyana, devayāna, pitṛyāṇa, ṛtu
|
| cāndra māna
| tithi, pakṣa, candramāsa, varṣa | | |
| nākṣatra māna | | dina, ghaṭikā (aka nāḍī), vighaṭikā (aka vināḍī), prāṇa (aka asu) | |
| sāvana māna | dina | | |
Year: Samvat
Samvat refers to era of the several Hindu calendar systems in Nepal and India, in a similar manner to the Christian era. There are several samvat found in historic Buddhist, Hindu and Jain texts and epigraphy, of which three are most significant: Vikrama era, Old Shaka era and Shaka era of 78 CE.
-
Vikram Samvat (Bikram Sambat): A northern Indian almanac which started in 57 BCE, and is also called the Vikrama Era. It is related to the Bikrami calendar, and is apocryphally linked to Vikramaditya. The year starts from the month of Baishakh / Vaisakha. This system is common in epigraphic evidence from northern, western, central and eastern Indian subcontinent, particularly after the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE.
-
Shaka Samvat: There are two Shaka era systems in scholarly use, one is called Old Shaka Era, whose epoch is uncertain, probably sometime in the 1st millennium BCE because ancient Buddhist, Jain and Hindu inscriptions and texts use it. However, the starting point of Old Shaka Era is a subject of dispute among scholars. The second system is called Saka Era of 78 AD, or simply Saka Era, a system that is common in epigraphic evidence from southern India.
-
Saka era of Southeast Asia: The Hindu calendar system in Indonesia is attributed to the legend of Hindus arriving with a sage Aji Saka in 1st-century Java, in March 78 CE.
-
Indian national calendar (modern): combines many Hindu calendars into one official standardized one, but old ones remain in use.
Months
Solar month and seasons
The Hindu calendar divides the zodiac into twelve division called rāśi ("group"). The Sun appears to move around the Earth through different divisions/constellations in the sky throughout the year, which in reality is actually caused by the Earth revolving around the Sun. The rāśis have 30° each and are named for constellations found in the zodiac.
The time taken by the Sun to transit through a rāśi is a solar month whose name is identical to the name of the rāśi. In practice, solar months are mostly referred as rāśi (not months).
The solar months are named differently in different regional calendars. While the Malayalam calendar broadly retains the phonetic Sanskrit names, the Bengali and Tamil calendars repurpose the Sanskrit lunar month names (Chaitra, Vaishaka etc.) as follows:
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The Tamil calendar replaces Mesha, Vrisha etc. with Chithirai, Vaigasi etc.
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The Bengali calendar is similar to the Tamil calendar except in that it starts the year with Boiśākh (instead of Choitrô), followed by Jyoisthô etc. The Assamese and Odia calendars too are structured the same way.
The solar months ( rāśi) along with their equivalent names in the Bangali, Malayalam and Tamil calendar are given below:
>+ Hindu Solar Zodiac and Months
!#
!English/Latin | Sanskrit | Malayalam
!width=100 | Tamil
!Tulu | Gregorian |
| 1 | Meṣa | ram | ব’হাগ (Böhag) | বৈশাখ (Boiśākh) | മേടം (Mēḍaṃ) | ବୈଶାଖ (Baiśākha) | சித்திரை (Śittirai) | Paggu | April–May |
| 2 | Vṛṣabha | bull | জেঠ (Zeth) | জ্যৈষ্ঠ (Jyoisthô) | ഇടവം (Iḍavaṃ) | ଜ୍ୟେଷ୍ଠ (Jyēṣṭha) | வைகாசி (Vaigāsi) | May–June |
| 3 | Mithuna | twins | আহাৰ (Ahar) | আষাঢ় (Āsādh) | മിഥുനം (Mithunaṃ) | ଆଷାଢ଼ (Āṣāḍha) | ஆனி (Āṉi) | June–July |
| 4 | Karkaṭa | crab | শাওণ (Xaün) | শ্রাবণ (Śrābôṇ) | കർക്കടകം (Karkkaṭakam) | ଶ୍ରାବଣ (Śrābaṇa) | ஆடி (Āḍi) | July–August |
| 5 | Siṃha | lion | ভাদ (Bhado) | ভাদ্র (Bhādrô) | ചിങ്ങം (Ciṅṅaṃ) | ଭାଦ୍ରବ (Bhādraba)
or
ଭାଦ୍ର (Bhādra) | ஆவணி (Āvaṇi) | August–September |
| 6 | Kanyā | girl | আহিন (Ahin) | আশ্বিন (Āśhshin) | കന്നി (Kanni) | ଆଶ୍ୱିନ (Āśvina) | புரட்டாசி (Puraṭṭāsi) | September–October |
| 7 | Tulā | scales | কাতি (Kati) | কার্তিক (Kārtik) | തുലാം (Tulāṃ) | କାର୍ତ୍ତିକ (Kārttika) | ஐப்பசி (Aippasi) | October–November |
| 8 | Vṛścika | scorpion | আঘোণ (Aghün) | অগ্রহায়ণ (Ôgrôhāyôn) | വൃശ്ചികം (Vr̥ścikaṃ) | ମାର୍ଗଶିର (Mārgaśira) | கார்த்திகை (Kārttigai) | November–December |
| 9 | Dhanus | archery bow | পুহ (Puh) | পৌষ (Poush) | ധനു (Dhanu) | ପୌଷ (Pauṣa) | மார்கழி (Mārgaḻi) | December–January |
| 10 | Makara | sea monster | মাঘ (Magh) | মাঘ (Māgh) | മകരം (Makaram) | ମାଘ (Māgha) | தை
(Tai) | January–February |
| 11 | Kumbha | water pot | ফাগুন (Phagun) | ফাল্গুন/ ফাগুন (Phālgun/Phagun) | കുംഭം (Kumbham) | ଫାଲ୍ଗୁନ (Phālguna)
or
ଫଗୁଣ (Phaguṇa) | மாசி
(Māsi) | February–March |
| 12 | Mīna | fish | চ’ত (Söt) | চৈত্র (Choitrô) | മീനം (Mīnaṃ) | ଚୈତ୍ର (Chaitra) | பங்குனி (Paṅguṉi) | March–April |
The solar months ( rāśi) along with the approximate correspondence to Hindu seasons and Gregorian months are:
|
|
| Mīna
Meṣa | ♓
♈ | Mid March–
Mid May | Vasanta
(Spring) | वसन्त | বসন্ত (Bôsôntô) | વસંત ઋતુ (Vasaṃta r̥tu) | ವಸಂತ ಋತು (Vasaṃta Ṛtu) | سونٛتھ
| പൂക്കാലം (Pookkaalam) | ବସନ୍ତ (Basanta) | இளவேனில் (ilavenil) | వసంత ఋతువు (Vasaṃta Ṛtuvu) | དཔྱིད་ར་བ་དང་དཔྱིད་བར་མ (shid rawa, thang, shid warma) | དཔྱིད་ཀ (shid ka) |
| Vṛṣabha
Mithuna | ♉
♊ | Mid May–
Mid July | Grishma
(Summer) | ग्रीष्म | গ্রীষ্ম (Grishsho) | ગ્રીષ્મ ઋતુ (Grīṣma r̥tu) | ಗ್ರೀಷ್ಮ ಋತು (Grīṣma Ṛtu) | گرٛێشِم
| വേനൽ (Venal) | ଗ୍ରୀଷ୍ମ (Grīṣma) | முதுவேனில் (mudhuvenil) | గ్రీష్మ ఋతువు (Grīṣma Ṛtuvu) | དཔྱིད་ཐ་མ་དང་དབྱར་ར་བ། (shid dama, thang, yar rawa) | སོ་ག(soga) |
| Karkaṭa
Siṃha | ♋
♌ | Mid July–
Mid Sep | Varṣā
(Monsoon) | वर्षा | বর্ষা (Bôrsha) | વર્ષા ઋતુ (Varṣa r̥tu) | ವರ್ಷ ಋತು (Varṣa Ṛtu) | ؤہراتھ
| മഴക്കാലം (Mazhakkalam) | ବର୍ଷା (Barṣā) | கார் (kaar) | వర్ష ఋతువు (Varṣa Ṛtuvu) | དབྱར་བར་མ་དང་དབྱར་ཐ་མ (yarwarma, thang, yardama) | དབྱར་ག (yarka) |
| Kanyā
Tulā | ♍
♎ | Mid Sep–
Mid Nov | Śarad
(Autumn) | शरद् | শরৎ(Shôrôt) | શરદ ઋતુ (Śarad r̥tu) | ಶರದೃತು (Śaradṛtu) | ہَرُد
| ഇലപൊഴിയും കാലം (Elapzhiyum kalam) | ଶରତ (Śarata) | குளிர் (kulir) | శరదృతువు (Śaradṛtuvu) | སྟོན་ར་བ་དང་སྟོན་བར་མ (ston rawa, thang, ston warma) | སྟོན་ཁ (stonka) |
| Vṛścika
Dhanu | ♏
♐ | Mid Nov–
Mid Jan | Hemanta
(Pre-Winter) | हेमन्त | হেমন্ত (Hemôntô) | હેમંત ઋતુ (Hēmaṃta r̥tu) | ಹೇಮಂತ ಋತು (Hēmaṃta Ṛtu) | وَنٛدٕ
| കുളിർക്കാലം (Kulirkkaalam) | ହେମନ୍ତ (Hemanta) | முன்பனி (munpani) | హేమంత ఋతువు (Hēmaṃta Ṛtuvu) | སྟོན་ཐ་མ་དང་དགུན་ར་བ (ston da ma, thang, dgun rawa) | དགུན་སྟོད (dgun stod) |
| Makara
Kumbha | ♑
♒ | Mid Jan–
Mid March | Śiśira
(Winter) | शिशिर | শীত (Śeet) | શિશિર ઋતુ (Śiśira r̥tu) | ಶಿಶಿರ ಋತು (Śiśira Ṛtu) | شِشُر
| മഞ്ഞുകാലം (Manjnju kaalam) | ଶୀତ/ଶିଶିର (Śīta/Śiśira) | பின்பனி (pinpani) | శిశిర ఋతువు (Śiśira Ṛtuvu) | དགུན་བར་མ་དང་དགུན་ཐ་མ (dgun warma, thang, dgun dama) | དགུན་སྨད (dgun smad) |
The names of the solar months are also used in the Darian calendar for the planet Mars.
Lunar months
Lunar months are defined based on lunar cycles, i.e. the regular occurrence of new moon and full moon and the intervening waxing and waning phases of the moon.
Paksha
A lunar month contains two fortnights called paksha (पक्ष, literally "side").
Amānta and Purnimānta systems
Two traditions have been followed in the Indian subcontinent with respect to lunar months: the amānta tradition, which ends the lunar month on Dark moon day (similar to the Islamic calendar) and the purnimānta tradition, which ends it on full moon day.
| Variations in the naming of lunar months
!
!Krishna Paksha
!Shukla Paksha
!Krishna Paksha |
| Amānta | Phālguna | Chaitra |
| Purnimānta | Chaitra | Vaishākha |
The amanta (also known as Amāvasyānta or Mukhyamana) tradition is followed by most Indian states that have a peninsular coastline (except Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which use their own ). These states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Nepal and most Indian states north of the Vindhya mountains follow the poornimānta (or Gaunamana) tradition.
The poornimānta tradition was being followed in the Vedic era. It was replaced with the amanta tradition as the Hindu calendar system prior to the 1st century BCE, but the Poornimanta tradition was restored in 57 BCE by king Vikramaditya, who wanted to return to the Vedic roots.
The two traditions of Amanta and Purnimanta systems have led to alternate ways of dating any festival or event that occurs in a Krishna paksha in the historic Hindu, Buddhist or Jain literature, and contemporary regional literature or festival calendars. For example, the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri falls on the fourteenth lunar day of Magha's Krishna paksha in the Amanta system, while the same exact day is expressed as the fourteenth lunar day of Phalguna's Krishna paksha in the Purnimanta system.
List
The names of the Hindu months vary by region. Those Hindu calendars which are based on lunar cycle are generally phonetic variants of each other, while the solar cycle are generally variants of each other too, suggesting that the timekeeping knowledge travelled widely across the Indian subcontinent in ancient times.
During each lunar month, the Sun transits into a sign of the zodiac (sankranti). The lunar month in which the Sun transits into Mesha is named Chaitra and designated as the first month of the lunar year.
A few major calendars are summarized below:
>+ Lunar calendar month names in different Hindu calendars[
!style="background: #ffad66;" width=50] | Sankranti
!Bhojpuri
!Hindi
!Kannada
!Kashmiri
!Maithili
!Marathi
!Meitei
!Nepali
!Punjabi
!Sindhi
!Telugu
!Tulu
!Tibetan
!Gregorian |
| Chaitra | Meṣa | | चैत/चैत्र | ಚೈತ್ರ (chaitra) | ژِتھٕر | 𑒔𑒻𑒞𑒱 (chait) | चैत्र | | चैत(chait) | | | చైత్రము (chaitramu) | suggi | ནག་པ་ཟླ་བ | March–April |
| Vaishakha | Vṛṣa | | बैसाख/वैशाख | ವೈಶಾಖ (vaisākha) | وَہؠکھ
or
بیساکھ | 𑒥𑒻𑒮𑒰𑒐 (baishakh) | वैशाख | | वैशाख (baishākh) | | or
వైశాఖము (vaiśākhamu)
| paggu | ས་ག་ཟླ་བ | April–May |
| Jyeṣṭha | Mithuna | | जेठ/ज्येष्ठ | ಜ್ಯೇಷ್ಠ (jyeshta) | زیٹھ
| 𑒖𑒹𑒚 (jeth) | ज्येष्ठ | | जेठ(jēṭh) | | జ్యేష్ఠము(jyēsṭhamu) | bēsha | སྣྲོན་ཟླ་བ | May–June |
| Ashadha | Karka | | असाढ़/आषाढ | ಆಷಾಢ (āshāda) | ہار
| 𑒁𑒮𑒰𑒜𑓃 (asadh) | आषाढ | | असार (asār) | | or
ఆషాఢము (āṣāḍhamu)
| kārte | ཆུ་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ | June–July |
| Śrāvaṇa | Siṃha | | सावन/श्रावण | ಶ್ರಾವಣ (shrāvana) | شرٛاوُن | 𑒮𑒰𑒍𑒢 (saon) | श्रावण | | साउन (sāun) | | | శ్రావణము (śrāvaṇamu) | aaṭi | གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ | July–August |
| Bhādrapada | Kanyā | | भादों/भाद्रपद | ಭಾದ್ರಪದ (bhādrapada) | بٲدٕرپؠتھ | 𑒦𑒰𑒠𑒼 (bhado) | भाद्रपद | | भदौ (bhadau) | | or
భద్రపదము (bhadrapadamu)
| sona | ཁྲིམས་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ | August–September |
| Aśvin | Tulā | | आसिन/आश्विन | ಆಶ್ವಯುಜ (āswayuja) | ٲشِد
| 𑒂𑒮𑒱𑒢 (aasin) | आश्विन | | असोज (asoj) | | | ఆశ్వయుజము (āśvayujamu) | kanya/nirnāl | ཐ་སྐར་ཟླ་བ | September–October |
| Kārttika | Vṛśchika | | का(र्)तिक | ಕಾರ್ತೀಕ (kārtika) | کارتِکھ
| 𑒏𑒰𑒞𑒱𑒏 (katik) | कार्तिक | | कात्तिक (kāttik) | | | కార్తికము (kārtikamu) | bontel | སྨིན་དྲུག་ཟླ་བ | October–November |
| Agrahayana | Dhanu | | अघन/अग्रहायण, मँगसिर/मार्गशीर्ष | ಮಾರ್ಗಶಿರ (mārgasira) | مَنٛجہۆر | 𑒁𑒑𑒯𑒢 (agahan) | मार्गशीर्ष | | मंसिर (mangsir) | | or
మార్గశిరము (mārgaśiramu)
| jārde | མགོ་ཟླ་བ | November–December |
| Pausha | Makara | | पूस/पौष | ಪುಷ್ಯ (pushya) | پوہ
or
پۄہ | 𑒣𑒴𑒮 (poos) | पौष | | पुष (puṣ) | | | పుష్యము (puṣyamu) | perarde | རྒྱལ་ཟླ་བ | December–January |
| Māgha | Kumbha | | माघ | ಮಾಘ (magha) | ماگ
| 𑒧𑒰𑒒 (magh) | माघ | | माघ (magh) | | | మాఘము (māghamu) | puyintel | མཆུ་ཟླ་བ | January–February |
| Phalguna | Mīna | | फा(ल्)गुन | ಫಾಲ್ಗುಣ (phalguna) | پھاگُن
| 𑒤𑒰𑒑𑒳𑒢 (fagun) | फाल्गुण | | फागुन (phagun) | | | ఫాల్గుణము (phālguṇamu) | māyi | དབོ་ཟླ་བ | February–March |
Corrections between lunar and solar months
Twelve Hindu mas (māsa, lunar month) are equal to approximately 354 days, while the length of a sidereal (solar) year is about 365 days. This creates a difference of about eleven days, which is offset every (29.53/10.63) = 2.71 years, or approximately every 32.5 months.
The repetition of a month created the problem of scheduling festivals, weddings and other social events without repetition and confusion. This was resolved by declaring one month as Shudha (pure, clean, regular, proper, also called Deva month) and the other Mala or Adhika (extra, unclean and inauspicious, also called Adhika-masa month).
The Hindu mathematicians who calculated the best way to adjust the two years, over long periods of a yuga (era, tables calculating 1000s of years), they determined that the best means to intercalate the months is to time the intercalary months on a 19-year cycle, similar to the Metonic cycle used in the Hebrew calendar. This intercalation is generally adopted in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 16th and 19th year of this cycle. Further, the complex rules rule out the repetition of Agrahayana (also called Agrahayana), Pausha and Magha lunar months. The historic Hindu texts are not consistent on these rules, with competing ideas flourishing in the Hindu culture.
Rare corrections
The Hindu calendar makes further rare adjustments, over a cycle of centuries, where a certain month is considered kshaya month (dropped). This occurs because of the complexity of the relative lunar, solar and earth movements. Underhill (1991) describes this part of Hindu calendar theory: "when the sun is in perigee, and a lunar month being at its longest, if the new moon immediately precedes a sankranti, then the first of the two lunar months is deleted (called nija or kshaya)." This, for example, happened in the year 1 BCE, when there was no new moon between Makara sankranti and Kumbha sankranti, and the month of Pausha was dropped.
Day
Just like months, the Hindu calendar has two measures of a day, one based on the lunar movement and the other on solar. The solar ( Saura calendar) day or civil day, called divasa (दिवस), has been what most Hindus traditionally use, is easy and empirical to observe, with or without a clock, and it is defined as the period from one sunrise to another. The lunar day is called tithi (तिथि), and this is based on complicated measures of lunar movement. A lunar day or tithi may, for example, begin in the middle of an afternoon and end next afternoon.
A tithi is technically defined in Vedic texts, states John E. Cort, as "the time required by the combined motions of the Sun and Moon to increase (in a bright fortnight) or decrease (in a dark fortnight) their relative distance by twelve degrees of the zodiac.
A lunar month has 30 tithi. The technical standard makes each tithi contain different number of hours, but helps the overall integrity of the calendar. Given the variation in the length of a solar day with seasons, and the Moon's relative movements, the start and end time for tithi varies over the seasons and over the years, and the tithi adjusted to sync with divasa periodically with intercalation.
Weekday/Vāsara
Vāsara refers to the weekdays in Sanskrit.[Monier Monier-Williams, वासर, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 948] Also referred to as Vara and used as a suffix.[
]
The term -vāsara is often realised as vāra or vaar in Sanskrit-derived and influenced languages. There are many variations of the names in the regional languages, mostly using alternate names of the celestial bodies involved.
Five limbs of time
The complete Vedic calendars contain five angas or parts of information: lunar day (tithi), solar day (diwas), asterism (naksatra), planetary joining (yoga) and astronomical period (karanam). This structure gives the calendar the name Panchangam.
Yoga
- : See the main article on Nityayoga.
The Sanskrit word Yoga means "union, joining, attachment", but in astronomical context, this word means latitudinal and longitudinal information. The longitude of the Sun and the longitude of the Moon are added, and normalised to a value ranging between 0° to 360° (if greater than 360, one subtracts 360). This sum is divided into 27 parts. Each part will now equal 800' (where ' is the symbol of the arcminute which means 1/60 of a degree). These parts are called the yogas. They are labelled:
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Viṣkambha
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Prīti
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Āyuśmān
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Saubhāgya
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Śobhana
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Atigaṇḍa
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Sukarma
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Dhrti
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Śūla
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Gaṇḍa
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Vṛddhi
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Dhruva
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Vyāghatā
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Harṣaṇa
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Vajra
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Siddhi
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Vyatipāta
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Variyas
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Parigha
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Śiva
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Siddha
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Sādhya
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Śubha
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Śukla
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Brahma
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Māhendra
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Vaidhṛti
Again, minor variations may exist. The yoga that is active during sunrise of a day is the prevailing yoga for the day.
Karaṇa
A karaṇa is half of a tithi. To be precise, a karaṇa is the time required for the angular distance between the Sun and the Moon to increase in steps of 6° starting from 0°. (Compare with the definition of a tithi.)
Since the tithis are 30 in number, and since 1 tithi = 2 karaṇas, therefore one would logically expect there to be 60 karaṇas. But there are only 11 such karaṇas which fill up those slots to accommodate for those 30 tithis. There are actually 4 "fixed" (sthira) karaṇas and 7 "repeating" (cara) karaṇas.
The 4 "fixed" karaṇas are:
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Śakuni (शकुनि)
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Catuṣpāda (चतुष्पाद)
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Nāga (नाग)
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Kiṃstughna (किंस्तुघ्न)
The 7 "repeating" karaṇas are:
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Vava or Bava (बव)
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Valava or Bālava (बालव)
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Kaulava (कौलव)
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Taitila or Taitula (तैतिल)
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Gara or Garaja (गरज)
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Vaṇija (वणिज)
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Viṣṭi (Bhadra) (भद्रा)
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Now the first half of the 1st tithi (of Śukla Pakṣa) is always Kiṃtughna karaṇa. Hence this karaṇa is "fixed".
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Next, the 7-repeating karaṇas repeat eight times to cover the next 56 half- tithis. Thus these are the "repeating" (cara) karaṇas.
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The 3 remaining half- tithis take the remaining "fixed" karaṇas in order. Thus these are also "fixed" (sthira).
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Thus one gets 60 karaṇas from those 11 preset karaṇas.
The Vedic day begins at sunrise. The karaṇa at sunrise of a particular day shall be the prevailing karaṇa for the whole day.
(citation needed )
Nakshatra
Nakshatras are divisions of ecliptic, each 13° 20', starting from 0° Aries.
Festival calendar: Solar and Lunar dates
Many holidays in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina traditions are based on the lunar cycles in the lunisolar timekeeping with foundations in the Hindu calendar system. A few holidays, however, are based on the solar cycle, such as the Vaisakhi, Pongal and those associated with Sankranti.
Regional variants
The Hindu Calendar Reform Committee, appointed in 1952, identified more than thirty well-developed calendars, in use across different parts of India.
Variants include the lunar emphasizing Vikrama, and the Shalivahana calendars, as well as the solar emphasizing Tamil calendar and Malayalam calendar. The two calendars most widely used today are the Vikram Samvat calendar, which is in followed in western and northern India and Nepal, the Shalivahana era calendar which is followed in the Deccan region of India (Comprising present day Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Goa).[The Shalivahan Shaka calendar follows the Amant system. The year begins on the first day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra.]
Lunar
Calendars based on lunar cycle (lunar months in solar year, lunar phase for religious dates and new year):
Solar
Calendars based on solar cycle (solar months in solar year, lunar phase for religious dates but new year which falls on solar date – South and Southeast Asian solar New Year):
Other related calendars across India and Asia
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Indian national calendar – used by Indian Government (civil calendar based on solar months)
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Vira Nirvana Samvat (Lunar) – Jain
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Buddhist calendar (Lunar) – Buddhist
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Tibetan calendar (Lunar) – Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh
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Pawukon calendar – Bali
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Balinese saka calendar (Lunar) – Bali
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Cham calendar (Lunar) – Chams
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Chula Sakarat (Lunar) – Myanmar
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Thai solar calendar – Thailand
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Thai lunar calendar – Thailand
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Khmer calendar (Lunar & Solar) – Cambodia
See also
Bibliography
Further reading
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Reingold and Dershowitz, Calendrical Calculations, Millennium Edition, Cambridge University Press, latest 2nd edition 3rd printing released November 2004.
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S. Balachandra Rao, Indian Astronomy: An Introduction, Universities Press, Hyderabad, 2000.
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Rai Bahadur Pandit Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha, The Paleography of India, 2 ed., Ajmer, 1918, reprinted Manshuram Manoharlal publishers, 1993.
External links
Shalivahana Hindu calendar, United Kingdom
