Chaitra (
Hindi: चैत्र) is a
month of the
Hindu calendar
The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika 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 s ...
.
In the standard
Hindu calendar
The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika 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 s ...
and
India's national civil calendar, Chaitra is the first month of the year. It is the last month in the
Bengali calendar, where it is called Choitro. Chaitra or Chait is also the last month in the Nepali calendar (the
Vikram Samvat), where it commences in mid-March. Chithirai is the first month in the
Tamil calendar. In the Sindhi calendar, this month is referred to as Chet and is marked by the celebration of the
Cheti Chand (birth of
Jhulelal, an incarnation of Vishnu). In the
Vaishnava calendar,
Vishnu governs this month. In solar religious calendars Chaitra Begins with the Sun's Entry Into
Pisces
In the more traditional reckoning, the first month commences in March or April of the
Gregorian calendar, depending upon whether the
Purushottam Maas (extra month for alignment of lunar or solar calendar) was observed in the year. There is no fixed date in the Gregorian calendar for the 1st day of Chaitra, i.e., the beginning of the Hindu New Year.
Names
Hindi and Marathi: चैत्र ''chaitra'',
Gujarati: ચૈત્ર ''chaitra'',
Nepali
Nepali or Nepalese may refer to :
Concerning Nepal
* Anything of, from, or related to Nepal
* Nepali people, citizens of Nepal
* Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...
: चैत ''chait'',
Rajasthani: चेत ''chet'',
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
: ਚੇਤ ''cēt'',
Bengali: চৈত্র ''Choitro'',
Assamese
Assamese may refer to:
* Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India
* People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam
* Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...
: চ’ত ''sot'',
Odia
Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to:
* Odia people in Odisha, India
* Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family
* Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...
: ଚୈତ୍ର ''Chaitra'',
Kannada: ''ಚೈತ್ರ'' ''Chaitra'',
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
: చైత్రము ''chaitramu'',
Tamil: சித்திரை ''chithirai'',
Malayalam: ചൈത്രം ''chaitram''.
Festivals
The month of Chaitra is also associated with the departure of spring.
Holi, the spring festival of colour, is celebrated on the full moon day (
Purnima) of Phalguna, the month before Chaitra, exactly six days after which the festival of
Chaiti is observed.
In lunar religious calendars, Chaitra begins with the new moon in March/April and is the first month of the year. The nine-day festival Chaitra
Navratri or Nava Durga (nine forms of Goddess Durga) starts from Krishna Pratipada. The first day of month Chaitra is celebrated as New Year's Day, known as
Gudi Padwa in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
,
Puthandu in
Tamil Nadu and
Ugadi in
Karnataka,
Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh.
In
West Bengal, Basanti Puja, Annapurna Puja, Ram Nabami, Neel Puja and Chorok Puja aka 'Gajon' are held consecutively before the beginning of Bengali New Year on
Poila Baishakh
Pohela Boishakh ( bn, পহেলা বৈশাখ) is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is also the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian states of We ...
.
See also
*
Astronomical basis of the Hindu calendar
*
Chaiti
*
Hindu units of measurement
*
Hindu astronomy
*
Jyotish
*
Chitragupta
References
External links
Chaitra Navratri
{{Indian astronomy
*01