The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika is one of various

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the ...

s that are traditionally used in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, with further regional variations for social and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

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 Shalivahana Shaka (Based on the King Shalivahana, also the

Indian national calendar The Indian national calendar, sometimes called the Saka calendar, is a solar calendar that is used alongside the Gregorian calendar by ''The Gazette of India'', in news broadcasts by All India Radio, and in calendars and official communications i ...

) found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the

Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (IAST: ''Vikrama Samvat''; abbreviated VS) or Bikram Sambat B.S. and also known as the Vikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent. Vikram Samvat is generally 57 years ahead of Gregorian Calend ...

(Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

– 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 The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era. There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...

and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. A Hindu calendar is sometimes referred to as

Panchangam A panchāngam ( sa, पञ्चाङ्गम्; ) is a Hindu calendar and almanac, which follows traditional units of Hindu timekeeping, and presents important dates and their calculations in a tabulated form. It is sometimes spelled ''Pa ...

(पञ्चाङ्ग), which is known also known as

Panjika The Panjika (IAST: Pañjikā; or, ପଞ୍ଜିକା; bn, পঞ্জিকা; as, পঞ্জিকা; mai, পাঁজিক , पाँजिक) is the Hindu astronomical almanac, published in Odia, Maithili, Assamese and Beng ...

in Eastern India. The ancient Hindu calendar conceptual design is also found in the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...

, the Chinese calendar, and the

Babylonian calendar The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. Th ...

, but different from the Gregorian calendar. Unlike the Gregorian calendar which adds additional days to the month to adjust for the mismatch between twelve lunar cycles (354 lunar days) and nearly 365 solar days, the Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month, but inserts an extra full month by complex rules, 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

s 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 calendar The Buddhist calendar is a set of lunisolar calendars primarily used in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as well as in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam by Chinese populations for religious or official occasions. While t ...

s. Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system. The

and the traditional lunisolar calendars of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

are also based on an older version of the Hindu calendar. Similarly, the ancient

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

traditions have followed the same lunisolar system as the Hindu calendar for festivals, texts and inscriptions. However, the Buddhist and Jain timekeeping systems have attempted to use the Buddha and the Mahavira's lifetimes as their reference points. The Hindu calendar is also important to the practice of Hindu astrology and zodiac system as well as observing special appearance days of the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

and fasting days such as

Ekadashi Ekadashi () is the eleventh lunar day (''tithi'') of each of the two lunar phases which occur in an Vedic calendar month - the '' Shukla Pakṣa'' (the period of the brightening moon also known as the waxing phase) and the ''Kṛṣṇa Pakṣ ...

Origins

The

Vedic culture upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

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. This study is one of the six ancient

Vedanga The Vedanga ( sa, वेदाङ्ग ', "limbs of the Veda") are six auxiliary disciplines of Hinduism that developed in ancient times and have been connected with the study of the Vedas:James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Enc ...

s, or ancillary science connected with the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

– the scriptures of Vedic Sanatan Sanskriti.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 Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, and the Rigvedic passages on astronomy are found in the works of Zhu Jiangyan and

Zhi Qian Zhi Qian (; fl. 222–252 CE) was a Chinese Buddhist layman of Yuezhi ancestry who translated a wide range of Indian Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. He was the grandson (or according to another source, the son) of an immigrant from the country o ...

. According to

Subhash Kak Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist and historical revisionist. He is the Regents Professor of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, an honorary visiting professor of engineering at Jawaharlal N ...

, 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 Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and '' Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Prati ...

and starts in 57 BCE.

Texts

Hindu scholars kept precise time by observing and calculating the cycles of

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...

(the sun), moon and the planets. These calculations about the sun appear in various astronomical texts in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, such as the 5th-century ''Aryabhatiya'' by

Aryabhata Aryabhata ( ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the ''Aryabhatiya'' (which ...

, the 6th-century ''Romaka'' by Latadeva and ''Panca Siddhantika'' by Varahamihira, the 7th-century ''Khandakhadyaka'' by Brahmagupta and the 8th-century ''Sisyadhivrddida'' by Lalla. These texts present Surya and various planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion. Other texts such as ''Surya Siddhanta'' dated to have been completed sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various deified planets with stories behind them. 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. For example, the 1st millennium CE Hindu scholars calculated the sidereal length of a year as follows, from their astronomical studies, with slightly different results: 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. They tracked the solar year by observing the entrance and departure of ''Surya'' (sun, at sunrise and sunset) in the constellation formed by stars in the sky, which they divided into 12 intervals of 30 degrees each. Like other ancient human cultures, Hindus innovated a number of systems of which intercalary months became most used, that is adding another month every 32.5 months on average. As their calendar keeping and astronomical observations became more sophisticated, the Hindu calendar became more sophisticated with complex rules and greater accuracy. 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. These texts provide specific information and formulae on motions of sun, moon and planets, to predict their future relative positions, equinoxes, rise and set, with corrections for prograde, retrograde motions, as well as parallax. These ancient scholars attempted to calculate their time to the accuracy of a ''truti'' (29.63 microseconds). In their pursuit of accurate tracking of relative movements of celestial bodies for their calendar, they had computed the mean diameter of the earth, which was very close to the actual 12,742 km (7,918 mi). Hindu calendars were refined during the

Gupta era The Gupta era is a historical calendar era that begins from c. 318–319 CE. It was used by the Gupta emperors, as well as their vassals and their successors in present-day northern India and Nepal. It is identical to the Vallabhi era (or Valabh ...

astronomy by

Āryabhaṭa Aryabhata (ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the '' Aryabhatiya'' (whic ...

and

Varāhamihira Varāhamihira ( 505 – 587), also called Varāha or Mihira, was an ancient Indian astrologer, astronomer, and polymath who lived in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh, India). He was born at Kapitba in a Brahmin family, in the Avanti region, roughly co ...

in the 5th to 6th century. These, in turn, were based in the astronomical tradition of '' Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa'', which in the preceding centuries had been standardised in a number of (non-extant) works known as '' Sūrya Siddhānta''. Regional diversification took place in the medieval period. The astronomical foundations were further developed in the medieval period, notably by Bhāskara II (12th century).

Astrology

Later, the term '' Jyotisha'' evolved to include

Hindu astrology Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...

. The astrological application of the Hindu calendar was a field that likely developed in the centuries after the arrival of

Greek astrology Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was developed and practiced in the late Hellenistic period in and around the Mediterranean Basin region, especially in Egypt. The texts and technical terminology of this tradition ...

with

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

, because their zodiac signs are nearly identical. The ancient Hindu texts on Jyotisha only discuss timekeeping, and never mention astrology or prophecy. These ancient texts predominantly cover astronomy, but at a rudimentary level. Later medieval era texts such as the ''Yavana-jataka'' and the ''Siddhanta'' texts are more astrology-related.

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 The Pawukon is a 210-day calendar that has its origins in the Hindu religion in Bali, Indonesia. The calendar consists of 10 different concurrent weeks of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 days. On the first day of the year it is the first day of ...

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 The Balinese saka calendar is one of two calendars used on the Indonesian island of Bali. Unlike the 210-day pawukon calendar, it is based on the phases of the Moon, and is approximately the same length as the tropical year (solar year, Gregoria ...

which uses Hindu methodology. The names of month and festivals of Balinese Hindus, for the most part, are different, though the significance and legends have some overlap.

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, and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

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. {, class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" {, , + style="text-align: left;" , Elements of the Hindu calendar , - bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! !! width=30%, synodic elements !! width=30%, sidereal elements !! width=30%, tropical elements , - , saura māna , , valign="top" , rāśi, sauramāsa, varṣa , uttarāyaṇa, dakṣiṇāyana, devayāna, pitṛyāṇa, ṛtu , - , cāndra māna ,

tithi In Vedic timekeeping, a ''tithi'' is a uration of two faces of moon that is observed from earth known as ''milа̄lyа̄'' (𑐩𑐶𑐮𑐵𑐮𑑂𑐫𑐵𑑅, मिलाल्याः) in Nepal Bhasa, or the time it takes for the longi ...

, 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 Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

, in a similar manner to the Christian era. There are several ''samvat'' found in historic Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina texts and epigraphy, of which three are most significant: Vikrama era, Old Shaka era and Shaka era of 78 AD. KedukanBukit001

(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 Vikram Samvat ( IAST: ''Vikrama Samvat''; abbreviated VS) or Bikram Sambat B.S. and also known as the Vikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent. Vikram Samvat is generally 57 years ahead of Gregorian Calen ...

, and is apocryphally linked to Vikramaditya. The year starts from the month of Baishakh /

Vaishakha Vaisakha; hi, बैसाख, Baisākh; pa, ਵਿਸਾਖ/وساکھ , te, వైశాఖ, kn, ವೈಶಾಖ, Vaiśākha; ml, വൈശാഖം, Vaiśākham; mr, वैशाख, Vaiśākh; ta, வைகாசி, Vaikāci; ne, � ...

. 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, Jaina 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

: The Hindu calendar system in Indonesia is attributed to the legend of Hindus arriving with a sage Aji Saka in 1st-century

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, in March 78 CE. Numerous ancient and medieval era texts and inscriptions found in Indonesian islands use this reference year. In mainland southeast Asia, the earliest verifiable use of Hindu Saka methodology in inscriptions is marked ''Saka 533'' in Ankor Borei, which corresponds to 611 CE, while the

Kedukan Bukit The Kedukan Bukit inscription is an inscription discovered by the Dutchman C.J. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), on the banks of Tatang River, a tributary of Musi River. It is th ...

inscription in Sumatra, containing three dates in ''Saka 604'' (682 CE), is the earliest known use of the Shaka era in the Indonesian islands. However, these inscriptions only set the

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

for the use of the Shaka era in these places, and the Hindu calendar likely existed in southeast Asia before these dates to be used in important monuments. Further, the Hindu calendar system remained popular among the Hindus through to the 15th century, and thereafter in Bali. *

(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''. 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: * The Tamil calendar replaces Mesha, Vrisha etc. with Chithirai, Vaigasi etc. * 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:

{, class="wikitable" , + Solar month names in different Hindu calendars !#, , style="background: #ffad66" width=100 , Vikrami
(solar) !width=100 , Assamese, , width=100, Bengali, , width=100 , Malayalam !width=100 , Odia, , width=100, Tamil !Tulu, , width="100" , Gregorian , - , 1, , align="center" , Mina , align="center" , চ’ত (Söt), , align="center" , চৈত্র (Choitrô) , align="center" , മീനം (Mīnaṃ) , align="center" , ଚୈତ୍ର (Caitra) , align="center" , பங்குனி (Paṅguṉi) , Suggi, , align="center" , March–April , - , 2, , align="center" , Mēsha , align="center" , ব’হাগ (Böhag), , align="center", বৈশাখ (Boiśākh) , align="center" , മേടം (Mēḍaṃ) , align="center" , ବୈଶାଖ (Baiśākha) , align="center" , சித்திரை (Śittirai) , Paggu , align="center" , April–May , - , 3, , align="center" , Vrisha , align="center" , জেঠ (Zeth), , align="center" , জ্যৈষ্ঠ (Jyoisthô) , align="center" , ഇടവം (Iḍavaṃ) , align="center" , ଜ୍ୟେଷ୍ଠ (Jyēṣṭha) , align="center" , வைகாசி (Vaigāsi) , Beshya, , align="center" , May–June , - , 4, , align="center" , Mithuna , align="center" , আহাৰ (Ahar), , align="center" , আষাঢ় (Āsādh) , align="center" , മിഥുനം (Mithunaṃ) , align="center" , ଆଷାଢ଼ (Āṣāḍha) , align="center" , ஆனி (Āṉi) , Kaarthel, , align="center" , June–July , - , 5, , align="center" , Karka , align="center" , শাওণ (Xaün), , align="center" , শ্রাবণ (Śrābôṇ) , align="center" , കർക്കടകം (Karkkaṭakam) , align="center" , ଶ୍ରାବଣ (Śrābaṇa) , align="center" , ஆடி (Āḍi) , Aati, , align="center" , July–August , - , 6, , align="center" , Singa , align="center" , ভাদ (Bhado), , align="center" , ভাদ্র (Bhādrô) , align="center" , ചിങ്ങം (Ciṅṅaṃ) , align="center" , ଭାଦ୍ରବ (Bhādraba) or ଭାଦ୍ର (Bhādra) , align="center" , ஆவணி (Āvaṇi) , Sōna, , align="center" , August–September , - , 7, , align="center" , Kanya , align="center" , আহিন (Ahin), , align="center" , আশ্বিন (Āśhshin) , align="center" , കന്നി (Kanni) , align="center" , ଆଶ୍ୱିନ (Āśvina) , align="center" , புரட்டாசி (Puraṭṭāsi) , Nirnaal, , align="center" , September–October , - , 8, , align="center" , Tula , align="center" , কাতি (Kati), , align="center" , কার্তিক (Kārtik) , align="center" , തുലാം (Tulāṃ) , align="center" , କାର୍ତ୍ତିକ (Kārttika) , align="center" , ஐப்பசி (Aippasi) , Bonthel, , align="center" , October–November , - , 9, , align="center" , Vrischika , align="center" , আঘোণ (Aghün), , align="center" , অগ্রহায়ণ (Ôgrôhāyôn) , align="center" , വൃശ്ചികം (Vr̥ścikaṃ) , align="center" , ମାର୍ଗଶିର (Mārgaśira) , align="center" , கார்த்திகை (Kārttigai) , Jaarde, , align="center" , November–December , - , 10, , align="center" , Dhanus , align="center" , পোহ (Puh), , align="center" , পৌষ (Poush) , align="center" , ധനു (Dhanu) , align="center" , ପୌଷ (Pauṣa) , align="center" , மார்கழி (Mārgaḻi) , Perarde, , align="center" , December–January , - , 11, , align="center" , Makara , align="center" , মাঘ (Magh), , align="center" , মাঘ (Māgh) , align="center" , മകരം (Makaram) , align="center" , ମାଘ (Māgha) , align="center" , தை (Tai) , Puyinthel, , align="center" , January–February , - , 12, , align="center" , Kumbha , align="center" , ফাগুন (Phagun), , align="center" , ফাল্গুন (Phālgun) , align="center" , കുംഭം (Kumbham) , align="center" , ଫାଲ୍‌ଗୁନ (Phālguna) or ଫଗୁଣ (Phaguṇa) , align="center" , மாசி (Māsi) , Maayi, , align="center" , February–March

The solar months (''rāśi'') along with the approximate correspondence to Hindu seasons and Gregorian months are:

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! style="background: #ffad66;" , Rāśi ! Sidereal signs ! Gregorian
months ! Ṛtu
(season) ! Ṛtu in

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

script ! Bengali name for Ṛtu ! Gujarati name for Ṛtu ! Kannada name for Ṛtu ! Kashmiri name for Ṛtu ! Malayalam name for Ṛtu ! Odia name for Ṛtu ! Tamil name for Ṛtu ! Telugu name for Ṛtu ! Tibetan name for Ṛtu ! Kalachakra tantra Tibetan-name for Ṛtu , - ,

Mīna Mīna, or Meena, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Pisces, and overlaps with about the later half of March and about the early half of April in the Gregorian calendar. First day of the Meena month, ca ...

Mesh A mesh is a barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible or ductile materials. A mesh is similar to a web or a net in that it has many attached or woven strands. Types * A plastic mesh may be extruded, oriented, exp ...

, ♓ ♈ , Mid March– Mid May , Vasanta (

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

) , वसन्त , বসন্ত (Bôsôntô) , વસંત ઋતુ (Vasaṃta r̥tu) , ವಸಂತ ಋತು (Vasaṃta Ṛtu) , , വസന്തം‌ (Vasaṃtam) , 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 Vṛṣabha, or Vrishabha, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Taurus, and overlaps with about the second half of May and about the first half of June in the Gregorian calendar. The first day of the ...

Mithuna Maithuna (Devanagari: मैथुन) is a Sanskrit term for sexual intercourse within Tantric sex, or alternatively to the specific lack of sexual fluids generated, while mithuna is a couple participating in such a ritual. It is the most impo ...

, ♉ ♊ , Mid May– Mid July , Grīṣma ( Summer) , ग्रीष्म , গ্রীষ্ম (Grishsho) , ગ્રીષ્મ ઋતુ (Grīṣma r̥tu) , ಗ್ರೀಷ್ಮ ಋತು (Grīṣma Ṛtu) , , ഗ്രീഷ്മം (Grīṣmam) , 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 Siṃha is one of the twelve months in the Indian solar calendar. Simha corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Leo, and overlaps with about the second half of August and about the first half of September in the Gregorian calendar. In Vedic texts, t ...

, ♋ ♌ , Mid July– Mid Sep , Varṣā (

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

) , वर्षा , বর্ষা (Bôrsha) , વર્ષા ઋતુ (Varṣa r̥tu) , ವರ್ಷ ಋತು (Varṣa Ṛtu) , , വര്‍ഷം‌ (Varṣām) , ବର୍ଷା (Barṣā) , கார் (kaar) , వర్ష ఋతువు (Varṣa Ṛtuvu) , དབྱར་བར་མ་དང་དབྱར་ཐ་མ (yarwarma, thang, yardama) , དབྱར་ག (yarka) , - ,

Kanyā Kanyā is one of the twelve months in the Indian solar calendar. Kanya corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Virgo, and overlaps with about the second half of September and about the first half of October in the Gregorian calendar. In Vedic texts, ...

Tulā Tulā is one of the twelve months in the Indian solar calendar. Tula corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Libra, and overlaps with about the second half of October and about the first half of November in the Gregorian calendar. In Vedic texts, the ...

, ♍ ♎ , Mid Sep– Mid Nov , Śarad ( Autumn) , शरद् , শরৎ(Shôrôt) , શરદ ઋતુ (Śarad r̥tu) , ಶರದೃತು (Śaradṛtu) , , ശരത്‌ (Śarat) , ଶରତ (Śarata) , குளிர் (kulir) , శరదృతువు (Śaradṛtuvu) , སྟོན་ར་བ་དང་སྟོན་བར་མ (ston rawa, thang, ston warma) , སྟོན་ཁ (stonka) , - ,

Vṛścika Vṛścik‌‌‌a, also referred to as Vrishchika or Vrschika, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Scorpio, and approximately overlaps with the later half of November and first half of December in the ...

Dhanu , ♏ ♐ , Mid Nov– Mid Jan ,

Hemant Hemant, ( sa, हेमन्त, translit=Hemanta) is an Indian male given name. It is the namesake of ''Hemanta'', one of the six Indian ecological seasons— Ritu—in northern half of Indian subcontinent, which runs in early winter approximat ...

a (Pre-

Winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

) , हेमन्त , হেমন্ত (Hemôntô) , હેમંત ઋતુ (Hēmaṃta r̥tu) , ಹೇಮಂತ ಋತು (Hēmaṃta Ṛtu) , , ഹേമന്തം‌ (Hemantam) , 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 ''Makara'' ( sa, मकर, translit=Makara) is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, a ...

Kumbha A kumbha ( sa, कुम्भ) is a type of pottery in India. Traditionally, it is made by Kumbhars, also known as ''Prajapati''s. In the context of Hindu, Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism tra ...

, ♑ ♒ , Mid Jan– Mid March , Śiśira (

) , शिशिर , শীত (Śeet) , શિશિર ઋતુ (Śiśira r̥tu) , ಶಿಶಿರ ಋತು (Śiśira Ṛtu) , , ശിശിരം‌ (Śiśiram) , 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 Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

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 '' pakṣa'' (पक्ष, literally "side"). One fortnight is the bright, waxing half where the moon size grows and it ends in the full moon. This is called "Gaura Paksha" or ''Shukla Paksha''. The other half is the darkening, waning fortnight which ends in the new moon. This is called "Vadhya Paksha" or ''Krishna Paksha''. The Hindu festivals typically are either on or the day after the full moon night or the darkest night (''amavasya'', अमावास्या), except for some associated with

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around c ...

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

. The lunar months of the hot summer and the busy major cropping-related part of the monsoon season typically do not schedule major festivals.

Amanta and Purnimanta systems

Two traditions have been followed in the Indian subcontinent with respect to lunar months: the amanta tradition, which ends the lunar month on new moon day (similar to the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 ...

) and the purnimanta tradition, which ends it on

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

day. As a consequence, in the amanta tradition, Shukla paksha precedes Krishna paksha in every lunar month, whereas in the purnimanta tradition, Krishna paksha precedes Shukla paksha in every lunar month. As a result, a Shukla paksha will always belong to the same month in both traditions, whereas a Krishna paksha will always be associated with different (but succeeding) months in each tradition. {, class="wikitable" , +style="text-align:left", Variations in the naming of lunar months ! !Krishna Paksha !Shukla Paksha !Krishna Paksha , - style="text-align:center" , style="text-align:left" , Amanta , Phalguna , colspan="2" , Chaitra , - style="text-align:center" , style="text-align:left" , Purnimanta , colspan="2" , Chaitra , Vaishaka The amanta (also known as Amavasyanta or Mukhyamana) tradition is followed by most Indian states that have a peninsular coastline (except

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, which use their own solar calendars). These states are

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

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 ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

. Nepal and most Indian states north of the Vindhya mountains follow the purnimanta (or Gaunamana) tradition. The purnimanta tradition was being followed in the

Vedic era The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...

. It was replaced with the amanta tradition as the Hindu calendar system prior to the 1st century BCE, but the Purnimanta tradition was restored in 57 BCE by

, who wanted to return to the Vedic roots. The presence of this system is one of the factors considered in dating ancient Indian manuscripts and epigraphical evidence that have survived into the modern era. 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. Both lunisolar calendar systems are equivalent ways of referring to the same date, and they continue to be in use in different regions, though the Purnimanta system is now typically assumed as implied in modern Indology literature if not otherwise specified.

List of Lunar Months

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 zodicac (

sankranti Sankranti ( sa, संक्रान्ति ''saṁkrānti or saṅkramaṇa'') means transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calen ...

). 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:

{, class="wikitable" , + Lunar calendar month names in different Hindu calendars !#, , style="background: #ffad66;" width=50, Vikrami
(lunar), , style="background: #ffad66;" width=50, Sankranti !width=50, Hindi/
Marathi !width=50, Kannada !width=100, Kashmiri !width=50, Maithili !width=50, Meitei (Manipuri) !Nepali !width=50, Punjabi !width=100, Sindhi !width=50, Telugu, , width=50, Tulu, , width=50, Tibetan, , width=50, Gregorian , - , 1, , align="center" ,

Chaitra Chaitra (Hindi: चैत्र) is a month of the Hindu calendar. In the standard Hindu calendar 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 Cho ...

, align="center" , Mēsha , चैत्र , ಚೈತ್ರ (Chaitra) , or , 𑒔𑒻𑒞𑒱 (Chait) , ꯂꯝꯇꯥ (Lamta) , चैत (Chait) , (Chēt) , (Chēṭu) , చైత్రము (Chaitramu) , align="center" , Suggi, , align="center" , ནག་པ་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , March–April , - , 2, , align="center" , Vaisākha, , align="center" , Vrisha , वैशाख , ವೈಶಾಖ (Vaisākha) , or , 𑒥𑒻𑒮𑒰𑒐 (Baishakh) , ꯁꯖꯤꯕꯨ (Sajibu) , वैशाख (Baishākh) , (Vasākh) , (Vēsāku) or (Vihāu) , వైశాఖము (Vaiśākhamu) , align="center" , Paggu , align="center" , ས་ག་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , April–May , - , 3, , align="center" ,

Jyeshta Jyeshtha or Jyēṣṭha ( sa, ज्येष्ठ; ne, जेठ ''jēṭ''; as, জেঠ ''zeth''; or, ଜ୍ୟେଷ୍ଠ ''Jyeṣṭha'') is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Jyestha is the third mon ...

, , align="center" , Mithuna , ज्येष्ठ , ಜ್ಯೇಷ್ಠ (Jyeshta) , , 𑒖𑒹𑒚 (Jeth) , ꯀꯥꯂꯦꯟ (Kalen) , जेठ (Jēṭh) , (Jēṭh) , (Jēṭhu) , జ్యేష్ఠము (Jyēsṭhamu) , align="center" , Bēsha, , align="center" , སྣྲོན་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , May–June , - , 4, , align="center" , Āshāda, , align="center" , Karka , आषाढ़ / आषाढ , ಆಷಾಢ (Āshāda) , , 𑒁𑒮𑒰𑒜𑓃 (Asadh) , ꯏꯉꯥ (Eenga) , असार (Asār) , (Hāṛh) , (Ākhāṛu) or (Āhāṛu) , ఆషాఢము (Āṣāḍhamu) , align="center" , Kārtel, , align="center" , ཆུ་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , June–July , - , 5, , align="center" ,

Shraavana Śrāvaṇa ( sa, श्रावण) is the fifth month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Śrāvaṇa is the fifth month of the year, beginning on July 23 and ending on August 22. In the Tamil calendar, it is known ...

, , align="center" , Singa , श्रावण , ಶ್ರಾವಣ (Shrāvana) , , 𑒮𑒰𑒍𑒢 (Saon) , ꯏꯉꯦꯟ (Eengen) , साउन (Sāun) , (Sāoṇ) , (Sānvaṇu) , శ్రావణము (Śrāvaṇamu) , align="center" , Aaṭi, , align="center" , གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , July–August , - , 6, , align="center" , Bhādra, , align="center" , Kanya , भाद्र / भाद्रपद , ಭಾದ್ರಪದ (Bhādrapada) , or or , 𑒦𑒰𑒠𑒼 (Bhado) , ꯊꯧꯋꯥꯟ (Thouwan) , भदौ (Bhadau) , (Bhādōn) or (Bhādrōn) , (Baḍo) or (Baḍro) , భద్రపదము (Bhadrapadamu), , align="center" , Sona, , align="center" , ཁྲིམས་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , August–September , - , 7, , align="center" , Ashwina, , align="center" , Tula , आश्विन , ಆಶ್ವಯುಜ (Āswayuja) , , 𑒂𑒮𑒱𑒢 (Aasin) , ꯂꯥꯡꯕꯟ (Langban) , असोज (Asoj) , (Assū) , (Asū) , ఆశ్వయుజము (Āśvayujamu), , align="center" , Kanya/Nirnāl, , align="center" , ཐ་སྐར་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , September–October , - , 8, , align="center" , Kartika, , align="center" , Vrischika , कार्तिक , ಕಾರ್ತೀಕ (Kārtika) , , 𑒏𑒰𑒞𑒱𑒏 (Katik) , ꯃꯦꯔꯥ (Mera) , कात्तिक (Kāttik) , (Kattak) , (Katī) , కార్తికము (Kārtikamu), , align="center" , Bontel, , align="center" , སྨིན་དྲུག་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , October–November , - , 9, , align="center" , Mārgasirsa
(

Agrahayana Agrahāyaṇa or Mārgaśīrṣa, ( Hindi: अगहन - agahana; मार्गशीर्ष - Mārgaśirṣa) is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, ''Agrahāyaṇa'' is the ninth month of the year, beginnin ...

) , , align="center" , Dhanus , मार्गशीर्ष , ಮಾರ್ಗಶಿರ (Mārgasira) , or or , 𑒁𑒑𑒯𑒢 (Agahan) , ꯍꯤꯌꯥꯡꯀꯩ (Heeyangkei) , मंसिर (Mangsir) , (Magghar) , (Nāhrī) or (Manghiru) , మార్గశిరము(Mārgaśiramu), , align="center" , Jārde, , align="center" , མགོ་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , November–December , - , 10, , align="center" ,

Pausha Pausha ( sa, पौष ; hi, पूस ; ta, தை ), also called Paush, Poush, Pausa or Pushya, is the tenth month of the Hindu calendar, corresponding with December/January of the Gregorian calendar. In the Indian national calendar, Pausha ...

, , align="center" , Makara , पौष , ಪುಷ್ಯ (Pushya) , or , 𑒣𑒴𑒮 (Poos) , ꯄꯣꯢꯅꯨ (Poinu) , पुष (Puṣ) , (Poh) , (Pohu) , పుష్యము(Puṣyamu), , align="center" , Perarde, , align="center" , རྒྱལ་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , December–January , - , 11, , align="center" ,

Māgha Magha (c. 7th century) ( sa, माघ, ) was a Sanskrit poet at King Varmalata's court at Shrimala, the then-capital of Gujarat (presently in Rajasthan state). Magha was born in a Shrimali Brahmin family. He was the son of Dattaka Sarvacharya ...

, , align="center" , Kumbha , माघ , ಮಾಘ (Magha) , , 𑒧𑒰𑒒 (Magh) , ꯋꯥꯛꯆꯤꯡ (Wakching) , माघ (Magh) , (Māgh) , (Mānghu) , మాఘము(Māghamu), , align="center" , Puyintel, , align="center" , མཆུ་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , January–February , - , 12, , align="center" , Phālguna, , align="center" , Mina , फाल्गुण / फाल्गुन , ಫಾಲ್ಗುಣ (Phalguna) , , 𑒤𑒰𑒑𑒳𑒢 (Fagun) , ꯐꯥꯢꯔꯦꯜ (Fairel) , फागुन (Phagun) , (Phaggaṇ) , (Phaguṇu) , ఫాల్గుణము (Phālguṇamu), , align="center" , Māyi, , align="center" , དབོ་ཟླ་བ, , align="center" , 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. Purushottam Maas or Adhik Maas is an extra month that is inserted to keep the lunar and solar calendars aligned. The twelve months are subdivided into six lunar seasons timed with the agriculture cycles, blooming of natural flowers, fall of leaves, and weather. To account for the mismatch between lunar and solar calendar, the Hindu scholars adopted intercalary months, where a particular month just repeated. The choice of this month was not random, but timed to sync back the two calendars to the cycle of agriculture and nature. 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 Asura masa). The Hindu mathematicians who calculated the best way to adjust the two years, over long periods of a ''yuga'' (era, tables calculating 1000 of years), they determined that the best means to intercalate the months is to time the intercalary months on a 19-year cycle. 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 Mārgasirsa (also called ''Agrahayana''),

and Maagha 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 samkranti, 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 samkranti and Kumbha samkranti, 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 Saura may refer to: * Saura (Hinduism), a Hindu denomination * Saura calendar, the Vedic and medieval Indian solar calendar People * Antonio Saura, Spanish surrealist artist * Carlos Saura, Spanish film director * Enrique Saura, Spanish footb ...

'') day or civil day, called ''divasa'' (), 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'' (), 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. Both these days do not directly correspond to a mathematical measure for a day such as equal 24 hours of a solar year, a fact that the Hindu calendar scholars knew, but the system of ''divasa'' was convenient for the general population. The ''tithi'' have been the basis for timing rituals and festivals, while ''divasa'' for everyday use. The Hindu calendars adjust the mismatch in ''divasa'' and ''tithi'', using a methodology similar to the solar and lunar months. 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. These motions are measured using a fixed map of celestial zodiac as reference, and given the elliptical orbits, a duration of a ''tithi'' varies between 21.5 and 26 hours, states Cort. However, in the Indian tradition, the general population's practice has been to treat a tithi as a solar day between one sunrise to next. 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 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. Also referred to as ''Vara'' and used as a suffix. The correspondence between the names of the week in Hindu and other Indo-European calendars are exact. This alignment of names probably took place sometime during the 3rd century CE. The weekday of a Hindu calendar has been symmetrically divided into 60 ''ghatika'', each ''ghatika'' (24 minutes) is divided into 60 ''pala'', each ''pala'' (24 seconds) is subdivided into 60 ''vipala'', and so on.

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%;" , + Names of the weekdays in different languages , - !No. !style="background: #ffad66;" ,

!Latin weekday !Celestial object ! Assamese !

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

!Gujarati language, Gujarati !Hindi language, Hindi !Kannada language, Kannada !Kashmiri language, Kashmiri !Konkani language, Konkani !Malayalam !Maithili language, Maithili !Marathi language, Marathi !Meitei language, Meitei
(Manipuri) !Nepali language, Nepali !Odia language, Odia !Punjabi language, Punjabi
(Hindus and Sikhs) !Sindhi language, Sindhi !Sylheti language, Sylheti !Tamil language, Tamil !Telugu language, Telugu !Urdu language, Urdu !Balinese language, Balinese !Cham language, Cham , - , 1 , Sūrya, Ravivāsara
रविवासर or
Aditya vāsara
आदित्य वासर , Sunday/dies Sol (Roman mythology), Solis , Sūrya, Ravi, Aditya = Sun , Sūrya, Dêûbār/Rôbibār
দেওবাৰ/ৰবিবাৰ , Sūrya, Rôbibār
রবিবার , Surya, Aitwār
अतवार , Sūrya, Ravivār
રવિવાર , Sūrya, Ravivār
रविवार , Sūrya, Bhānuvāra
ಭಾನುವಾರ , Surya, [aːtʰwaːr] , Sūrya, Āytār
आयतार , Sūrya, Njaayar
ഞായർ , Sūrya, Ravidin
𑒩𑒫𑒱𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Sūrya, Ravivāra
रविवार , Nongmaijing
ꯅꯣꯡꯃꯥꯏꯖꯤꯡ , Sūrya, Aaitabar
आइतवार , Sūrya, Rabibāra
ରବିବାର , Sūrya, Aitvār
ਐਤਵਾਰ , Surya, Ācharu or Surya, ĀrtvSūrya, āru , Sūrya, Rôibbār
ꠞꠂꠛ꠆ꠛꠣꠞ , Sūrya, Nyayiru
ஞாயிறு , Sūrya, Ādivāraṁ
ఆదివారం , Sūrya, Itvār
, , Sūrya, Redite
ᬋᬤᬶᬢᭂ , , Sūrya, Adit , - , 2 , Soma (deity), Somavāsara
सोमवासर or
Indu vāsara
इन्दु वासर , Monday/dies Selene, Lunae , Soma (deity), Chandra = Moon , Soma (deity), Xûmbār
সোমবাৰ , Soma (deity), Śombār
সোমবার , Soma (deity), Somār
सोमार , Soma (deity), Sōmavār
સોમવાર , Soma (deity), Somavār
सोमवार , Soma (deity), Sōmavāra
ಸೋಮವಾರ , Chandra, [t͡səndrɨwaːr]
, , Soma (deity), Somaar
सोमार , Soma (deity), Thinkal
തിങ്കൾ , Soma (deity), Somdin
𑒮𑒼𑒧𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Soma (deity), Somavāra
सोमवार , Ningthoukaba
ꯅꯤꯡꯊꯧꯀꯥꯕ , Soma (deity), Sombar
सोमवार , Soma (deity), Somabāra
ସୋମବାର , Soma (deity), Somavār
ਸੋਮਵਾਰ , Chandra, Sūmaru , Soma (deity), Śombār
ꠡꠝ꠆ꠛꠣꠞ , Soma (deity), Thingal
திங்கள் , Soma (deity), Sōmavāraṁ
సోమవారం , Soma (deity), Somvār
or Soma (deity), Pīr
, Soma (deity), Soma
ᬲᭀᬫ , Soma (deity), Thom , - , 3 , Mangala, Maṅgalavāsara
मङ्गलवासर or
Bhaumavāsara
भौम वासर , Tuesday/dies Mars (mythology), Martis , Mangala, Maṅgala =

, Mangala, Môṅôlbār/Môṅgôlbār
মঙলবাৰ/মঙ্গলবাৰ , Mangala, Môṅgôlbār
মঙ্গলবার , Mangala, Mangar
मंगर , Mangala, Maṅgaḷavār
મંગળવાર , Mangala, Maṅgalavār
मंगलवार , Mangala, Maṁgaḷavāra
ಮಂಗಳವಾರ , Mangala, [boːmwaːr] or Mangala, [bɔ̃waːr] , Mangala, Mangaḷār
मंगळार , Mangala, Chovva
ചൊവ്വ , Mangala, Maṅgaldin
𑒧𑓀𑒑𑒪𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Mangala, Maṅgaḷavāra
मंगळवार , Leipakpokpa
ꯂꯩꯄꯥꯛꯄꯣꯛꯄ , Mangala, Mangalbar
मङ्गलवार , Mangala, Maṅgaḷabāra
ମଙ୍ଗଳବାର , Mangala, Maṅgalavār
ਮੰਗਲਵਾਰ , Mangala, Mangalu or Mangala, Angāro , Mangala, Môṅgôlbār
ꠝꠋꠉꠟ꠆ꠛꠣꠞ , Mangala, Chevvai
செவ்வாய் , Mangala, Maṁgaḷavāraṁ
మంగళవారం , Mangala, Mangal
, Mangala, Anggara
ᬳᬂᬕᬭ , Mangala, Angar , - , 4 , Budhavāsara
बुधवासर or
Saumya vāsara
सौम्य वासर , Wednesday/dies Mercury (mythology), Mercurii , Budha = Mercury (planet), Mercury , Budha, Budhbār
বুধবাৰ , Budha, Budhbār
বুধবার , Budha, Buddh
बुध , Budhavār
બુધવાર , Budhavāra
बुधवार , Budhavāra
ಬುಧವಾರ , Budha, [bɔdwaːr] , Budhavār
बुधवार , Budhan
ബുധൻ , Budha, Budhdin
𑒥𑒳𑒡𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Budhavāra
बुधवार , Yumsakeisa
ꯌꯨꯝꯁꯀꯩꯁ , Budhabar
बुधवार , Budhabāra
ବୁଧବାର , Budha, Buddhavār
ਬੁੱਧਵਾਰ , Budharu or Budha, Arbā , Budha, Budbār
ꠛꠥꠗ꠆ꠛꠣꠞ , Budhan
புதன் , Budhavāraṁ
బుధవారం , Budha, Budh
, Budha, Buda
ᬩᬸᬤ , Budha, But , - , 5 , Guruvāsara
गुरुवासर
or
Bṛhaspati, Brhaspati vāsara
बृहस्पतिवासर , Thursday/dies Jupiter (mythology), Iovis/Jupiter , Bṛhaspati, Deva-Guru Bṛhaspati = Jupiter , Bṛhaspati, Brihôspôtibār
বৃহস্পতিবাৰ , Bṛhaspati, Brihôśpôtibār
বৃহস্পতিবার , Guru, Bi'phey
बियफे , Guruvār
ગુરુવાર , Guruvār
गुरुवार or
Bṛhaspati, Brihaspativāra
बृहस्पतिवार , Guruvāra
ಗುರುವಾರ , Bṛhaspati, [braswaːr] or Bṛhaspati, [brʲaswaːr] , Guru, Birestār
बिरेस्तार , Guru, Vyaazham
വ്യാഴം , Guru, Brihaspatidin
𑒥𑒵𑒯𑒮𑓂𑒣𑒞𑒲𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Guruvāra
गुरुवार , Sagolsen
ꯁꯒꯣꯜꯁꯦꯟ , Guru, Bihibar
बिहीवार , Gurubāra
ଗୁରୁବାର , Guru, Vīravār
ਵੀਰਵਾਰ , Bṛhaspati, Vispati or Bṛhaspati, Khamīsa , Bṛhaspati, Birôiśôtbār
ꠛꠤꠡꠥꠗꠛꠣꠞ , Guru, Vyazhan
வியாழன் , Guru, Guruvāraṁ, Br̥haspativāraṁ
గురువారం, బృహస్పతివారం, లక్ష్మీవారం , Guru, Gurūvār
or Guru, Jume'rāt
, Guru, Wrespati
ᬯ᭄ᬭᭂᬲ᭄ᬧᬢᬶ , Guru, Jip , - , 6 , Shukra, Śukravāsara
शुक्रवासर , Friday/dies Venus (mythology), Veneris , Shukra, Śukra = Venus , Shukra, Xukurbār/Xukrôbār
শুকুৰবাৰ/শুক্রবাৰ , Shukra, Śukrôbār
শুক্রবার , Shukra, Sukkar
सुक्कर , Shukra, Śukravār
શુક્રવાર , Shukra, Śukravār
शुक्रवार , Shukra, Śukravāra
ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ , Shukra, [ʃokurwaːr] or Shukra, [jumaːh] , Shukra, Shukrār
शुक्रार , Shukra, Velli
വെള്ളി , Shukra, Śukradin
𑒬𑒳𑒏𑓂𑒩𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Shukra, Śukravāra
शुक्रवार , Eerai
ꯏꯔꯥꯢ , Shukra, Sukrabar
शुक्रवार , Shukra, Sukrabāra
ଶୁକ୍ରବାର , Shukra, Śukkaravār
ਸ਼ੁੱਕਰਵਾਰ , Shukra, Śukru or Shukra, Jum'o , Shukra, Śukkurbār
ꠡꠥꠇ꠆ꠇꠥꠞ꠆ꠛꠣꠞ/ꠎꠥꠝ꠆ꠝꠣꠛꠣꠞ , Shukra, Velli
வெள்ளி , Shukra, Śukravāraṁ
శుక్రవారం , Shukra, Śukarvār
or Shukra, Juma'a
, Shukra, Sukra
ᬲᬸᬓ᭄ᬭ , Shukra, Suk , - , 7 , Shani, Śanivāsara
शनिवासर Or Śaniścaravāsara शनिश्चरवासर , Saturday/dies Saturn (mythology), Saturnis , Shani, Śani = Saturn , Shani, Xônibār
শনিবাৰ , Shani, Śônibār
শনিবার , Shani, Sanichchar
सनिच्चर , Shani, Śanivār
શનિવાર , Shani, Śanivār
शनिवार , Shani, Śanivāra
ಶನಿವಾರ , Shani, [baʈɨwaːr] , Shani, Shenvār
शेनवार , Shani
ശനി , Shani, Śanidin
𑒬𑒢𑒲𑒠𑒱𑒢 , Shani, Śanivāra
शनिवार , Thangja
ꯊꯥꯡꯖ , Shani, Sanibar
शनिवार , Shani, Sanibāra
ଶନିବାର , Shani, Śanīvār
ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ or
Shani, Śaniccharvār
ਸ਼ਨਿੱਚਰਵਾਰ or
Shani, Saniccharvār
ਸਨਿੱਚਰਵਾਰ or
Shani, Sanīvār
ਸਨੀਵਾਰ , Shani, Chancharu or Shani, Śanscharu , Shani, Śônibār
ꠡꠘꠤꠛꠣꠞ , Shani
சனி , Shani, Śanivāraṁ
శనివారం , Shani, Sanīchar
or Shani, Haftah
, Shani, Saniscara
ᬲᬦᬶᬲ᭄ᬘᬭ , Shani, Thanchar

The term -vāsara is often realised as vāra or vaar in

-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 (astronomy), asterism (naksatra), planetary joining (yoga) and astronomical period (karanam). This structure gives the calendar the name ''Panchangam''. The first two are discussed above.

Yoga

The

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: # Viṣkambha # Prīti # Āyuśmān # Saubhāgya # Śobhana # Atigaṇḍa # Sukarma # Dhrti # Śūla # Gaṇḍa # Vṛddhi # Dhruva # Vyāghatā # Harṣaṇa # Vajra # Siddhi # Vyatipāta # Variyas # Parigha # Śiva # Siddha # Sādhya # Śubha # Śukla # Brahma # Māhendra # 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 # Śakuni (शकुनि) # Catuṣpāda (चतुष्पाद) # Nāga (नाग) # Kiṃstughna (किंस्तुघ्न) The 7 "repeating" karaṇas are: # Vava (karana), Vava or Bava (बव) # Valava or Bālava (बालव) # Kaulava (कौलव) # Taitila or Taitula (तैतिल) # Gara or Garaja (गरज) # Vaṇija (वणिज) # Viṣṭi (Bhadra (Hindu calendar), Bhadra) (भद्रा) * Now the first half of the 1st ''tithi'' (of Śukla Pakṣa) is always ''Kiṃtughna karaṇa''. Hence this karaṇa is "fixed". * Next, the 7-repeating karaṇas repeat eight times to cover the next 56 half-''tithis''. Thus these are the "repeating" (cara) karaṇas. * The 3 remaining half-''tithis'' take the remaining "fixed" karaṇas in order. Thus these are also "fixed" (sthira). * 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 (festival), Pongal and those associated with Sankranti. The dates of the lunar cycle based festivals vary significantly on the Gregorian calendar and at times by several weeks.The solar cycle based ancient Hindu festivals almost always fall on the same Gregorian date every year and if they vary in an exceptional year, it is by one day.

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'', the ''Shalivahana'' calendars, as well as the solar emphasizing Tamil calendar and

. The two calendars most widely used today are the ''Vikram Samvat, Vikrama'' calendar, which is in followed in western and northern India and

, the Shalivahana era, Shalivahana Shaka calendar which is followed in the Deccan region of India (Comprising present day Indian states of

, and

).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): *

** Vikrami era – North and Central India (Lunar) ** Gujarati samvat – Gujarat, Rajasthan ** Sindhi samvat – Sindhis * Shalivahana era, Shalivahana calendar (Shaka era) – Used in Deccan region states of

* Saptarishi era calendar – Kashmiri Pandits * Nepal Sambat – Nepal, Sikkim * Meitei calendar – Manipur

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): * Assamese calendar – Assam * Bengali calendars, Bengali calendar – West Bengal * Odia calendar – Odisha * Tirhuta Panchang – Maithilis * Tripuri calendar – Tripura *

– Kerala * Tamil calendar – Tamil Nadu * Tulu calendar – Tulus *

** Punjabi calendar – Punjab, Haryana ** Vikrami era – North and Central India (Solar) ** Bikram Sambat – Nepal, Sikkim

Other related calendars across India and Asia

– used by Indian Government (civil calendar based on solar months) * Vira Nirvana Samvat (Lunar) – Jain * Nanakshahi calendar (Solar) – Sikh *

(Lunar) – Buddhist * Tibetan calendar (Lunar) – Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh *

– Bali *

(Lunar) – Bali * Cham calendar (Lunar) – Chams * Chula Sakarat (Solar) – Myanmar * Thai solar calendar – Thailand * Thai lunar calendar – Thailand * Month#Khmer calendar, Khmer calendar (Solar) – Cambodia

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

Ahargana - The Astronomy of the Hindu Calendar
Explains the various calendric elements of the Hindu calendar by means of astronomical simulations created using Stellarium (software), Stellarium.
Converter: Gregorian and 1957 Normalized Indian Calendar
Shalivahana Hindu calendar, United Kingdom
Hindu Calendar - thedivineindia.com

Hindu Calendars Monthly - monthlycalendars.in

Hindu Calendar of Nepal
The Official Hindu Calendar of Nepal
Indian Hindu Calendar 2022 to 2025 in Telugu

Kyoto University Gregorian – Saka – Vikrami Calendar Converter Tool
M. YANO and M. FUSHIMI {{DEFAULTSORT:Hindu Calendar Hindu calendar, Hindu astronomy, Calendar Hindu astrology, Calendar Articles containing video clips Time in India Time in Hinduism