The Hindu calendar, also called Panchanga (), is one of various

lunisolar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of mont ...

s that are traditionally used in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, with further regional variations for social and

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on

sidereal year A sidereal year (, ; ), also called a sidereal orbital period, is the time that Earth or another planetary body takes to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars. Hence, for Earth, it is also the time taken for the Sun to return to t ...

for

solar cycle The Solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of Modern Maximum, variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun ...

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, also called the Shaka calendar or Śaka 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 officia ...

) found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the

Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (ISO: ''Vikrama Saṁvata''; abbreviated VS), also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian states and Nepal. It is a lunisolar calendar ...

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

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

– 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 The Tamil calendar (தமிழ் நாட்காட்டி) is a Sidereal time, sidereal solar calendar used by the Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used in Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, and by the Tamil ...

(though Tamil Calendar uses month names like in Hindu Calendar) and

Malayalam calendar The Malayalam Calendar, or the Kollam Era (), is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, commemorating the establishment of Kollam. There are many theories regarding the origin of t ...

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

Panchangam A panchāngam (; ) 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 ''Panchāngamu, Pancanga'', ''Panchan ...

(पञ्चाङ्गम्), which is also known as

Panjika The Panjika (IAST: Pañjikā; ; ; ; ; ) is the Hindu astronomical almanac, published in Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Nepali and Odia languages and colloquially known as Panji (IAST: Pāñji; ; ; ). In other parts of India it is called pan ...

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

Babylonian calendar The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar used in Mesopotamia from around the 2nd millennium BC until the Seleucid Era ( 294 BC), and it was specifically used in Babylon from the Old Babylonian Period ( 1780s BC) until the Seleucid Era. ...

, the

Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar, dating back to the Han dynasty, is a lunisolar calendar that blends solar, lunar, and other cycles for social and agricultural purposes. While modern China primarily uses the Gregorian calendar for officia ...

, and the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...

, but different from the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. Unlike the Gregorian calendar which adds additional days to the month to adjust for the mismatch between twelve lunar cycles (354 lunar 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

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 Tibet, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam as well as in Malaysia and Singapore and by Chinese populations for religious or o ...

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

and the traditional lunisolar calendars of

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Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

are also based on an older version of the Hindu calendar. Similarly, the ancient Jain traditions in their

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

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. It is also employed for observing the auspicious days of deities and occasions of fasting, such as

Ekadashi Ekadashi () is the eleventh lunar day (''tithi'') of the waxing (''Shukla Paksha, Shukla Pakṣa)'' and waning (''Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa)'' lunar cycles in a Hindu calendar, Vedic calendar month. Ekadashi is popularly observed within Vaishnavism one ...

Origins

The

Vedic culture upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed i ...

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 The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedas, Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rigveda, Rig, Samaveda, Sama, Yajurveda, Yajur, and Athar ...

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 ( ', "limb of the Veda-s"; plural form: वेदाङ्गानि ') are six auxiliary disciplines of Vedic studies that developed in Vedic and post-Vedic times.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia o ...

s, or ancillary science connected with the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

.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 ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

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 Jawaharla ...

, 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 (Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य IAST: ') was a legendary king as mentioned in ancient Indian literature, featuring in traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi, Vetala Panchavimshati'' and ''Singhasan ...

and starts in 57 BCE.

Texts

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

Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

(the Sun), Moon and the planets. These calculations about the Sun appear in various astronomical texts in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

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

Aryabhata Aryabhata ( ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the '' Āryabhaṭīya'' (which mentions that in 3600 ' ...

, 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 –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 Valabhi era ...

astronomy by

Āryabhaṭa Aryabhata ( ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the '' Āryabhaṭīya'' (which mentions that in 3600 ' ...

and

Varāhamihira Varāhamihira ( 20/21 March 505 – 587), also called Varāha or Mihira, was an ancient Indian astrologer-astronomer who lived in or around Ujjain in present-day Madhya Pradesh, India. Date Unlike other prominent ancient Indian astronome ...

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).

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 o ...

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, Gregorian ...

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 In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system) is a superseded scientific theories, superseded description of the Universe with Earth at the center. Under most geocentric m ...

of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

. 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, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

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.

Year: Samvat

''Samvat'' refers to era of the several Hindu calendar systems in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and

, in a similar manner to the

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", tak ...

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

Vaishakha Vaisakha (, ) is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Indian national calendar, Vaisakha is the second month of the year. It is the first month of the Vikram Samvat calendar, Odia calend ...

. 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 The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year (calendar), Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of the Indian ...

: 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

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

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, 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 the ...

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'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for '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 indic ...

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'' ("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 ''rāśi''s 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: * 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:

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

The names of the solar months are also used in the

Darian calendar The Darian calendar is a proposed system of timekeeping designed to serve the needs of any possible future human settlers on the planet Mars. It was created by aerospace engineer, political scientist, and space jurist Thomas Gangale in 1985 and n ...

for the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

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 (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Durga Durga (, ) 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 combating evils and demonic ...

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

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

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

new moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

day (similar to the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

) and the purnimānta tradition, which ends it on full moon day. As a consequence, in the amanta tradition, Shukla paksha precedes Krishna paksha in every lunar month, whereas in the purnimānta 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. The amanta (also known as Amāvasyānta or Mukhyamana) tradition is followed by most Indian states that have a peninsular coastline (except

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. 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 Indi ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

, which use their own

solar calendar A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar ...

s). These states are

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, 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 List of states and union territories ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

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 bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. 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 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 (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...

. 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

, 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

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 Sankranti () refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In ''Saurmana'' ''varsha'' (Hindu Solar year), there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broa ...

). 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:

} , , జ్యేష్ఠము(jyēsṭhamu) , bēsha , སྣྲོན་ཟླ་བ , May–June , - , Āṣāḍha , Karka , , असाढ़/आषाढ , ಆಷಾಢ (āshāda) , , 𑒁𑒮𑒰𑒜𑓃 (asadh) , आषाढ , , असार (asār) , , or , ఆషాఢము (āṣāḍhamu) , kārte , ཆུ་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ , June–July , - ,

Śrāvaṇa Shravana (Devanagari: श्रवण), also known as Thiruvonam in Tamil and Malayalam (Tamil: திருவோணம், Malayalam: തിരുവോണം), is the 22nd ''nakshatra'' or ''lunar mansion'' as used in Hindu astronomy, Hindu ca ...

, Siṃha , , सावन/श्रावण , ಶ್ರಾವಣ (shrāvana) , , 𑒮𑒰𑒍𑒢 (saon) , श्रावण , , साउन (sāun) , , , శ్రావణము (śrāvaṇamu) , aaṭi , གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ , July–August , - , Bhādrapada , Kanyā , , भादों/भाद्रपद , ಭಾದ್ರಪದ (bhādrapada) , , 𑒦𑒰𑒠𑒼 (bhado) , भाद्रपद , , भदौ (bhadau) , , or , భద్రపదము (bhadrapadamu) , sona , ཁྲིམས་སྟོད་ཟླ་བ , August–September , - , Aśvin , Tulā , , आसिन/आश्विन , ಆಶ್ವಯುಜ (āswayuja) , , 𑒂𑒮𑒱𑒢 (aasin) , आश्विन , , असोज (asoj) , , , ఆశ్వయుజము (āśvayujamu) , kanya/nirnāl , ཐ་སྐར་ཟླ་བ , September–October , - , Kārttika , Vṛśchika , , का(र्)तिक , ಕಾರ್ತೀಕ (kārtika) , , 𑒏𑒰𑒞𑒱𑒏 (katik) , कार्तिक , , कात्तिक (kāttik) , , , కార్తికము (kārtikamu) , bontel , སྨིན་དྲུག་ཟླ་བ , October–November , - , Mārgaśīrṣa , Dhanu , , अघन/अग्रहायण, मँगसिर/मार्गशीर्ष , ಮಾರ್ಗಶಿರ (mārgasira) , , 𑒁𑒑𑒯𑒢 (agahan) , मार्गशीर्ष , , मंसिर (mangsir) , , or , మార్గశిరము (mārgaśiramu) , jārde , མགོ་ཟླ་བ , November–December , - , Pauṣa , Makara , , पूस/पौष , ಪುಷ್ಯ (pushya) , or , 𑒣𑒴𑒮 (poos) , पौष , , पुष (puṣ) , , , పుష్యము (puṣyamu) , perarde , རྒྱལ་ཟླ་བ , December–January , - ,

Māgha Magha (c. 7th century) (, ) was a Sanskrit Language, Sanskrit poet at Vatsraj, King Varmalata's court at Bhinmal, Shrimala, the then-capital of Gujarat (presently in Rajasthan state). Magha was born in a Shrimali Brahmins, Shrimali Brahmin fami ...

, Kumbha , , माघ , ಮಾಘ (magha) , , 𑒧𑒰𑒒 (magh) , माघ , , माघ (magh) , , , మాఘము (māghamu) , puyintel , མཆུ་ཟླ་བ , January–February , - , Phālguna , Mīna , , फा(ल्)गुन , ಫಾಲ್ಗುಣ (phalguna) , , 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. Purushottam Maas or Adhika 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 Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

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 The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from , from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The recurrence is not perfect, and by precise obser ...

used in the

. 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 Mārgaśīrṣa (also called ''Agrahayana''),

Pausha Pausha ( ), 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 is also the tenth month of the year, beginn ...

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

, 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'') 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 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. 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.

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

Yoga

::''See the main article on

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

.'' 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 A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...

which means 1/60 of a degree). These parts are called the ''yogas''. They are labelled: # Viṣkambha # Prīti # Āyuśmān # Saubhāgya # Śobhana # Atigaṇḍa # Sukarma #

Dhrti or or (), means to 'act with determination', 'patience', 'firmness', and refers to 'perseverance', 'wearing regularly'. Dhruti, meaning 'fortitude' and 'determination', is defined as the subtle faculty in a person that makes them strive cont ...

# Śūla # Gaṇḍa #

Vṛddhi Vṛddhi (also rendered vr̥ddhi) is a technical term in morphophonology given to the strongest grade in the vowel gradation system of Sanskrit and of Proto-Indo-European. The term is derived from Sanskrit वृद्धि ''vṛddhi'', , 'g ...

Dhruva Dhruva (Sanskrit: ध्रुव, , Literal translation, lit. "''unshakeable, immovable, fixed or eternal"'') was an Asceticism, ascetic devotee of Vishnu mentioned in the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavata Purana. The Sanskrit term ''dhruva na ...

# Vyāghatā # Harṣaṇa #

Vajra The Vajra (, , ), is a legendary and ritualistic tool, symbolizing the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). It is also described as a "ritual weapon". The use of the bell and vajra together as s ...

Siddhi In Indian religions, (Sanskrit: '; fulfillment, accomplishment) are material, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwise magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of Yoga, yogic advancement through sādhanās such as medit ...

# Vyatipāta # Variyas # Parigha #

Śiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer ...

Siddha ''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of perfection of the intellect as we ...

# Sādhya # Śubha # Śukla #

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

# 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 In Vedic timekeeping, a ''tithi'' is a "duration of two faces of moon that is observed from earth", known as ''milа̄lyа̄'' () in Nepal Bhasa, or the time it takes for the longitudinal angle between the Moon and the Sun to increase by 12 ...

. 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: # Śakuni (शकुनि) # Catuṣpāda (चतुष्पाद) #

Nāga In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

(नाग) # Kiṃstughna (किंस्तुघ्न) The 7 "repeating" karaṇas are: # Vava or Bava (बव) # Valava or Bālava (बालव) # Kaulava (कौलव) # Taitila or Taitula (तैतिल) # Gara or Garaja (गरज) # Vaṇija (वणिज) # Viṣṭi (

Bhadra ''Bhadra'' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'good', 'fortune' or 'auspicious'. It is also the name of many men, women and objects in Hinduism. Male Figures King of Chedi Bhadra was a king of Chedi Kingdom who participated in the Kurukshetra War from t ...

) (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 Nakshatra () is the term for Lunar mansion in Hindu astrology and Buddhist astrology. A nakshatra is one of 27 (sometimes also 28) sectors along the ecliptic. Their names are related to a prominent star or asterisms in or near the respective ...

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 Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi or Mesadi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April or sometimes 14 April. It is seen as a spring harvest celebration primarily in Punjab and Northern In ...

, Pongal and those associated with

Sankranti Sankranti () refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In ''Saurmana'' ''varsha'' (Hindu Solar year), there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broa ...

. 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'', and the ''Shalivahana'' calendars, as well as the solar emphasizing

and

. The two calendars most widely used today are the ''

Vikrama Vikramaditya (Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य IAST: ') was a legendary king as mentioned in ancient Indian literature, featuring in traditional stories including those in '' Vetala Panchavimshati'' and '' Singhasan Battisi''. Ma ...

'' calendar, which is in followed in western and

northern India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

and

, the Shalivahana Shaka calendar which is followed in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

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 Shalivahana (IAST: Śālivāhana) was a legendary emperor of ancient India, who is said to have ruled from Pratishthana (present-day Paithan, Maharashtra). He is believed to be based on a Satavahana king (or kings). There are several contradi ...

calendar (Shaka era) – Used in Deccan region states of

* Saptarishi era calendar –

Kashmiri Pandits The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha-Gauda, Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located w ...

* Kannada calendar – Karnataka * Kashmiri calendar – Kashmir * Maithili calendar *

Meitei calendar The Meitei calendar () or the Manipuri calendar () or the Kangleipak calendar () or the Maliyapham Palcha Kumshing () is a lunar calendar used by the Meitei people of Manipur for their religious, agricultural and other cultural activities. New mo ...

– Manipur *

Nepali calendar Nepali Patro can refer to: * Vikram Samvat Vikram Samvat (ISO: ''Vikrama Saṁvata''; abbreviated VS), also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian st ...

– Nepal, Sikkim *

Punjabi calendar The Punjabi calendar ( Punjabi: , ) is a luni-solar calendar used by the Punjabi people in Punjab, Hindkowan People in Hazara and around the world, but varies by religions. Muslims in these regions used it for agricultural purpose as it corresp ...

– Punjab * Sindhi calendar – Sindh * Telugu calendar – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana *

Tibetan calendar The Tibetan calendar (), or the Phukpa calendar, known as the ''Tibetan lunar calendar'', is a lunisolar calendar composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three y ...

– Tibet

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 In many countries of South Asia and South East Asia, the traditional new year is calculated on the sun's entry into the constellation Aries as per the regional Hindu calendars or Buddhist calendars. The sun's entry into Aries is known as Sank ...

): *

Assamese calendar The Assamese Calendar () is a Lunisolar calendar, followed in the Indian state of Assam. The New Year in the Assamese calendar is known as '' Bohag Bihu''. The calendar is counted from the date of the ascension of Kumar Bhashkar Barman to the t ...

– Assam *

Bengali calendar The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar (, colloquially , or , , "Bangla Year") is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. In contrast to the traditional Indian Hindu calendar, which begins with the month Chait ...

– West Bengal, Bangladesh, Tripura, Barrak Region of Assam and parts of Jharkhand. *

Odia calendar The Odia calendar ( Pāñji) is a solar calendar used by the Odia people from the Odisha region of the Indian subcontinent. The calendar follows the sidereal solar cycle while using the lunar Purnimanta phase for the religious dates. The New Year ...

– Odisha *

Tirhuta Panchang Tirhuta Panchang (Devanagari script, Devanagari: तिरहुता पंचांग, Tirhuta script, Tirhuta: 𑒞𑒱𑒩𑒯𑒳𑒞𑒰 𑒣𑓀𑒔𑒰𑓀𑒑, International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ''Tirhutā pan̄cāṅg'') is a cale ...

– Maithilis *

Tripuri calendar The Tripuri calendar is the traditional solar calendar used by the Tripuri people, especially in the context of Tripuri irredentism. Its era, the "Twipra Era", "Tripura Era" or ''Tripurabda'' is set at 15 April AD 590. The Tripura Era's New Yea ...

– Tripura *

– Kerala *

– Tamil Nadu *

Tulu calendar Tulu Calendar (also known as Varsa, Vorsa or Vodu) is a traditional Indian solar calendar, generally used in the regions of Northern Parts of Kasaragod District of Kerala, and Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Districts of Karnataka, India. The indigenou ...

– Tulus *

calendar – Nepal ** Vi– 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 The ''Vira Nirvana Samvat'' (era) is a calendar era beginning on 7 October 527 BCE. It commemorates the nirvana of Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara. This is the oldest system of chronological reckoning which is still used in India. Histor ...

(Lunar) – Jain *

(Lunar) – Buddhist *

(Lunar) – Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh *

– Bali *

(Lunar) – Bali * Cham calendar (Lunar) – Chams *

Chula Sakarat Chula Sakarat or Chulasakarat (; , ; , ; , , , abbrv. จ.ศ. ''Choso'') is a lunisolar calendar derived from the Burmese calendar, whose variants were in use by most mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms down to the late 19th century. The calendar is ...

(Lunar) – Myanmar *

Thai solar calendar The Thai solar calendar (, , "solar calendar") was adopted by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in 1888 Common Era, CE as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar, replacing the Thai lunar calendar as the legal Thai calendar (though the latter i ...

– Thailand *

Thai lunar calendar The Thai lunar calendar (, , , literally, ''Specific days according to lunar norms''), or Tai calendar, is a lunisolar Buddhist calendar. It is used for calculating lunar-regulated holy days. Based on the ''SuriyaYatra'', with likely influence fr ...

– Thailand * Khmer calendar (Lunar & 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

How Hindu Calendar is shaped as per Vedic Astrology
Explains the complete relation between planets, nakshatras, Tithis and other aspects of Vedic Astrological findings corelated with astronomy. Shalivahana Hindu calendar, United Kingdom
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 Indian inventions