Mīna, or Meena, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of

Pisces Pisces may refer to: *Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign Astronomy *Pisces (constellation), a constellation ** Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in the Milky Way's halo that is situated in the Pisces constellation ** Pisces II, a ...

, and overlaps with about the later half of March and about the early half of April in 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 ...

. First day of the Meena month, called as Meena Sankranti generally falls on March 14. In Vedic texts, the Mina month is called Tapasya (IAST: Tapasya), but in these ancient texts it has no zodiacal associations. The solar month of Mina overlaps with its lunar month

Chaitra Chaitra () 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 Choitro. Chaitra or Cha ...

, in Hindu lunisolar calendars. The Mina marks the spring season for the Indian subcontinent. It is preceded by the solar month of

Kumbha A kumbha () is a type of pottery in India. Traditionally, it is made by Kumbhars, also known as ''Prajapati''s. In the context of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology, the kumbha symbolises the womb. It represents fertility, life, generative ...

, and followed by the solar month of Meṣa. The Mina month is called ''Panguni'' in the Tamil Hindu calendar, and is its last month in the traditional calendar. The ancient and medieval era Sanskrit texts of India vary in their calculations about the duration of Mina, just like they do with other months. For example, the ''Surya Siddhanta'' calculates the duration of Mina to be 30 days, 8 hours, 29 minutes and 1 second. In contrast, the ''Arya Siddhanta'' calculates the duration of the Mina month to be 30 days, 8 hours, 7 minutes and 42 seconds. The Indian solar month names are significant in epigraphical studies of South Asia. For example, the ''Mina'' month, along with other solar months are found inscribed in medieval era temples. The ''Mina'' month is found inscribed in Chola Empire monuments. Mina (literally, fish) is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to

Pisces (astrology) Pisces (; ; ''Ikhthyes'', Latin for "fishes") is the twelfth and final astrological sign in the zodiac. It is a mutable sign. It spans 330° to 360° of celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun (astrology), sun transits this are ...

. Mina is also the eighth month 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 ...

, when the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

traverses the central sector of the constellation Pisces as seen from Mars.

References

{{Nepali calendar Hindu solar months