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The Tamil calendar (தமிழ் நாட்காட்டி) is a sidereal
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 ...
used by the
Tamil people The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longe ...
of 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 ...
. It is also used in Puducherry, and by the Tamil population in
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, ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
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 ...
and
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
. It is used in contemporary times for cultural, religious and agricultural events, with 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 ...
largely used for official purposes both within and outside India. The Tamil calendar is based on the
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 ...
.


Description

The calendar follows a 60-year cycle that is also very ancient and is observed by most traditional calendars of India and China. This is related to 5 12-year revolutions of
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
around the Sun and one that adds up to 60 years and the orbit of Nakshatras (stars) as described in the Surya Siddhanta. In the Gregorian year , the Tamil year starts on 14 April , Kaliyuga . The Vikrama and Shalivahana (Saka) eras are also used. There are several references in early
Tamil literature Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the T ...
to the new year. Nakkeerar,
Sangam period The Sangam literature ( Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam''), historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' ( Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ''), connote ...
author of the '' Neṭunalvāṭai'', wrote in the third century CE that the Sun travels each year from Mesha/Chittirai in mid-April through 11 successive signs of the zodiac. Kūdalūr Kiḻar in the third century CE refers to Mesha Rāsi/Chittirai i.e. mid-April as the commencement of the year in the Puṟanāṉūṟu. The Tolkappiyam is the oldest surviving Tamil grammar text that divides the year into six seasons where Chihthirrai i.e. mid-April marks the start of the ''Ilavenil'' season or Summer. The 5th century Silappadhigaaram mentions the 12 rāsigal or zodiac signs that correspond to the Tamil months starting with Mesha/Chittirai in mid-April. The 6th century
Manimekalai ''Maṇimēkalai'' (, ), also spelled ''Manimekhalai'' or ''Manimekalai'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar probably somewhere between the 2nd century to the 6th century. It is an "anti-love story", a ...
alludes to this very same Hindu solar calendar as we know it today Adiyarkunalaar, an early medieval (12th century) commentator or Urai-asiriyar mentions the twelve months of the Tamil calendar with particular reference to Chittirai i.e. mid-April. There were subsequent inscriptional references in Pagan, Burma dated to the 11th century CE and in Sukhothai, Thailand dated to the 14th century CE to South Indian, often Vaishnavite, courtiers who were tasked with defining the traditional calendar that began in mid-April. The Tamil New Year follows the '' nirayanam'' vernal equinox and generally falls on 14 April of the Gregorian year. 14 April marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar and is a public holiday in the state of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Tropical vernal equinox fall around 22 March, and by adding 23 degrees of trepidation (oscillation) to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or ''Nirayana Mesha Sankranti'' (Sun's transition into '' nirayana'' Aries). Hence, the Tamil calendar begins on the same date in April which is observed by most traditional calendars of the rest of India –
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 ...
,
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
,
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
etc. This also coincides with the traditional new year in
Burma 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 ha ...
,
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
,
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 ...
,
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, ...
,
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
,
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
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 ...
.


Week

The days of week (Kiḻamai) in the Tamil calendar relate to the celestial bodies in 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 ...
: Sun,
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
,
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 ...
, Mercury,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
,
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, and
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
, in that order. The week starts with Sunday.


Months

The number of days in a month varies between 29 and 32. These are the months of the Tamil Calendar. The Sanskrit month starts a few weeks ahead of the Tamil month, since the Tamil calendar is a
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 ...
, while the Sanskrit calendar is a
lunisolar 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 months ...
calendar. Kielhorn, Franz: Festal Days of the Hindu Lunar Calendar. The Indian Antiquary XXVI, 177–187 (1897).


Seasons

The Tamil year, in keeping with the old Indic calendar, is divided into six seasons, each of which lasts two months:


Sixty-year cycle

The 60-year cycle is common to both North and South Indian traditional calendars, with the same name and sequence of years. Its earliest reference is to be found in Surya Siddhanta, which Varahamihirar (550 CE) believed to be the most accurate of the then current theories of astronomy. However, in the Surya Siddhantic list, the first year was ''Vijaya'' and not ''Prabhava'' as currently used. There are some parallels in this
sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus amounting to a total of sixty years every cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...
with 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 ...
. The Surya Siddhanta and other Indian classical texts on astronomy had some influence on the Chinese calendar although it merits attention that the sexagenary cycle in China is itself very old. After the completion of sixty years, the calendar starts with the first year. This corresponds to the Hindu "century." The ''Vakya'' or ''Tirukannitha Panchangam'' (the traditional Tamil almanac) outlines this sequence. It is related to the position of the planets in the sky with respect to Earth. It means that the two major planets Sani/Saturn (which takes 30 years to complete one cycle round the Sun) and the Viyaḻan/Jupiter (which takes 12 years to complete one cycle round the Sun) comes to the same position after 60 years. The following list presents the current 60-year cycle of the Tamil calendar:


Celebrations

The months of the Tamil Calendar have great significance and are deeply rooted in the faith of
Tamil Hindus Tamil Hindus () are the Tamil language, Tamil-speaking people who follow Hinduism. Hinduism was the first religion to reach the ancient Tamil kingdoms. Tamil Nadu is home to one of the largest functioning Hindu temples in the world. Tamil ...
. Some months are considered very auspicious, while a few are considered inauspicious as well. Tamil months start and end based on the Sun's shift from one Rāsi to the other, but the names of the months are based on the star on the start of the pournami in that month. The name of the month is sometimes the name of the star itself. (e.g. Chittirai is always the star on the pournami of the Chittirai month). Some of the celebrations for each month are listed below. Dates in parentheses are not exact and usually vary by a day or two. Underneath (or beside) the months of the Hindu calendar are their Gregorian counterparts.


Significance

*The Hindus developed a system of calendrics that encapsulates vast periods of time. For computing the age of the Earth and various geological and other epochs, as well as the age of mankind, they still employ a Tamil calendar derived from ancient astronomical data, known as the ''Tirukkanida Panchanga'' H.P. Blavatsky, 'The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy' Book 2: pp. 49–51, Theosophical University Press, 1888 *The 10th Tamil month, called ''Tai'', falls in mid-January each year. It is celebrated with much enthusiasm within the Tamil Community all over the world. Tai is marked by gifts of new clothing for family members and prayers to God for prosperity in the coming year. ''Tai'' and the fifth month ''Āvaṇi'' are considered very auspicious for marriage and most marriages occur during these months. *The fourth month ''Ādi'' is a busy month for most people including priests as there will be major temple festivities throughout the month, so most weddings do not often fall in this month. ''Ādi'' is the month of preparation for the next crop cycle by farmers. Therefore, farming communities avoid major events like weddings in this month. Those members of the Tamil community who don't actively contribute/participate in farming take advantage by having important functions like wedding in this month. For example, the business community prefers this month for weddings. ''Ādi'' is usually the worst month for business, although when businesses recently initiated Ādi discounts, this situation has changed significantly. Each Friday of this month is set aside for prayer and worship. *''Ādi'' is portrayed as an inauspicious month for union of newlyweds because conceiving in this month might often result in child delivery around April–May, the hottest months in Tamil Nadu (''Agni natchathiram'' – pineḻu'the last 7 days of ''Chithirai'' and muneḻu'the first 7 days of ''Vaigasi''). 'Ādi' is also the windiest month in Tamil Nadu, and hence the phrase 'Ādi kaatru ammiyai nagatrum' (literally, 'the strong winds in the month of Ādi can even move a stone grinder') *''Puratāsi'' is when most of the non-vegetarian Tamil people fast from meat for a month. Each Saturday of this month is set apart to venerate the planet Saturn. *''Deepavali'', is celebrated on the new moon day, in the seventh month ''Aipasi''. The month of ''Aipasi'' is usually characterised by the North-East Monsoon in Tamil Nadu, which has given birth to a phrase, ''Aipasi adai maḻai'' meaning the "Non-stop downpour". *''Margaḻi'' falls in winter in Tamil Nadu, and is an auspicious month. The month is considered sacred. During the holy month of Margaḻi, houses are decorated with colorful and elaborate kolams. These are drawn on the threshold to welcome guests and divine beings to bless their houses with prosperity and happiness. The Shaivite fast of ''Thiru-vembaavai'' and the Vaishnava fast of ''Thiru-paavai'' are also observed in this month. *The total number of days in a Tamil Calendar is an average 365 days. The ''Vakiya Panchangam'' is employed for both sacred and civil calculations. The ''Trikanitha Panchangam'' is employed for astrological calculations.


Festivals

The Tamil Calendar is important in the life of Tamil-speaking people and most festivals of
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 ...
are based on it. Some festivals include: * Tamil New Year (also called '' Puthandu'') * Tai Pongal *
Deepavali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual ...
* Rama Navami * Panguni Uthiram * Kartikai Deepam * Krishna Jayanti *
Navaratri Navaratri () is an annual Hindu festival observed in honor of the goddess Durga, an aspect of Adi Parashakti, the supreme goddess. It spans over nine nights, first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and aga ...
* Vinayagar Chathurthi *
Maha Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...


See also

* Chandravakyas * Malayalam calendar * Pambu Panchangam * Puthandu * Samvatsara *
Sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus amounting to a total of sixty years every cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...
* Vākyapañcāṅga


References


External links


Tamil Daily Calendar (தமிழ் நாள்காட்டி)

Tamil Calendar with Daily Panchangam

Tamil Calendar for each year
{{Calendars Hindu calendar Solar calendars Tamil culture Time in India