IISreemII

Indian Calendars
Soumya Kumar* and Geetha H*

To understand a desha (nation/community) the easiest way is to study the people who inhabit that place. Human beings are not just glorified animals, who have the capacity to feel, think and express at a higher order than other animals; they constitute a people, they embody a tradition, and have the capability to build on the knowledge provided by previous generations. It is not unusual to see scholars studying customs and rituals associated with birth, death, marriage, different festivals, language, food etc. to comprehend the community in which they are interested. Details about these traditions have been provided in innumerable books, articles and pamphlets. Communities have been historicised, ideologically dissected, psychoanalysed, structured and

deconstructed. There is a strong urge to scan the customs and traditions and everybody claims that they are unravelling the secrets hidden behind the layers of human emotions and thinking. For all these scholars, India is one place that provides a fertile ground to test their pet theories and ideas. Indian tradition has been pilloried, battered and pulped: all in the name of understanding; and Indians are very tolerant of all these attempts as it is intrinsic to our culture that there are many paths to the truth, as the RgVeda famously said (ekam sadvipra bahudha vadanti).
Geetha H teaches Science at Amrita Vidyalayam, Mysore Soumya Kumar teaches Sociology at PG Department, Maharanis Arts and Commerce College for Women, Mysore

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In this process, however, there seems to be a compartmentalisation, that glosses over the obvious and sometimes even deliberately avoid the inconvenient. One such victim is the role of time in a person or communitys life. Time is kaala. Indian scriptures repeatedly say that to understand we need to take desha, paatra (person), and kaala in to consideration; but, how to reckon time in the context of a country like India? After all, India is a country of variety, diversity and complexity. Just like its multiplicity of languages, dresses, rituals etc., it also practices multiple ways to understand time. This is evident from the numerous calendars practiced by its people. According to the Calendar Reforms Committee of 1956, 30 different types of calendars were in practice, based on region and religion. What is a calendar? The Oxford Dictionary of English gives the following meanings:
1. a chart or series of pages showing the days, weeks, and months of a particular year, or giving particular seasonal information 2. a system by which the beginning, length, and subdivisions of the year are fixed

A calendar is also known as an almanac, an ephemeris. In India, we call it as panchanga, that which is made up of 5 organs (pancha = five and anga= organ). These five organs of an almanac are: 1. Tithi 2. Vaara 3. Nakshatra 4. Yoga 5. Karana
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Before understanding what exactly a panchanga is, we need to have some background knowledge about calendars, their history and astronomical basis. All calendars, whether Eastern or Western, are prepared taking the Sun and Moon as reference points. It is the movements of Sun and Moon that provides a point of departure to identify a day, night, week, month, year, era or even a yuga. The most popular form of calendar followed all over the world is that of Gregorian calendar, which starts from January 1st and runs up to December 31st. According to this we are in the year 2014 AD. The suffix Anno Domini stands for In the year the Lord wherein the Lord stands for Jesus Christ. Off late scholars use the letters CE that denotes Common Era as AD is overtly identified with a particular religion. India has adopted the CE format but all its religious and traditional cultural activities depend on the local Panchanga. These panchangas are of two types: old, traditional almanacs use the system propounded by Surya Siddhanta a treatise on astronomy. It is believed that Lord Surya himself taught Mayasura the calculations, finer points of planets and their motions. However, there is another school that is based on a form of mathematical calculation called Drigganita. This school claims that the mathematical calculations should correlate with the observed motions of planets. Drigganita was first taught by Vatasseri Damodara Namboodari, an astronomer-mathematician of Kerala School of astronomy. He was a native of Vatasseri, in the village of Alathiyur, Tirur in Kerala. It is to be noted however, that most of the modern panchangas/almanacs/ephemeris are based on Astronomical Ephemeris that is based on data published by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (and many do not even acknowledge it, unfortunately).

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Before we try to understand the nature of Indian rather Bharatiya calendar, it is essential to have an idea about the concept of time in Indian thought. Concept of Kaala (Time) Why were our ancestors interested in knowing about time? Why was it essential for them to think that it is essential to have proper measure of time? These two questions have their answer in the very way of life led by our ancestors. At least from the time of Rig-Veda, we find crystal clear idea about time: how to and what for time should be reckoned. The earliest of the works is Maharshi Lagadhas Vedanga Jyotisha. To conduct yajnas, and other Vaidika rituals it was necessary to know the time and day as also the season. It was also necessary to know right or proper time to sow, to harvest, to know the birth time and prepare a horoscope, to conduct marriage or name a child. It was necessary to know proper day and time to perform the sraddha rituals, in honour of ones ancestors. It was also necessary for coronation of the King and to start a war! Brahmins who kept the agni (the fire altar kept by the married couple) had to know when to perform rituals associated with full and new Moon days and also day next to them. It is interesting that the tending of agni can be done by a wife even in the absence of her husband but not vice versa. Basically the work had been known as a manual for determination of the moment for Yagna and other rituals, says Dr Suresh Chandra Mishra. The Vedanga Jyotisham is available in two versions: 1. Rik-Jyotisham (associated with Rig-Veda) 2. Yajus-Jyotisham (associated with Yajur Veda)
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There are some minor variations in these two versions and it does not come under the scope of this article. However, it is pertinent to note that the system laid down by Lagadha Maharshi finds expression in the Mahabharata, the Arthashastra of Kautilya, the Vishnu Purana, the Pancha Siddhantika (of Varahamihiracharya) and Jaina works. The Vedanga Jyotisha speaks of a yuga system that is entirely different from the current popular Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kaliyuga. It speaks of one yuga as consisting of five solar years. Precise point of time of beginning of the first yuga is also given: entry of the Sun, the Moon and of Jupiter in to Dhanishtha star! The years of the yuga are respectively called as Samvatsara, Parivatsara, Idavatsara, Anuvatsara and Idvatsara. Each year roughly consists of 366 days and the seer was quite aware that 365.25 solar days make one year (The treaditional name for a year, which is practice, Samvatsara is directly inspired by Maharshi Lagadha). Similarly the current practice of dividing a year in to two halves: Uttarayana and Dakshinayana find clear mention in Vedanga Jyotisham. The Sage mentions that the Sun travels 13.5 nakshatras or 180 solar days or 183 savana days in each Ayana or half of the year.The Vedanga Jyotisham mentions six ritus or seasons viz., Shishira, Vasanta, Grishma, Varsha, Sharad and Hemanta. According to the Vedanga Jyotisham, the month starts just after the end of Amavasya. Hence Shukla Pratipada or Padya is the first tithi of the month. This system is still followed many parts of India including Karnataka. This system is known as Mukhyamaana, or Shuklaadi or Amaanta (Shuklaadi: that which starts from Shukla Paksha; Amaanta: that which ends with Amavasya). Here the

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reckoning of a month is clearly seen from the movement of Moon. Each lunar month has two parvas i.e., Poornima and Amavasya. Tithis like Pratipada, Dwiteeya etc are mentioned in the work; but weekdays like Somavaara, Mangalavaara etc., do not find any mention in the work. The work also mentions 27 nakshatras, as is the practice now and does not reckon Abhijit. According to it, Shravishtha or Dhanishtha as it is now known was the first nakshatra with respect to the nakshatra mandala. Shravishtha was considered as winter solstice or Sharat Sampat occurred at this point. Even the Uttarayana was happening at that point: entry of Sun in to this star. Other components of the Panchanga like Yoga and Karana do not find any mention in this work. In the next part of the article let us try to understand the astronomical base of calendar construction and how precisely the movements of Sun and Moon in to different nakshatras decide the timing of festivals and other rituals. Unless we appreciate this aspect we cannot understand its social and spiritual significance.

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