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56-415: Furthermore, when specifying the masa, one of two traditions are applicable, viz. amānta / pūrṇimānta . If a festival falls in the waning phase of the moon, these two traditions identify the same lunar day as falling in two different (but successive) masa. Bhai Dooj , Bhai Tika , Bhaubeej , Bhai Beej , Bhai Phonta or Bhratri Dwitiya is a festival celebrated by Hindus on the second lunar day of

112-485: A tika on their forehead and garlands of marigolds around their necks. This day celebrates the special relationship between humans and dogs. At the gates of Svarga , Yudhishthira refuses to enter without the dog, who reveals himself to be the god Yama. Thus, the ancient bond between man and dog is established in the Mahabharata . As mentioned in the Mahabharata , Bhairava , a fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva , had

168-459: A dog as a vahana (vehicle). Yama , the god of death, is believed to own two guard dogs – each with four eyes. The dogs are said to watch over the gates of Naraka , the Hindu concept of Hell . Owing to this belief, this day is also observed as Naraka Chaturdashi . Kukur Tihar has since acquired widespread popularity on the internet and in 2016, was even adopted by a Mexican animal rights group for

224-465: A lunar system. The Buddhist calendar and the traditional lunisolar calendars of Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar , Sri Lanka and Thailand are also based on an older version of the Hindu calendar. Similarly, the ancient Jain 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

280-452: 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

336-581: A rudimentary level. Later medieval era texts such as the Yavana-jataka and the Siddhanta texts are more astrology-related. 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 which likely

392-545: A similar celebration in Mexico City. The morning of the third day is called Gai (cow) Tihar. The cow is an especially important animal in Hinduism and is considered sacred. There is a belief, Mahalakshmi's presence in the anus of cow or excretory products (Gobar and Gomutra ) of it. Hindus revere the cow as a particularly docile animal that gives a lot more than it takes. The cow produces milk, cheese, ghee, urine and dung. While

448-516: A similar manner to the Christian era . 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. 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

504-580: 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 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. The Hindu calendar is based on a geocentric model of the Solar System . A large part of this calendar

560-652: Is also found in the Hebrew calendar , the Chinese calendar , and the Babylonian calendar , 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 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

616-433: Is also placed on the sister's forehead by the brother. The ceremony is performed regardless of whether the brother is older or younger than the sister and first or second cousins are also eligible for the ceremony. In the end, the brother touches the feet of their sisters with their forehead, signifying love, respect and devotion. The brothers receive a variety of cooked food such as sel roti , fruits and packaged food while

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672-479: Is called Kaag (crow) Tihar. Crows and ravens, believed to be the messengers of the death god Yama, are worshipped with offerings of grains, seeds, and sweets placed on the roofs or out on the streets. The cawing of crows and ravens is associated with sadness and grief in Hinduism as these birds are believed to carry messages from Yama. By feeding the crows, devotees hope to appease them and ward off death and grief for

728-514: Is customary in Haryana and Maharashtra to celebrate the auspicious occasion of Bhau-beej, women who do not have a brother worship the Moon Chandra instead. They apply mehendi on girls as their tradition. The sister whose brother lives far away from her and can not go to her house, sends her sincerest prayers for the long and happy life of her brother through the moon god. She performs aarti for

784-590: 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 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. Samvat refers to era of the several Hindu calendar systems in Nepal and India , in

840-572: Is known as: According to Hindu religion , after slaying the evil demon Narakasura , Lord Krishna visited his sister Subhadra who gave him a warm welcome with sweets and flowers. She also affectionately applied tilaka on Krishna's forehead. Some believe this to be the origin of the festival. On the day of the festival, sisters invite their brothers for a sumptuous meal often including their favourite dishes/sweets. The procedure may be different in Bihar and central India . The whole ceremony signifies

896-455: Is popular in Haryana , Gujarat , Maharashtra and Goa and is celebrated with great fervour and gaiety. Brothers and sisters look forward to the occasion with immense enthusiasm. To add charm to the occasion, Bhai Bij gifts are given to brothers from sisters as a token of love and appreciation. Bhav Bij is a time for family reunions as all brothers and sisters in the family get together. Close relatives and friends are also invited to celebrate

952-492: Is popularly known as Swanti among the Newars and as Deepawali among Madhesis . Nepalis also make patterns on the floors of living rooms or courtyards using materials such as coloured rice , dry flour , coloured sand or flower petals , called Rangoli , as a sacred welcoming for the gods and goddesses, particularly Lakshmi . For five days, people decorate their homes, and light diyo, candles, electric string lights around

1008-494: The 1905 Partition of Bengal In 1905 Rabindranath Tagore extended the symbolism of Brother's Second , a ritual of bonding between brothers and sisters that is celebrated right after the Pujas have concluded, to evoke friendship between Hindus and Muslims: members of both communities would tie red threads of brotherhood on each other's wrists. All throughout the partition period, these rakhi-bandhan ceremonies were regularly announced in

1064-567: The Chinese language in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, and the Rigvedic passages on astronomy are found in the works of Zhu Jiangyan and Zhi Qian . According to Subhash Kak , 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 and starts in 57 BCE. Hindu scholars kept precise time by observing and calculating

1120-632: The Indian Gorkhas inhabiting Sikkim state and Territories (particularly the towns of Darjeeling and Kalimpong ). Tihar is analogous to the Indian festival of Diwali , the festival of lights, but both are different Festival. Tihar is referred to as Yamapanchak Tihar in Kathmandu Valley by Newari Nepalis and Dipawali Tihar in Madhesh Province by Madhesi Nepalis . In the rest of Nepal and

1176-515: The Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia , with further regional variations for social and Hindu 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

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1232-734: The Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) of Kartika , the eighth month of the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar or the Shalivahana Shaka calendar. It is celebrated during the Diwali or Tihar festival and Holi festival. The celebrations of this day are similar to the festival of Raksha Bandhan . In the southern part of India, the day is celebrated as Yama Dwitiya . In the Kayastha community, two Bhai Doojs are celebrated. The more famous one comes on

1288-528: The Vikram Samvat calendar, the festival begins with Kaag (crow) Tihar on Trayodashi tithi of Kārtika kṛṣṇa pakṣa (the 13th day of the waning moon) and ends with Bhai Tika on Dwitiya tithi of Kārtika śukla pakṣa every year. In the Gregorian calendar , the festival falls sometime between October and November every year. Nepal's various communities celebrate Tihar in different ways. The festival

1344-552: The Bengali and English papers. In addition, some landlords, even the British Indian Association, saw that the boycott and emphasis upon swadeshi items were disturbing peace with rural Muslims in their areas, and withdrew their support. Hindu calendar#amanta Traditional The Hindu calendar , also called Panchanga ( Sanskrit : पञ्चाङ्ग ), is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in

1400-574: The Bhav Bij in many families. Special dishes for the festival include the Maharashtra sweet called basundi poori or kheerni poori . On this occasion, brothers and sisters exchange gifts. And both of them pray for their long and happy life. Bhai Tika in Nepal is also known as Bhai Tihar meaning Tihar (festival) of brothers . On this day, sisters pray to Yamraj for a long life and prosperity for their brothers. The ritual involves sisters marking

1456-561: 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 . Time keeping [The current year] minus one, multiplied by twelve, multiplied by two, added to the elapsed [half months of current year], increased by two for every sixty [in

1512-598: 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

1568-525: The Indian states of Sikkim and Gorkhaland , both Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas refer to Diwali as the Tihar Parwa . Like Diwali, it is marked by lighting diyo inside and outside the home, but unlike Diwali in other parts of India, the five days of Tihar include celebration and worship of the four creatures associated with the God of death Yama , with the final day reserved for people themselves. According to

1624-556: 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 solar months ( rāśi ) along with their equivalent names in the Bangali, Malayalam and Tamil calendar are given below: or ଭାଦ୍ର (Bhādra) (Tai) or ଫଗୁଣ (Phaguṇa) (Māsi) The solar months ( rāśi ) along with

1680-530: The Moon. This is the reason why children of Hindu parents affectionately call the Moon Chandamama ( Chanda means moon and mama means mother's brother). Bhai Phonta in West Bengal is celebrated with much splendour. The ceremony is marked with many rituals along with a grand feast arranged for the brothers. It is necessary that, both brother and sister are more than 5 years of age. The festival of Bhai Bij

1736-497: The Newar community, Mha Puja is a unique tradition where the self and the soul within is worshipped. The fifth and last day of Tihar is called Bhai Tika. On this final day, which is celebrated with much fanfare across the country, brothers and sisters mark their special bond by worshipping each other with giving gifts to each other to express their feelings. The legend goes that when the goddess Yamuna 's brother fell mortally ill, Yama

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1792-703: 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 Vedangas , or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Vedic Sanatan Sanskriti. 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

1848-423: The approximate correspondence to Hindu seasons and Gregorian months are: Meṣa ♈ Mid May ( Spring ) [sõ:tʰ] Mithuna ♊ Mid July ( Summer ) [greʃim] Siṃha ♌ Mid Sep ( Monsoon ) [wəhraːtʰ] Tulā Tihar (festival) Tihar (also known as Yamapanchak Deepawali) is a five-day spiritual and cultural Hindu festival of lights celebrated by Nepalese as well as by

1904-447: 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

1960-531: The coming year. Alongside Kaag Tihar, Dhanteras (also known as Dhan Trayodashi and Dhanwantari Jayanti) is also observed on this day. Dhanvantari , the Hindu god of medicine is revered on this day. There is also a tradition of people buying jewelries, utensils and home appliances on this day. It is considered auspicious to buy gold or silver on this day. The second day is called Kukur Tihar, on which people practice puja. On this day, all dogs, whether pets or strays, are offered treats and worshipped by placing

2016-523: The cycles of Surya (the Sun), Moon and the planets. These calculations about the Sun appear in various astronomical texts in Sanskrit , such as the 5th-century Aryabhatiya by Aryabhata , 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

2072-501: The duty of a brother to protect his sister, as well as a sister's blessings for her brother. Carrying forward the ceremony in traditional style, sisters perform arti for their brother and apply a red tika on the brother's forehead. This tika ceremony on the occasion of Bhai Bij signifies the sister's sincerest prayers for the long and happy life of her brother and treat them with gifts. In return, elder brothers bless their sisters and may treat them also with gifts or cash. As it

2128-404: The evening, young girls go around the neighbourhood, singing and dancing in a tradition called bhailo . They are offered small amounts of money and food as rewards for the entertainment they provide. Fireworks are also common on this particular day. The fourth day of Tihar is known as Goru Puja, where the ox is worshipped and celebrated. The ox is seen as an analogue to the cow in Hinduism, as

2184-428: The festival, is welcomed into homes that have been cleaned and the doorways and windows decorated with garlands made out of marigolds. Diyos are put up all around the home, especially in doorways and windowsills, while electric lights are draped over houses in the belief that the goddess will not visit dark homes. A special puja is offered to Lakshmi in the evening, wishing for wealth, prosperity and good health. In

2240-489: 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 Hindus 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 calendars . Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to

2296-424: The fifth day of Tihar, sisters create a protective barrier of holy water and blessed oil around their brothers, circumambulating them several times. A special garland made out of the makhamali flower ( Gomphrena globosa ) is placed around the brother's neck as this flower is known for its long life. The tika placed on the forehead of the brother is also unique in that it consists of seven different colours. The tika

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2352-458: The first three can be eaten, the urine is believed to have beneficial health effects and the dung is burned as fuel or used as fertilizer. Thus, on the third day of Tihar, Nepali Hindus people show their gratitude to the cow by feeding them treats and worshipping them with tikas and garlands. The third day is also considered the most important day of the Tihar festival. Lakshmi, the patron goddess of

2408-553: The forehead of their brothers with a seven coloured long tika. The rest of the ritual is similar to that performed by Hindus elsewhere. A special garland of the Gomphrena globosa flower is made by the sister as an offering to their brothers. Rachel Fell McDermott, Professor of Asian Studies at Columbia University, describes Rabindranath Tagore 's rakhi-bandhan ceremonies, inspired by the Bhai Dooj ritual, which were organized to protest

2464-489: The form of money and foodstuff.) Gambling in the form of cards, kauda (a game of cowrie shells), or langur burja are popular pastimes during the festival. Tihar is the second biggest Nepali festival after Dashain , and is usually allocated a three-day-long national holiday . The festival is considered novel in that it shows reverence to not just the gods, but also to animals such as crows, cows, and dogs that have long-lived alongside humans. The first day of Tihar

2520-531: The god of death came to take his soul. Yamuna pleaded with the death god to wait until she had finished her final puja for her brother. She then embarked on a long elaborate ceremony that grew to include Yama. The Yamuna then asked Yama to not take away her brother until the tika on his forehead had faded, the oil she had sprinkled on him had dried and the Makhamali Ful Ko Mala ( Gomphrena globosa ) garlands she had put around his neck had wilted. Thus, on

2576-543: The house in the evenings. As Lakshmi puja falls on the new moon night, which is the darkest night of the lunar month, people light those diyo, candles. etc to remove the darkness and bring the light to home to welcome the goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth). Firecrackers are often set off during the festival, although the Nepal government has placed a ban on the use of firecrackers in recent years citing increasing cases of injury. Children also go from house to house to play Deusi/Bhailo (singing songs and asking for gifts in

2632-513: 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 astronomy by Āryabhaṭa and Varāhamihira 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

2688-647: The medieval period. The astronomical foundations were further developed in the medieval period, notably by Bhāskara II (12th century). Later, the term Jyotisha evolved to include Hindu astrology . The astrological application of the Hindu calendar was a field that likely developed in the centuries after the arrival of Greek astrology with Alexander the Great , 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

2744-476: The ox provides manual labour, especially important for an agricultural country like Nepal. Vaishnav Hindus also perform Govardhan Puja , which is worship towards the holy Govardhan mountain. A pile of cow dung is taken as representative of the mountain and worshipped. The fourth day of Tihar also generally coincides with the first day of the Nepal Sambat calendar and thus, it is the celebratory Mha Puja for

2800-408: 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

2856-405: The second day after Diwali. But the lesser-known one is celebrated a day or two after Diwali. In Haryana and Uttar Pradesh a ritual also followed, a dry coconut (named gola in regional language) with klewa tied along its width for worshipping is also used at the time of doing aarti of a brother. In Bengal the day is celebrated as Bhai Phota, which comes one day after Kali Puja. The festival

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2912-559: 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 and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. A Hindu calendar is sometimes referred to as Panchangam (पञ्चाङ्गम्), which is also known as Panjika in Eastern India. The ancient Hindu calendar conceptual design

2968-417: The sun], is the quantity of half-months ( syzygies ). — Rigveda Jyotisha-vedanga 4 Translator: Kim Plofker The Vedic culture 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

3024-464: 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

3080-693: 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 ) found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala,

3136-439: 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

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