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Chaitra

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Chaitra ( Sanskrit : चैत्र , romanized :  Caitra ) is a month of the Hindu calendar .

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43-671: 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 Chait is also the last month in the Nepali calendar (the Vikram Samvat ), where it commences in mid-March. Chittirai is the first month in the Tamil calendar . In the Sindhi calendar, this month is referred to as Chet and

86-517: A full-page ad on an "Electric Solution", which promised to revive dead men. Now they publish Durga Puja timings in London, Washington and New York, based on the sunset and sunrise there. According to Arijit Roychowdhury, managing director of Gupta Press, panjika sales plunged after partition of India, as the market was lost in the eastern part of the former state. However, with innovative transformation of format and content, sales have been picking up and

129-513: 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

172-452: 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

215-581: 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

258-516: 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

301-413: Is a hawkers' delight on local trains. Madan Gupter Full Panjika , which came out in the 1930s, has not changed much externally. The cover is still the same, on thick pink paper, but the inside is very different. The pages have changed from coarse newsprint to smooth white paper, the letter press has made way for offset printing, wooden blocks have been replaced by sharp photographs. The biggest difference

344-580: 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

387-652: 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

430-590: 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

473-399: Is in the ad-editorial ratio. Previously the ads formed the bulk of the printed matter – and were pure delight. "When there was no TV and not so many newspapers, the panjika was the place to advertise for many products. Many people bought panjikas for the ads," says the owner Mahendra Kumar Gupta, "They would offer solutions to many 'incurable' diseases." The 1938 edition started off with

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516-645: Is marked by the celebration of the Cheti Chand (birth of Jhulelal , an incarnation of Vishnu). In the Vaishnava calendar, Vishnu governs this month. In solar religious calendars, Chaitra begins with the Sun's entry into Aries . In the more traditional reckoning, the first month commences in March or April of the Gregorian calendar , depending upon whether the adhika masa (extra month for alignment of lunar or solar calendar)

559-905: Is observed. In Chandramana (lunar) religious calendars, Chaitra begins with the new moon in March−April and is the first month of the year. The nine-day festival Chaitra Navratri or Navadurga (or "Nava Durga", the 'nine forms of the Goddess Durga ') starts from Chaitra Shukla Pratipada . The first day of month Chaitra is celebrated as Hindu New Year's Day, known as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra , Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Ugadi in Karnataka , Telangana , and Andhra Pradesh . In West Bengal , Basanti Puja, Annapurna Puja, Ram Nabami, Neel Puja and Chorok Puja ( a.k.a. 'Gajon') are held consecutively before

602-599: Is the Hindu astronomical almanac , published in Assamese , Bengali , Maithili , Nepali and Odia languages and colloquially known as Panji ( IAST : Pāñji; Assamese : পাঁজি ; Bengali : পাঞ্জি ; Odia : ପାଞ୍ଜି ). In other parts of India it is called panchangam . There are two schools of panjika -makers in Bengal – Driksiddhanta ( Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika ) and Odriksiddhanta ( Gupta Press , PM Bagchi , etc.). They dictate

645-567: 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

688-497: The Karanas (official history writers of Puri, a caste of Odisha, involved in keeping the chronicle. The tradition of keeping this chronicle began with Odia king Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev (1078–1150). Madala Panji is the first panjika in Indian regional language, starting from the 12th century. It is the main source and evidence of Odisha history . The modern Odia calendar begins with

731-481: The panjika . With the passage of time it has added information, like tourist attractions, pilgrim destinations, telephone codes and general information that common people seek, to make it more attractive. The format has also been made more flexible to cater to the needs of varied groups. The variants like 'directory panjika' (magnum opus) 'full panjika' (thinner version) and 'half panjika' (abridged version) and 'pocket panjika' have different price tags. The pocket panjika

774-561: 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

817-598: 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

860-606: 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

903-703: 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

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946-585: The approach for scientific revision of the panjika . It included such people as Pathani Samanta in Odisha and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Pune. In 1952, a major revision of the panjika was undertaken under the aegis of the Indian government. Gupta Press, one of the Bengali panjikas , has come out in 2007 with a CD-version packed with interactive features like 'know your day', 'daily horoscope' and ' koshthi bichar ' (horoscope). Transformation has been staple food for

989-579: 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 Panjika Lores Genres Institutions Awards Folk genres Devotional Classical genres Modern genres People Instruments Dance Theater Organizations People The Panjika ( IAST : Pañjikā; Assamese : পঞ্জিকা ; Bengali : পঞ্জিকা ; Maithili : পাঁজিক, पाँजिक ; Nepali : पञ्जिका ; Odia : ପଞ୍ଜିକା )

1032-622: The beginning of Bengali New Year on Poila Baishakh . Hindu calendar Traditional The Hindu calendar , also called Panchanga ( Sanskrit : पञ्चाङ्ग ), is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in 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

1075-411: The calculations were not always very accurate. Suryasiddhanta , produced in that era, was the forerunner of all later day panjikas . During British rule, Biswambhar again began the work of publishing the panjika , in handwritten book form. The printed version came in 1869. Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika was first published in 1890. Gupta Press follows Suryasiddhanta with the original format while

1118-447: 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

1161-523: 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

1204-699: The days on which festivals are to be held. Sometimes, they lay down different dates for particular festivals. For the Durga Puja in 2005, two different sets of dates came through. Some community pujas followed the Gupta Press Panjika , because of its popularity. With deference to convention, it confirmed Pandit Nitai Chakraborty, president of Vaidik Pandit O Purohit Mahamilan Kendra. Belur Math adhered to Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika . Swami Vijnanananda (who became Math president in 1937–38), an astrologer, decided that Ramakrishna Mission would follow this almanac as it

1247-489: 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

1290-604: 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 (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

1333-513: 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

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1376-647: 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

1419-578: The month of Choitro , so that people can buy it well before Pohela Baishakh . Madala Panji ( Odia : ମାଦଳ ପାଞ୍ଜି) is a chronicle of the Jagannath Temple, Puri in Odisha. It describes the historical events of Odisha related to Jagannath and the Jagannath Temple. The Madala Panji dates from the 12th century. The Madala Panji was traditionally written on a year-to-year basis. On Vijayadashami Day,

1462-611: The overall annual market in 2007 is 2 million copies. The figure includes sales in the US and the UK. Panjikas have found their way into modern day shopping malls also. A senior official of the RPG group, Mani Shankar Mukherjee , himself a reputed author, said, "Our Spencer's store in Gurgaon has sold a record number of panjikas ." Bengali panjikas follow the Bengali calendar and are normally out in

1505-408: 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

1548-456: The scientific reforms initiated by the astronomer Pathani Samanta . His findings which included astronomical observations with the help of traditional instruments were recorded in his treatise Siddhanta Darpana written on palm-leaf manuscript in 1869 and eventually published in 1899 by Radharaman Pustaklaya Panjika, which still continues to print the Panjika. These observations were instrumental in

1591-740: 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 ) 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

1634-417: 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

1677-464: 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

1720-424: The version with "corrected" scripture is called Visuddhasiddhanta . The Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika came into being because an astronomer Madhab Chandra Chattopadhyay, on studying the panjikas then in vogue found differences in the actual and astrological position of the planets and stars. He revised the panjika as per scientific readings. There were other people in different parts of India who also supported

1763-439: 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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1806-567: Was more scientific. The difference occurs because the two schools follow different calendars of luni-solar movement on which tithis are based. While Gupta Press Panjika follows 16th century Raghunandan 's work Ashtabingshatitatwa based on the 1,500-year-old astronomical treatise, Suryasiddhanta . Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika is based on an 1890 amendment of the planetary positions given in Suryasiddhanta . The earliest Indian almanacs date back to around 1000 BCE. It did analyse time but

1849-553: Was observed in the year. The first day of Chaitra is marked as the Chaitra Navaratri , the Hindu lunar new year. The month of Chaitra is also associated with the departure of spring. Holi , the Hindu spring festival of colours, is celebrated on the full moon day ( Purnima ) of Phalguna , the month before Chaitra , exactly six days after which the Chaiti form of the Chhath festival

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