Regional Hindu Calendar Traditions

Every region of India keeps a Panchangam, and although all of them describe the same Sun and Moon, they organise time differently. Broadly there are three families: the Amanta lunisolar calendars of the Deccan, western India and Gujarat, in which the lunar month ends at new moon; the Purnimanta lunisolar calendars of North India, in which it ends at full moon; and the solar calendars of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Punjab, in which months follow the Sun's passage through the twelve sidereal rashis. This page describes each tradition in turn. For the underlying concepts — eras, adhika masa and the samvatsara cycle — see calendar systems.

Amanta lunisolar: Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati

In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa the year begins on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first lunar day after the new moon in March or April, celebrated as Ugadi (Yugadi) in the Telugu and Kannada regions and as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra. Each month runs from the day after one Amavasya to the next, so the bright half (Shukla Paksha) comes first. Years are counted in the Shalivahana Shaka era and named from the cycle of 60 samvatsaras; the Ugadi Panchanga Shravanam, the public reading of the new year's almanac, is an important custom. Gujarat also follows Amanta months but counts years in the Vikram Samvat and begins its year on Kartika Shukla Pratipada, the day after Deepavali.

Purnimanta lunisolar: North India

Across the north — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand — the lunar month ends with Purnima. The dark fortnight therefore opens each month, and it carries the name of the month that the Amanta calendar would still be in. Thus the day after Holika Dahan (Phalguna Purnima), when colours are played, is already Chaitra Krishna Pratipada in the north, while in the Amanta calendar it is still Phalguna. The new year of the Vikram Samvat is nonetheless observed on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, about two weeks into the northern Chaitra, and coincides with the start of Chaitra Navaratri. Tithis and festival days are identical in both systems; only the month labels of the dark fortnight differ.

Tamil solar calendar

The Tamil calendar is solar. Its twelve months — Chithirai, Vaikasi, Aani, Aadi, Avani, Purattasi, Aippasi, Karthigai, Margazhi, Thai, Maasi and Panguni — begin when the Sun enters Mesha, Vrishabha and the following rashis respectively. The year opens with Puthandu on 1 Chithirai, around 14 April, and years carry the same 60 samvatsara names used elsewhere in the south. Lunar tithis and nakshatras remain essential: festivals such as Karthigai Deepam (Karthigai month, Krittika nakshatra) and Thai Poosam (Thai month, Pushya nakshatra) combine a solar month with a nakshatra, a characteristic Tamil practice.

Malayalam solar calendar and the Kollam era

Kerala's calendar is also solar, with months named directly after the rashis: Chingam (Simha), Kanni, Thulam, Vrischikam, Dhanu, Makaram, Kumbham, Meenam, Medam, Edavam, Mithunam and Karkidakam. Years are numbered in the Kollam era (Kolla Varsham, often written ME for Malayalam Era), which began in 825 CE, and the civil year starts on 1 Chingam in mid-August — shortly before Onam, which falls in Chingam under the Thiruvonam nakshatra. Vishu, at the start of Medam in April, marks the astronomical new year when the Sun enters Mesha and is celebrated with the Vishukkani.

Bengali, Odia and Assamese solar calendars

In eastern India the civil calendar is likewise solar and the year begins with the Sun's entry into Mesha in mid-April: Pohela Boishakh in Bengal, Pana Sankranti (Maha Vishuba Sankranti) in Odisha and Bohag Bihu in Assam. The Bengali year is counted in the Bangabda era, about 593 years behind the Common Era. The month names in these calendars — Boishakh, Joishtho, Asharh and so on — are the familiar lunar month names attached to solar months. Major festivals such as Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Ratha Yatra are still fixed by the lunar tithi.

When does a solar month begin?

A sankranti can occur at any time of day or night, so each solar tradition has a rule for which civil day counts as the first of the month. The rules differ — for example, depending on whether the sankranti happens before sunset, or before midnight — which is why the first day of a solar month can fall on different dates in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and Bengal even though the astronomical event is the same.

Punjab and Nepal

In Punjab the traditional Bikrami calendar uses solar months beginning with Vaisakh, and Vaisakhi in mid-April is both the harvest festival and the solar new year; it also commemorates the founding of the Khalsa in 1699. Many Sikh observances follow the Nanakshahi calendar or the lunar calendar, depending on the institution. In Nepal the Vikram Samvat is the official civil calendar and is used in a solar form, with the year beginning on 1 Baishakh in mid-April.

All traditions, one foundation

Whatever the regional differences in month boundaries, new years and eras, all Indian calendars rest on the same five limbs — tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana — and the same sidereal sky. A given tithi or nakshatra is the same in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi, apart from small differences caused by local sunrise. Vedangam's daily Panchangam lists Amanta month names, Shaka and Vikram Samvat years and the samvatsara, and our city pages compute every value for local sunrise. Language editions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Hindi present the same data with familiar regional names.