|
|
Mom Life Features :  Back to Momlife |
|
| Finance and Investing
Beauty and Style
Home and Garden
Relationships |
|
|
Family Life
Travel - Vacation
Taxes |
|
| Astrology |
|
Hindu Calender |
|
The Hindu calendar is something interesting that we come across when studying Indian or Vedic Astrology. It is a dating system used in India from about 1000 BC and still used to establish dates of the Hindu religious year. Just like most other things, the Hindu calendar is another, which is different from the Gregorian (now used) calendar.
It is based on lunar months corresponding to the full cycles of phases of the moon. A year consists of 12 months of 29.5 days, which accounts for a total of about 354 days. Due to this shortfall, each festival date moves back 11 days each year (compared to the solar year of 365 days). This discrepancy is resolved by adding an extra leap month about once in every three years. With a precise month and an approximate year, the Hindu calendar is said to be luni-solar.
The year is divided into two halves and six seasons and starts with the Makara Sankranti (the sun’s entrance into Capricorn). There are a number of ways of figuring the New Year, of which the most common methods are the day after the Diwali new moon (in Gujarat), or the day after the new moon in the month of Chaitra. The Vikrami Era (starting with the coronation of King Vikramaditya in 57 BCE) and the Shaka Era (counting from 78 CE) are two most common eras used for numbering the years. However, the KaliYuga date system is used by priests in rituals
There are two fortnights, each consisting of 15 “lunar days” within each month. Even though the lunar and solar days theoretically begin at different times, each solar day is attributed one particular lunar day numbered from 1 to 15, either of the waxing moon (bright fortnight) or the waning moon (dark fortnight). A month generally averages to 29.5 days.
In South India, the month usually begins with the new moon, whereas it is with the full moon in North India. However, the festival days will fall on the same day (or with slight differences), but the names of the months may differ. For example, Krishna’s birthday falls on the eighth day of the dark moon; this is in the month of Shravana in the South, and Bhadra in the North.
The week in the Hindu calendar is divided into seven days, just as in the Gregorian calendar, with each matching to one of seven planets. Each of these days is related to a specific god. For example, Monday is associated with Shiva, Tuesday with Hanuman, etc. and the Hindus may perform fasts and engage in various religious activities to pray a particular god on the corresponding day of the week.
A day in the Hindu calendar usually begins at dawn. The day is divided into 15 parts, each of about 48 minutes, known as muhurtas, and the night is divided likewise. The first two muhurtas of the morning before dawn considered most auspicious, especially for religious activities. The Gayatri mantra is hymned at sunrise, noon and sunset by the by the Brahmanas, because those times of the day are considered particularly imperative. |
|
|
|
| Featured Advertisers |
|
 |
|
|
