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Samvat - Wikipedia, the free enc clopedia

Samvat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samvat is any of the various Hindu calendars. In India, there are several calendars in use:
Vikrama Samvat: lunar months, solar sidereal years
Shaka Samvat (traditional): lunar months, solar sidereal years
Shaka Samvat (modern): solar tropical
Bangla Calendar: solar tropical years
Tamil Nadu/Kerala: solar tropical years such as Malayalam calendar
Nepali calendar with Bikram Sambat: solar tropical years
Most holidays in India are based on the first two calendars. A few are based on the solar cycle, Sankranti (solar
sidereal) and Baisakhi (solar tropical).

Contents
1 Months and approximate correspndence
2 Time cycles in India
3 Date conversion
3.1 The Kali "Samvat"
4 Variations
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

Months and appro imate correspndence

Indian months are listed below. Shaka and Chaitradi Vikram (UP, Rajasthan etc.) start with Chaitra, Kartikadi
Vikram (Gujarat, Maharashtra) start in Kartika.
#

Indian

Gregorian

Chaitra

March-April

Vais kha

April-May

Jyeshta

May-June

sh da

June-July

Sr vana

July-August

Bh drapada

August-September

Ashwina

September-October

K rtika

October-November

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Samvat - Wikipedia, the free enc clopedia

M rgasirsa
9 (Agrahayana) November-December
10

Pausha

December-January

11

M gha

January-February

12

Ph lguna

February-March

Nakshatras are divisions of ecliptic, each 13 20', starting from 0 Aries. The purnima of each month is
synchronized with a nakshatra.

Time c cles in India

The time cycles in India are:
60-year cycle
Year
6 seasons of a year
about 60 days (2 months) in a season
Month (lunar)
2 pakshas in a month, shukla (waxing) and krishna (waning)
15 tithis in a paksha (1-14, 15th is purnima or amavasya)
60 ghatikas (or 30 muhurtas or 8 praharas) in a 24-hour period (ahoratra).
30 Kala (approx) in 1 muhurta
30 Kastha in 1 kala
15 Nimisha in 1 kastha
Years are synchronized with the solar sidereal year by adding a month every four years. The extra month is termed
as "Adhik Mass" (extra month). This extra month is called Mala Masa (impure month) in Eastern India.

Date conversion
Converting a date from an Indian calendar to the common era can require a complex computation. To obtain the
approximate year in the common era (CE):
Chaitradi Vikram (past) : Chaitra-Pausha: subtract 57; Pausha-Phalguna: subtract 56.
Shaka: add 78-79
Kalachuri: add 248-249
Gupta/Valabhi: add 319-320
Bangla: add 593-594
Vira Nirvana Samvat: subtract 527-526
Yudhishthira Samvat: Subtract 3101 (Ascension of Lord Krishna at age 125) from common era
Sri Krishna Samvat: Subtract 3226 (Birth of Lord Sri Krishna) from common era
Balabhi Samvat: add 320 to common era

The Kali "Samvat"

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Samvat - Wikipedia, the free enc clopedia

The Kali Era is not called a "Samvat" in common Indian usage, but since it Is also an era, it might be useful to
mention it here too. The Hindu calendar article has more information on the Kali Era. The conversion is given here:
Add 3101 or 3100 (using the same guidelines as above) to the Gregorian year to get the number of
elapsed Kali years.
Add 3102 or 3101 to get the current Kali yuga number.
Remember that the former (of the above two) is the standard, as explained at the Hindu calendar article.
This era also corresponds with Yudhisthira Samvat in which we have present year as 5110 (2009 AD)

Variations
In UP/Rajasthan, months are Purnimanta. In Gujarat/Maharashtra, they are Amanta.
In inscriptions, the years may be gata (past) or current.

References
Rai Bahadur Pandit Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha, The Paleograph of India, 2 ed., Ajmer, 1918,
reprinted Manshuram Manoharlal publishers, 1993.

See also
Hindu Calendar
Ancient Indian units of measurement
Perpetual Calendar of 800 Years

E ternal links
Pancanga: Vikrama/Saka to Gregorian conversion utility (http://www.cc.kyotosu.ac.jp/~yanom/pancanga/index.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samvat&oldid=461980223"
Categories:
Hindu calendar
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