The Vesak Festival of 2018 must be on May 28

Dr B. Sri Harsha Indrasena

MBBS, MSc(Statistics), MS(Surgery), MRCS(Ed), FMAS(India), GradStat(RSS)

In this year, 2018CE, the Vesak festival has been scheduled to be held on 29th of April. However,
this is not compatible with the ancient Vaidik astronomical principles. Instead, the Vesak festival
in 2018 must be celebrated on 28th of May.

The Surya Siddhanta is the earliest oriental text available with descriptions of astronomical
principles in depth. Although, the exact period of this text is controversial, all scholars
unanimously agree that it must have been written at least before the 6th century CE.

According to the Surya Siddhanta, the name of the lunar month gets its name from the Nakshatra
in which the full moon falls in a particular month. The verses 15 and 16 of chapter 14 are
translated as follows:

Ref: Bāpudeva Śāstrī. and Wilkinson, L. (1861). Translation of the Sūrya Siddhānta. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press,
p.94.

Accordingly, how the lunar months must be named with respect to the each full moon Nakshatra
zone can be tabulated as below.

Table 1: Full moon zones of each lunar month

Lunar Month
Nakshatra in which full moon may occur
Sanskrit Sinhala Tamil
Kārtika Il Kārttikai Krittika, Rohini
Mārgaśīrṣa Unduvap Mārkazhi Mrgasirasa, Ardra
Pauṣa Duruthu Tai Punarvasu, Pushya
Māgha Navam Māsi Aslesha, Magha
Phālguna Mædin Paṅkuni P. Phalguni, U. Phalguni, Hasta
Chaitra Bak Cittirai Citra, Swati
Vaiśākha Vesak Vaikāsi Vishakha, Anuradha
Jyaiṣṭha Poson Āni Jyeshtha, Mula
Āṣāḍha Æsala Ādi P. Ashadha, U. Ashadha
Śrāvaṇa Nikini Āvaṇi Sravana, Sravishta
Bhādrapada Binara Puraṭṭāsi Sathabhsha, P. Bhadrapada, U. Bhadrapada
Āśvina Vap Aippasi Revati, Ashvini, Bharani
On April 29, 2018, the full moon falls in Swati (Saa) Nakshatra. Therefore, the full moon of April
29 must be a Chaitra (Bak) full moon day. In contrast, the full moon of May 29, 2018 occurs in
Anuradha (Anura) Nakshatra. As a result, the Purnima of May 29 is a Vaishakha (Vesak) full
moon day.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the Vesak festival of year 2018 must be celebrated on 28th of
May as per the Surya Siddhanta and the Buddhist traditions.