The Romance of the Indian Calendar

Author(s): C. A. Kincaid
Source: The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (Oct.,
1943), pp. 255-259
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25221922
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 The Romance of the Indian Calendar
By C. A. KINCAID

npHE romance of the calendar is the history of 3,000 years of

-*- human effort to fix definitely the equinoxes and to harness
the solar year to the lunar months. Our European calendar has
fixed the equinoxes, but has abandoned wholly the lunar months
in the struggle. India, however, has lunar months and a solar
cycle. She also has a fifteen-day fortnight as well as a seven-day
week. Let us first examine India's week.
The week is not an Indian home growth, but it has for at least
two thousand years obtained " droit de cite " in India. According
to Cassius Dio,1 the week was invented in Egypt. The Egyptians
had a solar year of twelve months of thirty days, plus five extra
days making a year of three hundred and sixty-five days. Besides
the month they had a smaller section of seven days, and they called
the days after the sun and moon and the five deified planets. The
next question is how the week came to India. It was almost
certainly brought by the Greeks. In classical times the Greeks had
in each month three weeks of ten days each ; but on Alexander's
conquest of Egypt they came into contact with the seven day week
and seem to have adopted it as well as the planetary names of
the weekdays. This view is supported by a graffito in Pompeii.
Therein are written the Greek names of the weekdays (Oewv -qiiepai)
as 'HXlov, UeXrjvrjs, 'Apdcos, "Eppuov, Aios, A<j)poheiT'qs and
Kpovov (i.e. the day of the sun, the day of the moon, the day of
Ares or Mars, the day of Hermes or Mercury, the day of Zeus or
Jupiter, the day of Aphrodite or Venus and the day of Kronos or
Saturn).
It is unlikely that Alexander's short invasion of India established
the week there, but it may well have been introduced by the Maurya
emperors of Pataliputra as a result of their long and friendly
relations with the Seleucid kings of Syria or by the Bactrian Greeks,
when they occupied the Panjab and Sind.
However this may be, the weekdays of India have closely pre
served their connection with the sun, moon, and the five planets,
1 Sewell and Dikshit {The Indian Calendar, p. 2) think that the week came from
Chaldaea. It may, of course, have gone to Egypt from Chaldaea.

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 256 THE ROMANCE OF THE INDIAN CALENDAR

e.g. they are called by the Hindus Ravivar or Sun's day, Somwar
or Moon's day, Mangalwar or Mars' day, Budhwar or Mercury's
day, Brihaspatiwar (or Guruwar) that is Jupiter's day, Shukrawar
or Venus's day, Shaniwar or Saturn's day.
To pass on to the months, the Hindus have lunar months linked
to a solar cycle. They begin on the new moon and last from one
new moon to the next. Now twelve lunar months cover a period
of 354 days only. In three years this difference amounts to thirty
three days. This defect is remedied by inserting seven intercalary
months in nineteen years or, to put it differently, the Hindus have
a nineteen year cycle, consisting of twelve years of twelve lunar
months and seven years of thirteen lunar months.1 The intercalary
months do not occur at regular intervals. The rule governing
them is as follows. To each of the twelve lunar months one of the
twelve zodiacal divisions or sankrants is allotted. The sankrants
vary in length from 29 to 32? days; thus it sometimes happens
that a lunar month passes without a fresh sankrant. An intercalary
month is then added. It takes the name of the month that it
succeeds, but is in addition called adhik or extra.
The Hindu month is divided into two halves?the shudh or shukla
paksh (the clean or bright half) and the vadhya or krishna paksh
(the dark half). Each half month has fifteen days or tithis.2 They
vary in length but average 23 hours and 37 minutes, so that thirty
tithis approximately equal the lunar month of 29-53059 days.
They are numbered, but by Sanskrit and not by vernacular numbers,
e.g. the first is called Pratipada, the second dwitya, the third tritya,
the fourth chaturthi, the fifth panchmi, the sixth shashti, the
seventh saptami, the eighth ashtami, the ninth nawami, the tenth
dashami, the eleventh ekadashi, the twelfth dwadashi, the thirteenth
trayodashi, the fourteenth chaturdashi, and the fifteenth is called
pornima or full-moon day. The second half is numbered in the same
way, only the fifteenth is not called pornima. It is called amawasya
or living together. It is believed that, because there is no moon
visible and the sun and moon are in the same quarter, they are
living together.

1 The Hindu cycle resembles the Greek metonic cycle, and the resemblance
may not be merely fortuitous, for the metonic cycle was still in use in Greece long
after the time of Alexander's invasion of India.
1 For the Hindu method of calculating tithis, see The Indian Calendar, p. 3
(Sewell and Dikshit).

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 THE ROMANCE OF THE INDIAN CALENDAR 257

All over the Bombay Presidency the months have similar names ;
but south of the Narbada river, the first month of the year is
Chaitra (March and April). Then follow Vaishakh (April and May),
Jeshta (May and June), Ashadh (June and July), Shrawan (July
and August), Bhadrapad (August and September), Ashwin
(September and October), Kartik (October and December), Paush
(December and January), Phalgun (February and March). North
of the Narbada the Hindu year begins on the first of Kartik. This
latter era is known as the Samwat and dates from 56 B.C. South
of the Narbada prevails the former, known as the Shaliwahan era ;
it dates from a.d. 78.
I have never heard the alleged origin of the Samwat era; but
Sir R. Bhandarkar has suggested that the Shaliwahan era com
memorates the expulsion of the Sakas from the Deccan. I prefer,
however, the following story known to all little Maratha boys and
girls. In a.d. 78 the great king Vikrama or Vikramaditya ruled
in Ujjain. By his virtues he had won a boon from the gods, that
he should not die, save by the hand of a child born of a girl two
and a half years old. When king Vikrama grew old, many heavenly
signs and ghastly portents were seen at Ujjain. Vikrama asked
his astrologers the cause. They replied that such omens could
only foretell the death of the king. The latter, badly frightened,
sent out the ghost king Vetal to find out whether there was such
a child. After many days of vain search, Vetal came to the town
of Paithan on the Godavari. There he saw in the house of a potter
a little boy playing with a little girl, hardly older than himself.
Vetal asked how they were related. The little girl answered, " This
is my son," and pointing to a Brahman said that he was her father.
Vetal questioned the Brahman. " The little girl is my daughter,"
said the Brahman. " The serpent king loved my daughter and she
bore him the little boy. His name is Shaliwahan." On hearing
this, Vetal rode back hard to Ujjain and told Vikrama. The king
with an army marched against Paithan to kill the little boy ; but
the boy was too quick. He struck Vikrama with his little club, so
that the king died instantly. This happened on the first Chaitra
a.d. 78. On the same day Shaliwahan seized Vikrama's throne
and founded the Shaliwahan era.
In spite of their learning the Hindu almanac makers have never
allowed for the precession of the equinoxes. This is caused by the
action of the other planets on the earth. Their action affects the

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 258 THE ROMANCE OF THE INDIAN CALENDAR

ecliptic and takes the seasons completely round in 25,730 years.

At the present time the winter solstice or makar sankrant is
celebrated on the fourteenth of January instead of the twenty
first of December; and within my own recollection the Makar
Sankrant has moved from the thirteenth to the fourteenth
January.
There are two Musulman year systems in India. The better
known one is the year of the Hijra, that is said to have begun on
the 16th July, a.d. 622, the anniversary of Mahomed's flight from
Mecca to Medina. This year is purely lunar and in every thirty-two
and a half years it makes a complete circle and returns to its
starting point. Its months have alternately twenty-nine and thirty
days. Unfortunately this lunar year is used by Musulmans for
fixing religious festivals and is the chief cause of religious riots, for
Hindu and Musulman feast days are constantly clashing.
The Musulmans use the week and their names for the weekdays
are similar to the Hindu names except that of Friday, viz. : 1 Itwar,
2 Pir or Somwar, 3 Mangal, 4 Budh, 5 Jumarat or Brihaspatwar,
6 Juma, 7 Sanichar.
The Moghuls for revenue purposes introduced a solar year, based
on the ancient Persian system, but without intercalation. It was
called Fasli or the crop year. Akbar is popularly credited with its
introduction in a.d. 1555. To obtain the Fasli date one must deduct
592-3 from the Christian year. I am informed that the Fasli year
is still in use in the United Provinces, but I have never come across
it in the Bombay Presidency.
The Parsi calendar is perhaps the most romantic of all. It is
the same as the old Persian calendar. It was the practice of every
Sassanide king of Persia to found a new era, when he ascended the
throne ; but he always closed the first year of his era on the 21st
March. Since Yazdagird, the last Sassanide king of Persia?and
the Parsis have never recognized any of his successors as de jure
rulers?began his reign on the 16th June, a.d. 632, the present
year of the Parsi era should be 1311. It is actually 1312. The
difference is due to the absence of any intercalation since Yazdagird's
death. I shall refer to this later.
The Parsis have no weekdays, but they have twelve months each
of thirty days. The months are called : 1 Fravardin, 2 Ardibihisht,
3 Khordad or Haurvatat, 4 Tir, 5 Amardad, 6 Sheriwar, 7 Meher
or Mitro, 8 Awan, 9 Adar, 10 Dae, 11 Vohuman, 12 Spendarmad.

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 THE ROMANCE OF THE INDIAN CALENDAR 259

Each one of the days of the month has a separate name.1 Thirty
however, multiplied by twelve only makes a year of 360 days. To
these five more days, known as gathas, are added. They are named
after the gathas or holy hymns of Zoroaster; but the solar year
consists of 365 days, 5 hours, and 54 seconds. Europeans correct
their calendar by the addition or intercalation of a day in February
every fourth year. The ancient Persians corrected theirs by the
intercalation (kabisa) of a month of thirty days every one hundred
and twenty years (30 X 4 = 120); but after the downfall of the
Sassanide kingdom the fugitive Zoroastrians (i.e. the Parsis) omitted
the intercalation. The Zoroastrians, who remained in Persia,
remembered to do so, but once only. When some centuries later
both sections met in India, it was found that the Parsis began
their new year a month later than the other section, now known as
Iranis, that is to say that the Parsis began their month in September
and the Iranis in August. This led to a bitter controversy, only
allayed when it was found that both sections were wrong. Had the
old Persian system of intercalation been correctly maintained, the
new year would have begun neither in August nor in September,
but on the 21st March, the day of the vernal equinox.

1 See p. 45 of my little book Our Parsi Friends (Bombay, Times of India Press).

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