When am I a true Hindu? What principles should I follow to be a true Hindu?
(continued from previous issue (Jan 2004) . . . . .)

In the previous issues, we saw how performing arts form part of the Hindu culture. In this issue, we’ll see how Hindu Calendar constitutes a part of this and how it connects a true Hindu to his/her religion. Again, as we indicated in the past issues, even though it may not be possible to follow all the aspects of this culture in today’s environment, it is good to be aware of it and strive to reach the ideals.

HINDU CALENDAR (Panchanga): A true Hindu always looks for an auspicious time to perform any activity, may it be a Vedic ritual, sowing seeds, planting, digging wells, starting construction of a home or a building, entering a new home (grhapravesha), go on a travel for a special purpose, wear new clothes, and even a hair-cut. He/she finds this auspicious time by using a calendar known as “Panchanga”. Astronomy is used in the preparation of the panchanga which lists the daily movements of planets and stars and other related events. The influence of these planetary movements on a human life is determined by a discipline called “jyotisha” (Astrology). A true Hindu worships the planets and stars to bless him/her in his/her daily life. So the panchanga becomes very important in determining whether a particular time is favorable in terms of the planetary position at that time, i.e. whether a person will be blessed if a particular activity is performed at that time. Panchanga means five limbs (pancha + anga) and these are called “Thithi”, “Vara” (week day), “Nakshatra” (star), “Yoga” and “Karana”. The Panchanga is based on two types of calculations of time, Sauramana (solar calendar) and Chandramana (lunar calendar) and both are in practice.

The entire year is filled with special days or festivals observed by various kinds of prayers and rituals. In addition, special activities called Samskara Karmas (naming ceremony, marriage etc.) are performed on an auspicious day picked by the astrologers and they use the Panchanga to do that. Also in every ritual one does what is known as ‘Sankalpa’ in the beginning to declare the purpose. This sankalpa includes connecting the day to cosmic time in terms of ‘Samvatsara’ (name of the year), ‘Ayana’ (solstice, northern or southern), ‘Rtu’ (season), ‘Masa’ (month), ‘Paksha’ (fortnight), ‘Thithi’, ‘Vara’, ‘Nakshatra’, ‘Yoga’, and ‘Karana’ and these are recorded in the panchanga for every day of the year.

Let's look at each of these elements in more detail.

Sauramana (Solar Calendar):

The Sauramana is a calculation of time based on the apparent movement of the sun along the ecliptic. The time taken for one complete circle or 360 degrees is a solar year. A belt 18 degrees wide centered on ecliptic (9 degrees on each side) is called zodiac. This zodiac is divided into 12 equal parts of 30 degrees each and each part is called a sign or Rashi. The time taken by the sun to pass a complete sign is a solar month and 12 such moths make up a solar year. The names of the Rashis are also the names of the months. The first sign is called Mesha (Aries) and is the point of intersection of the ecliptic and the equator. Mesha is the first solar month of the solar year. The names of the 12 solar months or rashis are as follows.

Solar Month - Rashi	English Name	Months spanned English (Western) Calendar
Mesha	Aries	April-May
Vrshabha	Taurus	May-June
Mithuna	Gemini	June-July
Karkataka	Cancer	July-August
Sihma	Leo	August-September
Kanya	Virgo	September-October
Tula	Libra	October-November
Vrschika	Scorpio	November-December
Dhanu	Sagittarius	December-January
Makara	Capricorn	January-February
Kumbha	Aquarius	February-March
Meena	Pisces	March-April

 

Ayana (solstice):

Every year, the Sun transits through the northern solstice from December to June. This period is called Uttarayana. Likewise during June to December, the sun transits through the souther solstice and this period is called the Dakshinayana.

The time of Sun’s transit from one sign to the next is called Sankranthi and the name given is the name of the entered sign. Thus Makara Sankranthi is when the Sun enters the Makara Rashi. These Sankranthis are special days and are celebrated as festivals. Makara Sankranthi is also special in that it is the beginning of the Sun’s journey in the northern solstice and is called Uttarayana Punya Kala. This is a very auspicious period. (In the epic, Mahabharata, Bheesma chose his time of death to be in this period). Likewise the sun begins it's the journey in the southern solstice (Dakshinayana) on Karkataka Sankranthi.

Vara:

There are seven solar days in a vara (week). The names of these days correspond to the names of seven planets. A day is the period between two sunrises. This period is divided into 24 equal parts each part being called a ‘hora’ (about an hour), and the horas are ruled by the seven planets. The lords of the horas are in the order of the distances to planets from the earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun , Venus,Mercury, and Moon and then it repeats. The days of the vara go by the names of the planets who rule the first hora or the hora at sunrise of that day. Thus on Sunday, the first hora is ruled by Sun, on Monday the first hora is ruled by Moon and so on. So the vara names and the ruling planets are as follows:

Day of Week	Vedic Name	Ascendant planet
Sunday	Ravivara or Bhanuvara	Surya (Ravi aka Bhanu) - the Sun
Monday	Somavara	Soma - the Moon
Tuesday	Mangalavara	Kuja (aka Mangala) - Mars
Wednesday	Budhavara	Budha - Mercury
Thursday	Guruvara	Guru (aka Brihaspathi) - Jupiter
Friday	Sukravara	Sukra - Venus
Saturday	Shanivara	Shani - Saturn

The days of the week, Sunday through Saturday, are also associated with particular deities, such as Sun, Shiva, Ganesha, Skanda, Guru, Devi, and Shani respectively.

It's also interesting to note that the names of the weekdays in the Western Calendar are also derived from the same planets.

Chandramana (Lunar Calendar):

Chandramana is a calculation of time based on the moon’s revolution around the earth. A lunar month is the time period between two full moons or Purnimas (or two new moons or Amavasyas , in some traditions). There are 12 months in a lunar year.

Nakshatra (star):

There are 27 stars or constellations (Nakshatra) spread over 360 degrees along the zodiac each spacing over 13 degrees and 20 minutes. Dividing each star space into 4 quarters of 3 degrees and 20 minutes each, a Rashi is spanned by 2 and 1/4 star space or 9 quarters star space. The moon takes about 27 days to complete one revolution among the constellations. So the star and it’s quarter at birth is determined by determining the star at the location of the moon (longitude) in the zodiac in degrees at the time of birth.The 27 Nakshatras are:

Ashwini	Bharani	Krittika
Rohini	Mrgashira	Ardra
Punarvasu	Pushya	Ashlesha
Makha	Purva phalguni	Uttara phalguni
Hasta	Chitra	Swathi
Vishakha	Anuradha	Jyeshta
Moola	Purvashadha	Uttarashadha
Shravana	Dhanishta	Shatabhisha
Purvabhadra	Uttarabhadra	Revathi

Many of the Nakshatras are associated with particular deities for worship. For example Shravana for Vishnu, Ardra for Shiva, Rohini for Krishna and so on.

Rtu (season):

There are 6 Rtus in a year. See the Masa table for the names & period of the seasons.

Masa (month):

The names of the lunar month, the likely star (constellation) on the full moon of the month, and the seasons are given below. There are 12 Masas in a year, lunar or solar (See above for months in the Solar Calendar). Since the lunar year is shorter than the solar year by about 11 days or so, once every 3 lunar years, an additional lunar month is added to realign with the solar year. It is called ‘Adhika Masa’. In other words one of the lunar months will come twice consecutively.

Hindu Lunar Month	Likely Constellation on Full Moon	Season	Months spanned English (Western) Calendar
Chaitra	Chitra	Vasanta rtu (spring)	March-April
Vaishakha	Vishakha	Vasanta rtu (spring)	April-May
Jyeshta	Jyeshta	Grishma rtu (summer)	May-June
Ashada	Purva/Uttar ashadha	Grishma rtu (summer)	June-July
Shravana	Shravana	Varsha rtu (rain)	July-August
Bhadrapada	Purva/Uttara bhadra	Varsha rtu (rain)	August-September
Ashwina (Aswayuja)	Ashwini	Sharad rtu (autumn)	September-October
Karthika	Krittika	Sharad rtu (autumn)	October-November
Margasira	Mrigashira	Hemanta rtu (early winter)	November-December
Pushya (Pausha)	Pushya	Hemanta rtu (early winter)	December-January
Magha	Makha	Shishira rtu (late winter)	January-February
Phalguni	Purva/Uttara phalguni	Shishira rtu (late winter)	February-March

Paksha:

Each lunar month is divided into two fortnights, called Pakshas. There are two pakshas in a lunar month, the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) and dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha). The time period between a day after the full moon and the next new moon is call Krishna Paksha or dark fortnight. The time period between a day after new moon and the next full moon is called Shukla Paksha or bright fortnight. The fortnights are called Pakshas. The 12 lunar months also form six rtus or seasons. Shukla Paksha is considered auspicious for rituals; Bhadrapada Krishna Paksha is named as Pitru Paksha, meaning auspicious to perform ancestral rites.

Tithi:

 A lunar day is known as a tithi. It is the time taken by the moon to move a distance of 12 degrees from the Sun. When the Sun and Moon are at the same longitude, it is Amavasya or new moon and when they are 180 degrees apart it is Purnima or full moon. In each Paksha there are 15 tithis for a total of 30 tithis in a lunar month. The 15th thithi of Shukla Paksha is Purnima and the 15th of Krishna Paksha is Amavasya. The other 14 tithis in each Paksha have the same names, which are literally the Sanksrit numbering from one through fourteen. The 14 names are as follows: Pratipada/Pratipat/Padyami/Prathama, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturthi/Chauth, Panchami, Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dwadashi, Trayodashi, and Chaturdashi.

Every tithi has a special association in the worship of a particular deity, ex: Chaturthi with Ganesha. So at least there are thirty special events (festivals) in a year. Actually there are more than that considering festivals like Navarathri and Rama Navami where each is celebrated for nine days.

Karana:

Each thithi is divided into two Karanas. There are 11 Karanas and they are distributed in a pattern within a lunar month and the pattern almost cycles month to month. The Karanas are the following:
Bava, Baalava, Kaulava, Taitula, Garija, Vanija, Bhadra (Vishti), Shakuna, Chatushpaada, Naaga, Kimstughna.

Yoga:

The yoga is the time period during which the joint motion of the Sun and the Mooon increase in longitude by 13 degrees and 20 minutes (like star space). Thus there are 27 yogas given below:

Vishkambha, Preeti, Aayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Atiganda, Sukarmaa, Dhrti, Shoola, Ganda, Vrdhi, Dhruva, Vyaghaata, Harshana, Vajra, Sidhi, Vyateepaata, Vareeyan, Parigha, Shiva, Sidha, Sadhya, Shubha, Shukla, Brahma, Indra, and Vaidhrti. Some yogas are considered auspicious.

Samvatsara (year):

The Vedic calendar has 60 year cycles. The names of these years are the following:

Prabhava	Vibhava	Shukla	Pramodoota	Prajotpatti	Angirasa
Shrimukha	Bhava	Yuva	Dhatu	Ishwara	Bahudhanya
Pramathi	Vikrama	Vishu	Chitrabhanu	Swabhanu	Tarana
Parthiva	Vyaya	Sarvajitu	Sarvadhari	Virodhi	Vikrti
Khara	Nandana	Vijaya	Jaya	Manmatha	Durmukha
Hemalambi	Vilambi	Vikaari	Sharvari	Plava	Shubhakrtu
Shobhakrtu	Krodhi	Vishwaavasu	Parabhava	Plavanga	Keelaka
Sowmya	Saadhaarana	Voridhikrtu	Paridhaavi	Pramaadeecha	Ananda
Rakshasa	Nala	Pingala	Kalayukti	Sidharti	Roudri
Durmukhi	Dumdubhi	Rudhirodgaari	Raktakshi	Krodhana	Kshaya

These names repeat every 60 years and a panchanga is generated for each year as it occurs. These years are lunar years.

Panchanga: Thus the five elements of “Thithi”, “Vara”, “Nakshatra”, “Yoga” and “Karana”, that are discussed above are always considered by a true Hindu to determine an auspicious time (muhurta) for starting any karma (activity) with special emphasis for starting Vedic karmas. Thus, to a true Hindu, the calendar (panchanga) has a far greater importance than just keeping record of time and events.

This concludes the series “When am I a true Hindu?”. The fact that should be clear here is this: To a true Hindu, every life activity is connected to religion with the objective of understanding the Self. What has been discussed is by no means complete or sufficiently detailed. If you, the reader, get at least a feel for these elements and if it makes you more inquisitive to learn further, you are on your way to understand what it means to be a Hindu and more importantly your own place among the Lord's creation.