Krsna Kirtana Songs
est. 2001 www.kksongs.org
The Vedic Year
Unlike
the Western calendar, which is based on the rotation of the sun, the Vedic
calendar is based on the lunar calendar, or the calendar based on the moons
cycle. Many cultures, races, and religions have adopted their own versions of
their lunar calendar. The Vedic system is much more complex, for it has many
elements in understanding its calendar. While the attempt of this page is not
to teach Vedic astrology and mathematical formulas in order to derive a
calendar, this page will examine some properties of the Vedic calendar system.
VEDIC DAY (TITHI):
In
the solar calendar, the day is based on roughly twenty-four hours. Through the
solar calendar,
Due
to the pre-calculated time of the start of the tithi
not matching up with sunrise times, few tithis may be
lost in each month. The Vedic astrologist is able to calculate and determine
which days will be missing from the calendar.
VEDIC MONTH:
Generally,
there are twelve months of the year. Each month on the Vedic calendar contains
thirty days on average. Due to the loss of days accumulated through each lunar
year, an extra thirteenth month is added to make up for this missing year. It
is known as the adhika
month. This is equivalent to the Western Leap Year held on February 29.
Each
Vedic month is divided in two approximate halves. The first approximate fifteen
day period of a month is known as the krsna-paksa, or the phase of the waning moon. The other half
of the month is known as the gaura-paksa, or the phase of the waxing moon. Some will call
this the sukla-paksa. The full moon (purnima) marks
the end of the gaura-paksa, while the new moon (amavasya) ends
the krsna-paksa.
Each
day is named for its ordinal placement with respect to the start of its paksa. This name is known as the tithi. Here is a table to assist
the naming of the days.
|
PLACEMENT
IN THE MONTH |
VEDIC
NAME |
|
Full Moon |
purnima |
|
Day 1 |
pratipat |
|
Day 2 |
dvitiya |
|
Day 3 |
tritiya |
|
Day 4 |
caturti |
|
Day 5 |
pancami |
|
Day 6 |
sasti |
|
Day 7 |
saptami |
|
Day 8 |
astami |
|
Day 9 |
navami |
|
Day 10 |
dasami |
|
Day 11 |
ekadasi |
|
Day 12 |
dvadasi |
|
Day 13 |
trayodasi |
|
Day 14 |
caturdasi |
|
New Moon |
amavasya |
|
Day 1
|
pratipat
|
VAISNAVA CALENDARS
The
Gaudiya Vaisnavas adopted
the Vedic calendar with the same process of creating yearly calendars. The only
real difference is that they renamed the months to correspond to the names of
Krsna. The Vaisnava calendar has the Gaura Purnima be the New Year
event for the Vaisnavas. Here is a list of comparing
the Western months to the Vedic and Vaisnava months.
|
WESTERN
NAME |
VEDIC
NAME |
VAISNAVA
NAME |
|
March-April |
Caitra |
Visnu |
|
April-May |
Vaisakha |
Madhusudana |
|
May-June |
Jyaistha |
Trivikrama |
|
June-July |
Asadha |
Vamana |
|
July-August |
Sravana |
Sridhara |
|
August-September |
Bhadra |
Hrsikesa |
|
September-October |
Asvina |
Padmanabha |
|
October-November |
Kartika |
Damodara |
|
November-December |
Magasirsa |
Kesava |
|
December-January |
Pausa |
Narayana |
|
January-February |
Magha |
Madhava |
|
February-March |
Phalguna |
Govinda |
|
(leap month)* |
Adhika* |
Purusottama-adhika* |
*
In 2007, Jyaistha (Trivikrama)
will be split by Adhika (Purusottama-adhika).
After completion of the krsna-paksa of Jyaistha, Adhika will take place.
Unlike the rest of the months of the year where the gaura
paksa follows
krsna paksa, Adhika will begin with gaura-paksa
and be followed by krsna-paksa. At the end of Adhika, the remainder of Jyaistha
(gaura-paksa) will be completed.