From: selvakum@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering)
Subject: Hindu Calendar
Keywords: Hindu Calendar, Tamil Sun Calendar.
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 23:41:52 GMT



In article <1992Nov06.143347.18288@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>, indu@iss700.Columbia.NCR.COM () writes:
>               HINDU CALENDAR  for November 1992
>               =================================
> 
>                 ***************************
>  Personal Note: Thanks for all those who have sent emails encouraging October 
>   Calendar and had suggested certain improvements. I have a TELUGU calendar 
>   and what ever provided here is from it. Hence the slight variation
>   in the nomenclature. If somebody is willing to  COORDINATE then 
>   we can plan a much more detailed CALENDAR.  The idea of this CALENDAR 
>   article is Prabhu Ambatipudi's. He suggested this as one of those articles
>   which is also useful to readers.  
>                 ***************************
>   
> 
>  Hindu Calendar:
>    Hindu calendar consists a cycle of 60years.  Each year year has 12 months,
>    and each month has thirty days. These are fixed on the basis of Moon,
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>    (english calendars are based on SUN). In order to take care of extra days,
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

         I wish to point out that the Tamil calendar is based on
         Sun. Tamil months Chiththirai, Vaikaasi, Aani, Aadi, AavaNi..
         etc. are defined as the time the Sun enters the respective
         constellations defined in tamil. It is true many hindus
         follow moon-based calendars but many Tamil people ( hindu,
         muslim, christians) follow Sun based calendar. There are
         some tamils who follow moon-based calendar too but the Sun
        calendar is considered more accurate and the tamils who follow
        moon-calander often consult the sun-calendar in 
        addition ( since it is more accurate).
        The major Tamil festival "Pongal" is devoted to Sun God and
        it is also a harvest festival and all religious ( hindus, christians
        muslims)  groups celebrate the Tamil festival.

        Can you give historical origin of the 60 year cycles ?
        There are beutiful and interesting Tamil songs for every
        one of these 60 years predicting the general trend
        expected in that year ( known as 'Tamil years') 

        In the Tamil calendar system, based on Sun, there is no
        adhika-masa. [ It might also be interesting to note madhi = moon
        in Tamil and maatham = month. But colloquially maatham becomes
        maasam in Tamil and this seems to have gone to Sanskrit .]
        Also, not every Tamil month is 30 days long and some have
        less than 30 days. However the most important thing is
        the Tamil year has 365 days. It might also be interesting to
        note that Aryabhatta ( the astronomer) lived in Tamil Nadu.
        
>    the calndars some time have adhika-masa ( like extra-day  in a leap year).
>    Each month has two fortnights Krishna Paksha (New-Moon fortnight or 
>    dark fortnight) and Shukla Paksha (Full-Moon fortnight or Glowing fortnight).
>  [ rest of the article deleted ]
 
> -Indu.
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
> |  My  views expressed above are on my personal basis.                 |
> |  Any errors committed are mine.                                      |
> |  No Group or  Organization   can be held responsible                 |
> |                                ( for those in quest of truth .......)|
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+


         Regards,
         Selva Selvakumar