page_title: Pahela Baishakh
section_title: Nomenclature
hierarchical_section_title: Pahela Baishakh / Nomenclature
caption_attribution_description: English: Emperor Akbar holds a falcon in his hand.
context_page_description: Pahela Baishakh or Bangla Noboborsho is the first day of Bengali Calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh, and on 14 or 15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Northern Odisha and parts of Assam by people of Bengali heritage, irrespective of their religious faith.
  Celebration of Pahela Baishakh traces its roots during the Mughal rule in the region with the proclamation of tax collection reforms by Emperor Akbar. The festival date is set according to the lunisolar Bengali calendar as the first day of its first month Boishakh. It therefore almost always falls on or about 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar. The same day is observed elsewhere as the traditional solar new year and a harvest festival, and is known by other names such as Vaisakhi in central and north India, Ugadi in South India Vishu in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu.
  The festival is celebrated with processions, fairs and family time. The traditional greeting for Bengali New Year is শুভ নববর্ষ "Shubho Noboborsho" which is literally "Happy New Year". The festive Mangal Shobhajatra is organized in Bangladesh.
context_section_description: In Bengali, the word Pohela (Bengali: পহেলা) means 'first' and Boishakh (Bengali: বৈশাখ) is the first month of the Bengali calendar (Bengali: পহেলা বৈশাখ Pôhela Boishakh). Bengali New Year is referred to in Bengali as Noboborsho (Bengali: নববর্ষ), where 'Nobo' means new and 'Borsho' means year.
caption: Some believe that Mughal Emperor Akbar first introduced the Bengali New Year and official Bengali calendar to ease the tax collection process.
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