Panchang: IndianCalendarSystem

AshutoshKGupta

IndianCulture
Mysterious Divine Butweare Justanotherprettysmartancientcivilization Thatsit!

Supernatural

Whytheyneededacalendar?
Food Growcrops Predictweather Weathersynchronouscalendar
Fact: Indiansobservedthattimeperiodofsunspositionw.r.t.starsis equaltotimeperiodofweather

UnitstorepresentCalendar!
Letsseewhatnaturaltimeperiodstheyhad.

Sunspositionw.r.t.stars.(365.256363051days) Equinox(365.24218967days) Moonspositionw.r.t.stars.(27.321582days) Moonsphases.(29.530588days)

Solarday(1day) Problem:

Timeunitscanonlyhaveintegerratiobutabovetimeperiodsarerealnumbers

Solution:
Usevariablelengthsfortimeunits.

Example:YearlengthinGregoriancalendar(365/366days).

Panchang:Day/Month/Year

Day:sunrisetosunrise Month:fullmoontofullmoon Year:11/12/13months Averageyearlength=365.256363051days

Goal:

Trick: Incrementonlywhenyouobserveaneventinsky.
(NotthewaywedoinGregoriancalendar)

Day

Sunrisetosunrise Dayhasanameaccordingtomoonsphaseatthetimeofsunrise.

Twoweeksinamonthof14/15dayseach:

Brightweek Darkweek

Amonth=29/30days

FactforIndians: 7daysweekinmodernPanchangisnotpartoforiginalone. Frenchweekdaynames:Lundi,Mardi,Mercredi,, Hindiweekdaynames: Somwar,Mangal war,Buddhwar Indiansbelievedthatthereare9planets,not7!

Months

Thereisasequenceof12namesformonths. Eachmonthisgivenaname

noName(Adhikmasa) name (name1,name2)

Onenamingcycleisayear.

Fact: Thesemonthnamesareoriginallythenamesof12stars(Nakshtras).

Somedetailsaboutoursky(1)

Allthestarsarestationary w.r.t.eachother(Approx). Observingfromearth,they createavirtualreference sphericalmap. Sunspathinthecelestial sphereiscalledEcliptic.

CelestialSphere

Somedetailsaboutoursky(2)

Sunmoveswithrespecttocelestialsphereinacircle. Indians/Greeksdividedthiscirclein12parts. ThesepartsareknownasSunsigns/Zodiacs.

NamingofMonths

Cancer

Leo

NamingofMonths

Cancer Transitionpoint Leo

Amonthnameisassociatedwitheachtransitionpoint.

NamingofMonths

Cancer Transitionpoint Leo

Amonthnameisassociatedwitheachtransitionpoint.

Year

Namingofmonth

Notransitions=noName(Adhikmasa) Onetransition=name Twotransitions=(name1,name2)

1year=11/12/13months Thiswaytheyadd7extralunarmonthsin19years(Gregorian Calendar). (12*19+7)*29.53019*365.2425

Fact: Your19thbirthdaywilloccuronsamedayaccordingtobothPanchangand GregorianCalendar.

Complicatedcalendar!!

Oneofthefewsolilunarcalendar Onceyouknowtherules,youcancalculatedateby yourself. Goodforadhoccommunity. Pointlessfororganizedcommunity. Goodinpredictingweather. Coolmath!!

Fact: Theymadealittlemistake. Timeperiodofweather=Timeperiodofequinox

Reference

AncientIndianAstronomy,S.BalachandraRao. IndianMathematics&Astronomy,Rao,S.Balachandra

Sawal??