Vikram Samvat - विक्रम संवत - Why does the date of Diwali change every year ?

My Dear Young Indians,

I have a question…..

Christmas is celebrated on 25th of December every year.
But the date on which festival like Diwali and Holi is celebrated keeps changing every year.
Why?

Day

What is 1 Day?

Time taken by the earth to rotate on its axis is called a one day.

Year

There are two ways of calculating a Year.

One is called a Solar Year

The other one is called a Lunar Year.

Solar Year

Time taken by the earth to revolve around the sun once is called one Solar Year. This time is 365 days. One Solar Year divided by 12 is one Solar Month.

January to December year that we normally follow is a Solar Year. This calendar is called "Gregorian Calendar". This is named after Pope Gregory. 

The predecessor of Gregorian Calendar was 'Julian Calendar' that was made by Julius Caesar of Rome. This calendar had some errors that were later corrected by Pope Gregory and the corrected calendar came to be known as Gregorian Calendar.

Christmas is celebrated as per this calendar hence some people call this as 'Christian Calendar' also.

Lunar Year

Time taken to complete one phase cycle of the moon (Full Moon to No Moon to Full Moon) is called a Lunar Month. This time is 29.5 days. 

Please understand that this is different from revolution of the moon around the earth. Revolution takes 27 days but Phase Cycle takes 29.5 Days. 

One Lunar month multiplied by 12 is one Lunar Year.

Hindus celebrate their festivals as per the Lunar Calendar called "Vikram Samvat Panchang" विक्रम संवत पंचांग (संवत means Year. पंचांग means Calendar)

Mathematically, One Lunar Year = 29.5 * 12= 354 Days.
 

Notice the difference between the length of Gregorian Year and  विक्रम संवत...... there is a difference of 11 days.

Lunar Year is shorter than Solar Year by 11 days. Date of Hindu festivals stays the same every year as per विक्रम संवत but when we mark this date on the Gregorian Calendar it corresponds to a different date every year because of the difference of 11 days.

विक्रम संवत got its name from Samrat Vikramaditya of Ujjain. उज्जैन के सम्राट विक्रमादित्य

Let us make a time line.

 ----------------------------(-) 56 ------- 0 -----------------(+) 78 ------------------------

 

Time on the left of "0" is BC or BCE and time on the right is AD or CE. 

To make it simple we will talk in mathematical terms.... Time on the left of "0" will be denoted with a minus (-) sign and on the right will be plus (+).

विक्रम संवत पंचांग started in the year (-) 56.

As per Gregorian Calendar we are in the year 2021 .

As per विक्रम संवत पंचांग we are in the year 2077  

(2021 plus 56 because विक्रम संवत पंचांग started 56 years early)

  

There are many more things to tell you about calendars. But we will discuss this in parts else it would get confusing 🙂.  

 

We call Vikram Samvat as a Hindu Calendar. The first impression that we get is…. This is the calendar of Hindu religion (or Hinduism).

However, in 56 BCE when this calendar was created, Hinduism was the way of life of the people living in Indian subcontinent. It was not a religion.
Indian sub-continent includes the present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal.
Vikram Samvat is followed in Nepal even today.

So, I believe, Vikram Samvat calendar विक्रम संवत पंचांग is a part of the culture of India.

Today is चैत्र नवरात्री .
It marks the start of the New Year. (चैत्र is the name of the month)
 

The Indian New Year is known by different names in different parts of India---
 

Gudi Padwa गुडी पड़वा in Maharashtra
Ugadi उगादी  in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Rongali or Bohag Bihu रोंगाली/  बोहाग बिहू in Assam
Baisakhi बैसाखी in Punjab
Vishu विशु in Kerala
Puthandu पुथांडु in Tamil Nadu

हिन्द देश के निवासी सभी जन एक हैं
रंग , रूप , भेष , भाषा चाहे अनेक हैं 

No civilization on this planet Earth is as rich as ours.
We are blessed to be born on the most divine land on Earth- INDIA

आइये….
अपने सौभाग्य को सराहें
अपनी संस्कृति का स्मरण करें
अपने संस्कारों का सम्मान करें

माँ भारती के पुत्र और पुत्रियों ,

आपको भारतीय नव वर्ष की शुभकामनाएं

 

चैत्र (Chaitra) is the Month
Every month is divided into two halves called fortnight or (पक्ष)
First fortnight is called शुक्ल पक्ष
Second fortnight is called कृष्ण पक्ष
प्रतिपदा  means First Day

So, First Day (प्रतिपदा) of the First Fortnight (शुक्ल पक्ष) of the month of Chaitra (चैत्र) marks the beginning of the Indian New Year.

 

 Jai Hind !