Before you read the article let me tell you how I got to know about SIDH. Through a friend Rajiv met Sraddhalu, through Sraddhalu met Shruti, then together Shruti & Sraddahalu started a TV channel project, they sent me Planner 2004 titled 'Samyojna'. The planner contains this article.

Excerpts from About Sidh in the planner. "Since 1989, the journey at SIDH has been about negotiating spaces through education for a more meaningful exploration and dialogue, not only in social & political spheres but within individual mindsets. Ideally shiksha, or education, is about understanding the relationship of the self with the body, with the family, with society, with nature and all that exists. It is about eliciting a samajh, or understanding, and to live our lives accordingly. At SIDH, we feel it is important to challenge today's dominant notions of who is 'civilized', who is 'backward', or what is 'scientific' and what is 'modern'. We hope to enhance the low self-esteem and self-confidence through our experiments at Bodhigram, a space to explore and identify 'relevant' education, which includes:

• Sushiksha : Village Education Centres.
• Sanjeevani & Sanmati : Youth Programmes.
• Sanshodhan : Research & Advocacy.
• Samvad : Discussion forum with thinkers & activists from different fields.
• Samridhi : Income generation units & a retail outlet "Himalaya Haat".
• Vimarsh : Programmes to reach out to people.
• Sarthak : Publications."

If you like to know more about SIDH write to Pawan Gupta [email protected] or www.sidh.org or call 91 0135 2630338, 2621304 ie Mussoorie, Uttaranchal, India.

"Thee Indian calendar is a combined lunar and solar calendar as it is based on the position of both sun and moon. When referring to the lunar cycle we talk of tithi and paksha and when referring to the solar cycle we talk in terms of sankrant and gate. Indian festivals and other religious occasions are based both on the solar and the lunar cycles. For example some of the sankrants (first day of the solar calendar) like the Mesh sankrant (more popularly known as Baishakhi), Kark Sankrant, etc., are based on the solar calendar while on the other hand important festivals like Basant Panchami, Mahashivratri, Holi, Diwali, Janmashtami, Ramnavami, etc are decided as per the lunar calendar.

The names of the months like Chaitra, Baishaka, etc., are the same in both the lunar and solar cycles. These two cannot be separated and seen in isolation. But it should also be remembered that these two cycles are not in step. This creates a slight difficulty, for those unacquainted with the Hindu calendar, as this following example will demonstrate. Baishaki falls on 14 April 2003. According to the solar calendar this is the first day (or sankrant) of the month of Baishaka but according to the lunar cycle it is Chaitra shukla dwadashi (or the twelfth day of the bright half/waxing phase of the month of Chaitra). So it can be seen that as per the lunar cycle it is the month of Chaitra but according to the solar cycle the month of Baishaka has started.

A solar month is the time taken by the Sun to travel through a rashi (zodiac sign). The entry of the sun in a rashi is celebrated as sankrant and is the start of the solar month. Thus there are twelve sankrants in a year. For example, the month of Baishaka begins when the sun enters the zodiac sign Aries. This day is also known as Mesh sankrant. Each sankrant is named after the constellation in which the sun enters on the day.

A solar month is divided into 30 or 31 days and each is known as gate. A solar year has two halves of six months each known as ayana. The Northern declination of the sun when it appears to move between the constellations Capricorn and Gemini is called Uttarayan. This corresponds to the movement of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn northwards towards the Tropic of Cancer. Uttarayan starts on the day of Makar Sankrant (14 Jan). The Southern declination of the sun when it appears to move between the constellations Cancer and Sagittarus is called Dakshinayan. This corresponds to the movement of the sun from the Tropic of Cancer southwards towards the Tropic of Capricorn. Dakshinayan starts on the day of Kark Sankrant (16 July).

The lunar month consists of 29-30 tithis divided into two pakshas: krsna paksha (dark half or waning phase from purnima to amavasya) and shukla paksha (bright half or waxing phase from amavasya to purnima). Each paksha has 14-15 days. In North India the lunar month starts from the day after purnima denoted by Krishna paksh pratipada (the first day of the dark half) and the last day of the months is the day of purnima. In Bengal, Maharashtra and South India, the lunar month starts from the day after amavasya denoted by shukla paksha pratipada (the first day of the bright half) and ends on the day of amavasya.

Each lunar month is named after the naksatra (constellation) in which the full moon occurs in each successive month. They are as follows:

The Hindu New Year or samvatsar starts on the day of Chaitra Shukla Pratipada (the first day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra). But the New Year is celebrated on different days in different parts of the country. for example, some regions and communities start their new year on Kartik shukla pratipada (the first day of the bright half of the month of Kartik). This would be the time of Diwali. In Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, the New Year starts on the day of Mesh Sankrant (popularly known as Baishaki) which falls on 14 April.

As per the traditional Hindu calendar each year (called samvatsar) is given a specific name and they recur in cycles of sixty years. Their names are as follows: Prabhava, Vibhava, Shukla, Pramod, Prajapati, Angirasa, Srimukha, Bhava, Yuva, Dhatu, Iswara, Bahudhanya, Pramadi, Vikrama, Vishu, Chitrabhanu, Swabhanu, Tharana, Parthiva, Vyaya, Sarvajitu, Sarvadhari, Virodhi, Vikriti, Khara, Nandana, Vijay, Jaya, Manmatha, Durmukh, Hevilambi, Vilambi, Vikari, Sharvari, Plava, Shubhakritu, Krodhi, Viswavasu, Parabhava, Plavanga, Keelaka, Soumya, Sadharana, Virodhikritu, Paridhavi, Pramadicha, Ananda, Rakshasa, Nala, Pingala, Kalayukti, Siddharthi, Roudri, Durmathi, Dundbhi, Rudhirodghari, Rakthakshi, Krodana, Akshaya.

This (Vikram era 2060 or Christian Era 2003-2004) is named Durmukh.

The complete cycle of 1 year is divided into six seasons as follows:

In India the panchang is used for reckoning time and thus regulating the social and cultural life of the people. Panchang means having five limbs. A Panchang is so named because it gives information regarding the five basic divisions of time. These are the:

(a)Thithi (phase of the moon)

(b) Vaar (day)

(c) Nakshatra (star or constellation through which the moon is passing)

(d) Yoga (total distance traversed by the sun & moon from a specific point)

(e) Karana (half a thithi)

In addition the panchang also gives tables for the correction of the time of sunrise at different longitudes, the time taken by the sun to traverse each rashi and the moon to traverse each nakshatra, the positions of the sun, moon and other planets, time of sunrise/sunset, auspicious day, date, time for various rituals, etc.

Panchangs are used at two levels (a) in the house (b) professionally by pundits. At the household level panchangs are used for checking when to keep fasts, auspicious time for starting puja etc. the pundits use it for casting horoscopes, deciding auspicious date time for major events like marriages moving into a new house, etc.

The Hindu concept of time is very vast and divided into yugas and mahayugas. They are calculated as follows:

One human year represents one day for the divine.

360 divine days make one divine year

12,000 divine years make one Mahayuga.

One mahayuga is divided into 4 yugas: Krita, Treta, Dwapar and Kali. In terms of human years:

Kali yuga = 432,000 years

Dwapar yuga = 864,000 years (Dwa means twice)

Treta yuga = 1,296,000 years (Tre means thrice)

Krita yuga = 1,728,000 years (4 times Kali yuga)

Hence one Mahayuga = 4,320,000 (4.32 million) human years.

The following are considered the ruling gods in each of the four yugas:

Lord in the Krita yuga Sri Ranganatha

Lord in the Treta Yuga Sri Rama

Lord in the Dwapar yuga Sri Krishna

Lord in the Kali yuga Sri Srinivasa

Seventy-two Mahayugas constitute one 'manvantara' (i.e. the life of Manu) and 14 such manvantaras make one day (or Kalpa) of Brahma (72 x 14 = 1008 mahayugas). This works out to 4.32 million x 1008 = 4354.56 million human years.

Brahma's one full day is 8.70912 billion human years (1 day of 4.35456 billion human years + 1 night of 4.35456 billion human years). Thirty such days make one month for Brahma (i.e. 8.70912 x 30 = 261.2736 billion human years). Twelve such months make one year, and Brahma is supposed to live for 100 such years, which works out to 313528.32 billion human years (261.2736 x 12 x 100).

This is called Param, and half of it is Para Ardham."

Friends you can read more at the Swaminarayan site. Excerpts below -

Vikram Samvat - http://www.swaminarayan.org/essays/2003/2207.htm "In addition to the natural reckoning of days, months, seasons, and the year, a continuously running era is required for the recording of dates. The era currently popular in the Indian calendar is the Vikram Era, or Vikram Samvat. The Vikram Era is ascribed to King Vikram, also known as Vikramaditya. It is generally accepted that Vikramaditya was born into the Gardabhilla royal family and grew up to be a noble and illustrious ruler of the Malwa region, its capital being the picturesque city of Ujjain. Inscriptions from 1st century BCE confirm that a 'Malav' people existed at that time, and that they had a brave leader named 'Vikram'. So brave was this Vikram, in fact, that the name has since become synonymous with bravery.

Earlier, ancestors of the Malav tribe had suffered grave defeats at the hands of invading Greeks. This had forced the tribe to push down to Malwa, where they settled and consolidated their hold. After Vikram came to the throne, he repulsed the Greek advance and established peace and prosperity over Malwa. And it was from that particular year, 57 BCE, that he began his own era - Vikram Samvat.
Vikram was respected as a very noble king, serving and giving refuge to all his subjects like his own progeny. He regularly disguised himself as a commoner and mingled with village-folk, in order to learn of their afflictions and thus serve them better".

Establishment of peace & prosperity in Malwa not the birth of Christ is the basis for the Vikram Samvat calendar. I am not suggesting that we change to the Vikram Samvat calendar but it is important for us to know about it since our festivals etc are based on it.

Long Live Sanatan Dharam

February 2004.