Tithi - Hindu Tithi Calendar
As per the Indian Hindu Calendar, Tithi (also spelled Thithi) is the lunar date. Tithi is one of the most important aspect of the Indian Almanac or the Panchang and therefore many Hindu festivals and ceremonies are based on Tithi Calendar. A lunar calendar is based on the moon's rotation around the Earth. A tithi is the time taken for the longitudinal angle between the moon and the sun to increase by 12°. A lunar month consists of 30 tithis, whose start time and duration vary.
The Tithi Calculator given below helps you find Thithi for any location on any day starting from 1901. To find Tithi for a particular date, select date and time and enter location. Enter coordinates of the location manually or allow the programme to choose them automatically. After entering details click 'Submit'. The Tithi result will be show along with the Paksha
Hindu calendar is a collective name for most of the lunisolar calendars and solar calendars used in India since ancient times. Since ancient times it has undergone many changes in the process of regionalization and today there are several regional Indian Hindu calendars. It has also been standardized as Indian national calendar. Nepali calendar, Bengali calendar, Malayalam calendar, Tamil calendar, Telugu calendar, Kannada calendar etc. are some prominent regional Hindu calendars.[1] The common feature of all regional Hindu calendars is that the names of the twelve months are the same (because the names are based in Sanskrit) though the spelling and pronunciation have come to vary slightly from region to region over thousands of years. The month which starts the year also varies from region to region.
Most of the Hindu calendars are inherited from a system first enunciated in Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa's of Lagadha, a late BCE adjunct to the Veda-s, standardized in the Sūrya Siddhānta (3rd century CE) and subsequently reformed by astronomers such as Āryabhaṭṭa (499 CE), Varāhamihira (6th c. CE), and Bhāskara II (12th c. CE). Differences and regional variations abound in these computations, but the following is a general overview of Hindu lunisolar calendar.
Months of the lunisolar calendar
When a new moon occurs before sunrise on a day, that day is said to be the first day of the lunar month. So it is evident that the end of the lunar month will coincide with a new moon. A lunar month has 29 or 30 days (according to the movement of the moon).
The tithi at sunrise of a day is the only label of the day. There is no running day number from the first day to the last day of the month. This has some unique results, as explained below:
Sometimes two successive days have the same tithi. In such a case, the latter is called an adhika tithi where adhika means "extra". Sometimes, one tithi may never touch a sunrise, and hence no day will be labeled by that tithi. It is then said to be a Tithi Kṣaya where Kṣaya means "loss".[Note 1]
Month names
There are 12 months in Hindu lunar Calendar:
- Chaitra (चैत्र) Meṣa (Aries)[5]
- Vaiśākha (वैशाख) Vṛṣabha (Taurus)[6]
- Jyaiṣṭha (ज्येष्ठ) Mithuna (Gemini)[7]
- Āṣāḍha (आषाढ ) Karka (Cancer)[7]
- Śrāvaṇa (श्रावण) Siṃha (Leo)[7]
- Bhādrapada or Bhādra also Proṣṭhapada (भाद्रपद,भाद्र,प्रोष्ठपद) Kanyā (Virgo)[7]
- Āśvina in,sometimes Aśvayuja ( आश्विन,अश्वयुज) Tula (Libra)[7]
- Kārtika (कार्तिक) Vṛścika (Scorpio)[7]
- Agrahāyaṇa or, Mārgaśīrṣa (मार्गशीर्ष,अग्रहायण) Dhanus (Sagittarius)[7]
- Pauṣa (पौष) Makara (Capricorn)[7]
- Māgha (माघ) Kumbha (Aquarius)[7]
- Phālguna (फाल्गुन)Mīna (Pisces)[7]
Determining which name a lunar month takes is somewhat indirect. It is based on the rāshi (Zodiac sign) into which the sun transits within a lunar month, i.e. before the new moon ending the month.
There are 12 rāśi names, there are twelve lunar month names. When the sun transits into the Meṣa rāśi in a lunar month, then the name of the lunar month is Caitra. When the sun transits into Vṛṣabha, then the lunar month is Vaiśākha. So on.
If the transits of the Sun through various constellations of the zodiac (Rāśi) are used, then we get Solar months, which do not shift with reference to the Gregorian calendar. The Solar months along with the corresponding Hindu seasons and Gregorian months are:
(Rāśi)Saura Māsa
(solar months) / Ṛtu
(season) / Tamil name / Gregorian
Tropical months / Sidereal Vedic Zodiac
Meṣa / Vasanta
(spring) / இளவேனில் / Mar-Apr / Aries
Vṛṣabha / Apr-May / Taurus
Mithuna / Grīṣma
(summer) / முதுவேனில் / May-June / Gemini
Karkaṭa / June-July / Cancer
Siṃha / Varṣā
(monsoon) / கார் / July-Aug / Leo
Kanyā / Aug-Sept / Virgo
Tulā / Śarad
(Autumn) / கூதிர் / Sept-Oct / Libra
Vṛścika / Oct-Nov / Scorpius
Dhanu / Hemanta
(Winter) / முன்பனி / Nov-Dec / Sagittarius
Makara / Dec-Jan / Capricornus
Kumbha / Śiśira
(Cold) / பின்பனி / Jan-Feb / Aquarius
Mīna / Feb-Mar / Pisces
Extra months (Adhika Māsa)
When the sun does not at all transit into any rāśi but simply keeps moving within a rāśi in a lunar month (i.e. before a new moon), then that lunar month will be named according to the first upcoming transit. It will also take the epithet of adhika or "extra". For example, if a lunar month elapsed without a solar transit and the next transit is into Meṣa, then this month without transit is labeled Adhika Caitra Māsa. The next month will be labeled according to its transit as usual and will get the epithet nija ("original") or Śuddha ("unmixed").[Note 1] [Note that an adhika māsa (month) is the first of two whereas an adhika tithi is the second of two.]
Extra Month, or adhika māsa (māsa = lunar month in this context) falls every 32.5 months. It is also known as puruśottama māsa, so as to give it a devotional name. Thus 12 Hindu mas (māsa) is equal to approximate 356 days, while solar year have 365 or 366 (in leap year) which create difference of 9 to 10 days, which is offset every 3rd year. No adhika māsa falls during Kārtika to Māgh.
A month long fair is celebrated in Machhegaun during adhika māsa. It is general belief that one can wash away all one's sins by taking a bath in the Machhenarayan's pond.
English Calender:
Anno Domini (AD or A.D.) and Before Christ (BC or B.C.) are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars. This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, with AD counting years after the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the epoch. There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525, but was not widely used until after 800.[1]
Alternative names for this era include vulgaris aerae (found 1615 in Latin),[2] "Vulgar Era" (in English, as early as 1635),[3] "Christian Era" (in English, in 1652),[4] "Common Era" (in English, 1708),[5] and "Current Era".[6] Since 1856,[7] the alternative abbreviations CE and BCE are sometimes used in place of AD and BC.
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. For decades, it has been the unofficial global standard, adopted for pragmatic interests of international communication, transportation and commercial integration and recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union.[8]
The term Anno Domini is Medieval Latin, translated as In the year of the Lord,[9] and as in the year of our Lord.[10][11]:782 It is sometimes specified more fully as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu (Jesu) Christi ("In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ").
Traditionally, English has copied Latin usage by placing the abbreviation before the year number for AD.[12] Since BC is not derived from Latin it is placed after the year number (for example: AD 2012, but 68 BC). However, placing the AD after the year number (as in "2012 AD") is also becoming common usage. The abbreviation is also widely used after the number of a century or millennium, as in "fourth century AD" or "second millennium AD" (although conservative usage formerly rejected such expressions).[13] Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes incorrectly concluded that AD means After Death, i.e., after the death of Jesus. However this would mean that the ~33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be present in either BC or AD time scales.[14]
The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had been used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians.[16] The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was immediately followed by the first year of his table, AD 532. When he devised his table, Julian calendar years were identified by naming the consuls who held office that year—he himself stated that the "present year" was "the consulship of Probus Junior", which was 525 years "since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ".[17] Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus' Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the specific year during which his birth or conception occurred.
"However, nowhere in his exposition of his table does Dionysius relate his epoch to any other dating system, whether consulate, Olympiad, year of the world, or regnal year of Augustus; much less does he explain or justify the underlying date."[18]:778
Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC, 1 BC, or AD 1 as the year Dionysius intended for the Nativity or Incarnation. Among the sources of confusion are:[18]:778–9
· In modern times Incarnation is synonymous with the conception, but some ancient writers, such as Bede, considered Incarnation to be synonymous with the Nativity
· The civil, or consular year began on 1 January but the Diocletian year began on 29 August
· There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls
· There were confused summations of emperors' regnal years