Happy New Year

"Wish you a happy new year." - I told my friend. It was sometime in March. He gave me a very astonishing look. He must be thinking that I have gone mad. Keeping his thoughts to himself, he told me that it was already 3 months late for the current year and 9 months early for the next year. I gave him an approving nod and told if we considered the Gregorian calendar, he was indeed correct, but not as per the Indian lunar calendar.

Actually a year corresponds to a calendar. Every calendar has got a start date, so eventually as per every calender, we would have a "Happy New Year's Day". Actually with the wide usage of Gregorian calendar in our day-to-day lives, we have almost forgotten other famous calendars that were prevalent in Bharat and with it we have also failed to appreciate the significance of these calendars. We only remember about these calendars during some festivals. Two of the most famous calendars in Bharat are the lunar calendar starting on the 1st day of the bright half of Chaitra (Chaitra Shukla Pratipada), famously known as Ugadi/Yugadi and the Solar calendar starting on Vishuba Samkranti aka Pana samkranti (mostly on April 14).

Both these calendars are part of our culture and we should try to preserve them. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, these calendars based on the movement of Moon and Sun, who in a way control nature. These calendars also tell us about the position of the various celestial bodies at different points in time. It is a pity that in the process of so-called modernisation, we are losing our own cultural heritage.

New year's day is observed on various different days at various locations in our country. We being part of a big agrarian society put a great importance on the harvest seasons. There are many places where the day after the full moon day in Pausha month (falling sometime in December-January as per Gregorian calendar) is celebrated as the new year's day, traditionally the Pausha-purnima being the last day of harvest season. Similar customs may be found at some other places too.

As for official purposes, there are academic years, financial years etc. too. So for a banker, 1st of April may very well be his "New year's day" and for someone in academics, the first day after the summer break.

Of late, there has been a frenzied hype surrounding the Gregorian new year's day, aka 1st January. It is high time that we also take note of our very own lunar new year's day Ugadi and solar new year's day Pana samkranti.

Wish you all a happy and prosperous year ahead.
(Kali Yugabda - 5112, Vikram Sambat - 2067)