Panchang
A Panchang serves as an extensive Hindu calendar that considers five crucial aspects of each day based on Indian Vedic sciences. It offers valuable insights to astrologers for forecasting celestial occurrences and delineates favorable and unfavorable time spans for significant events like weddings, education, and more. It covers various dimensions, including career, journeys, and beyond.
The Panchang comprises five integral components: the day of the week (vaar), the lunar date (tithi), the constellation or lunar mansion (nakshatra), the yoga, and the karana. By inputting your country and city in the designated field below, you can access a Panchang tailored to your specific region.
What is Panchang?
The Panchang functions as a mechanism to assign names to days. The Panchang's cycle is intricately linked with celestial components. The tradition of dividing a year into twelve months and a week into seven days finds its origins in the Vikram Samvat calendar. The computation of months hinges upon the movements of the sun and the moon. The Hindu Panchang encompasses three distinct calculation methodologies: one rooted in lunar phases, another in constellations, and a third in solar attributes. These diverse interpretations hold significance across the expanse of India. A year comprises 12 months, with each month containing two 15-day segments: the luminous (shukla) and the dim (krishna) fortnights. Every year witnesses two solstices. Amidst these solstices, a constant procession of 27 constellations persists.
Principles of Panchang
The Panchang operates predominantly under three guiding principles:
Surya Siddhanta:
Widely embraced throughout India for its precision.
Arya Siddhanta:
Employed by the Madhva sect in regions like Travancore, Malabar, Karnataka, and certain Tamil districts of Chennai.
Brahma Siddhanta:
Put into practice in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Significantly, the Brahma Siddhanta approach is gradually converging with the Surya Siddhanta viewpoint. These principles necessitate intricate calculations based on mahayugas. That is so intricate that directly constructing a Panchang becomes intricate. Thus, Panchangs are formulated through texts dedicated to these principles, such as "Makarand" in Bengal and "Grahalaghava" by Ganesh. The utilization of Grahalaghava tables is confined to southern, central India and specific regions of the country.
Within these principles, two pivotal aspects stand out:
Year Extension:
The deviation in the length of the current year is marginal.
Kalpa or Yuga:
Pertaining to the count of lunar and planetary revolutions within a kalpa or mahayuga.
Contemporary Panchang
In contemporary Panchangs, components such as eras, years, months, days, and various other religious and societal details are fused together. Human understanding of the spans encompassing ages, years, and months developed much later. The lunar month slightly exceeds 29½ days, and the tropical year falls a bit short of 365¼ days. These intervals are irregular. To cater to daily life and ensure the inclusion of well-defined, evenly divided days in Panchangs, a clearly explained commencement of the year and month is imperative. Furthermore, the integration of seasons and the utilization of a specific era hold immense significance. These aspects stand as the essential prerequisites of a Panchang.