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The Celestial Dance — Transcript

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0:10So while we go around the navagraha
0:13goody in temples the navagrahas
0:16themselves are going around us all the
0:18time up there in the sky. I am Kishar
0:22Kumar I welcome you to today's talk on
0:24the astronomical basis of the Hindu
0:27Panchchanga.
0:31So in the talk today there are two major
0:34parts to it. One is astronomy of course
0:36and the other is the Hindu puncha and I
0:38will tell you soon that it is actually
0:40the Hindu calendar.
0:43So let's look at the calendar part first
0:46get it out of the way then I will get
0:49into the astronomy part of things.
0:53So if I talk about calendars you may
0:55think what the big deal mean everybody
0:57knows there is January February March
0:59calendar but let me set some context
1:01that's all I want to do today and to set
1:04the context I want all of you to imagine
1:07that you have been invited for kana
1:10karodopati you are in the hot seat
1:14and I am bachan
1:19and the next question a saval
1:26Which calendar did Krishna Dearaya use?
1:31A January, February, March.
1:36B. Moharam safar raial
1:41C. Chaititra
1:44jashtra
1:46or D. I mean you have to wait for the D.
1:49None of the above.
1:52C are you sure lock
1:56you can't change afterwards of course
1:59the answer is C chait
2:03cannot be any of the others but the
2:05point I'm trying to make is that a
2:07calendar such as January February March
2:10if you think about it landed in India
2:13about 11 years before Krishna Devaraya
2:16became the king
2:18so it was a very new calendar it a
2:21newcomer in those days. So obviously
2:23Vijayagar Empire wouldn't have picked
2:25that up.
2:27The other two calendars were indeed
2:30existent in India. Right here in our
2:32country, there were two calendars which
2:34were broadly used 500 years back. This
2:37was used north of the Krishna River and
2:39this was used south of the Krishna
2:41river.
2:43But both those calendars were used where
2:45today there is a universal calendar all
2:47over the world. But 500 years back in in
2:50India definitely there were these two
2:51major calendars and probably more
2:55and these were not used at the time just
2:57for uh religious purposes. These were
2:59used for civil purposes also. So if
3:02there was a trade fair in Vijayagar
3:04Empire, how would they publish the date
3:06of the trade fair? They have to use this
3:08calendar and maybe translate it into
3:10that and they managed with multiple
3:13calendars in those days which we have
3:15completely forgotten. We believe there
3:16is only one calendar all over the world.
3:18It's universal. But there were two. And
3:21I am a Hindu and my interest is
3:23obviously in that calendar. And I
3:26started investigating the basis of this
3:29calendar.
3:31The astronomical basis which I found was
3:35quite profound and mindbending actually
3:38in some ways.
3:41So this calendar exists today in the
3:44form of punchanga.
3:48This is familiar to all of us but we
3:49think this is a religious artifact. You
3:51know it's got Bhagan Shri Krishna's
3:52picture. There is a Vignara picture.
3:54It's always in local languages. This one
3:56is in Canada. It's published by Udupi
3:59Paata. And there are many many religious
4:02institutions which publish this and some
4:04non-religious institutions also.
4:08But this calendar if you open it up and
4:10look inside you will find something like
4:12this. A lot of text in there. So how is
4:16this a calendar? I will draw your
4:18attention to these two parts where here
4:21you see there is a Gregorian date
4:22sitting inside the Hindu puncha 28th
4:26February 2025.
4:29And this whole thing down here, that
4:31column is nothing but February 13th to
4:36February 28th and the 28th being the
4:38same one which is coming right here at
4:40the bottom. So this has clearly
4:43something to do with dates and
4:44calendars. And then lot of things are
4:46written on each line. What are those
4:48things?
4:50Those are all calendarric elements. And
4:52uh it really hit me that this is a
4:55calendar. This format is not intuitive.
4:57But when I looked at this format which I
5:00came across about 10 years back then it
5:03came to life because we all know this
5:05you know we like our calendars to have
5:07boxes like this a box for each date and
5:11this is nothing but the Gregorian
5:14calendar. This is February but inside
5:16those boxes there are a lot of things
5:17written there.
5:20What are those things?
5:22That is the subject
5:25of today's talk. At
5:27least some portion of that I will
5:29explain to you as we move forward. And
5:32what I found was that this calendar of
5:34ours
5:36is completely based on astronomy.
5:40Even the modern calendar is based on
5:41astronomy. It's based on the fact that
5:43the earth's orbital period is 365 days.
5:46That's one year.
5:48And that pretty much is the all the
5:50astronomy in the modern calendar. The
5:52second astronomy there is sunrise,
5:54sunset is a day.
5:56But the Hindu calendar there is lots
5:59more astronomy which I'm going to try
6:00and uncover in the next 60 to 70
6:03minutes.
6:06So the astronomical basis of the Hindu
6:09calendar I'm going to talk about I'm
6:10going to take you from that view and
6:12that perspective
6:14to something like this.
6:18So what you see on this side is the
6:21astronomical puncha and this has got
6:24some of the things which are there in
6:26the real punchanga with some timestamps
6:28marked here and when you see this
6:30picture again a second time it means we
6:32are coming to the end of the talk.
6:36Good. Now
6:39one of the basic things about the Hindu
6:43astronomy on which this Hindu calendar
6:46is based
6:48is that it is geocentric in nature. So
6:51what does geocentric mean? Geocentric is
6:54actually saying the earth is at the
6:56center of the universe.
6:59So problem
7:01sun, moon and planets orbit the earth.
7:05We know this is not true. This is not
7:07right. So why are we still looking at
7:09this? How does it matter?
7:14But let me ask you, I mean everyday
7:16morning I see the sun rises in the east,
7:18goes overhead, sets in the west. So sun
7:20is going around us. No,
7:25it happens. It happens every day and
7:26night and still we say sun doesn't go
7:30around us.
7:33So many know the reason for that is that
7:35the earth is rotating. So the sun really
7:38does not rise and set.
7:45On the other hand, earth is spinning.
7:47That means every one of you is right now
7:49spinning and I'm also spinning. I can't
7:52see it. You're all looking like you're
7:54all standing very still, sitting very
7:56still in your chairs.
8:07And we are living with this Maya day in
8:09and day out. And this Maya is what our
8:11ancient astronomers lived. Whether you
8:13take the Hindu astronomers, Greek
8:15astronomers, Islamic astronomers,
8:16Babylonian astronomers, they all lived
8:20within this Maya only.
8:23And they did all their work, all their
8:25astronomy, all the science based on
8:27exactly what they observed with their
8:30eyes.
8:31So let me drive that home a little bit
8:33more. Solar system everybody knows.
8:37Can anybody tell me can you and me ever
8:41see this view in real life
8:45and why not?
8:50Can somebody
8:55>> scale too large?
8:57>> Scale is too large. you are getting
9:00there. These lines of course will not be
9:02visible because they are all conceptual
9:04lines. Really those lines are not there.
9:07But really you and me cannot see this
9:10ever because look earth is there and we
9:14are there on top of that earth.
9:18So it's never going to be possible to
9:19see this view. This is an outer space
9:21view. You let go to Elon Musk ask him to
9:24put you on a rocket send you far out
9:26look back. Oh there is the solar system.
9:28Then you can see this view. But we are
9:30standing on the surface of the earth. So
9:32how can we see this? We can't see this.
9:34This is not possible. What we really see
9:37is this.
9:40Every night where you go out,
9:43this is what you see. Half of that solar
9:46system will be hidden by the ground on
9:47which we are standing because it's all
9:49below our feet. Whatever is above, we
9:52can see it. Put those distances that
9:54moon is close to us, Saturn is far away
9:56from us. We can't make out
9:59because first of all human eye cannot
10:02distinguish beyond you know 20 ft 30 ft
10:04but one lightyear 100 lighty years we
10:07can't make out with these very weak and
10:09powerless eyes of ours is beyond our
10:11capability. So everything will look like
10:14oh there is shakra oh there is chundra
10:17there is guru and that's what the
10:19ancient astronomers worked with
10:23they stood there you know there could be
10:25arabata for all you know so he stood
10:28there and he observed the skies and he
10:30looked at the angles and he worked with
10:33them
10:36so the point is that this is the reality
10:39this is what we observe
10:42very different from reality and it's a
10:45matter of perspective.
10:48It depends on where you stand and from
10:51where you are looking. Even in life,
10:53this makes a big difference. It's all
10:55about perspective, right?
10:57So reality in this picture is quite
10:59complex. But what this giraffe observes
11:02is extremely simple. Okay?
11:06But in astronomy, it is exact opposite.
11:09Reality is actually simpler. Sun is at
11:11the center. Everything is going around
11:12the sun in one direction only slightly
11:15elliptical orbit not circular.
11:18But reality since we are sitting on the
11:20surface of the earth and looking up we
11:23see some planets are moving in one
11:24direction suddenly they go backwards
11:26then they move then they go backwards.
11:28It's known as retrograde moment or
11:29vakraati
11:31that's happening because everything is
11:32vising around us. We also are moving
11:34around. So the relative motions become
11:36complex and those complexities were
11:40handled by the Hindu astronomers in
11:42their mathematics.
11:45They actually worked with the complex
11:47observed model, the geocentric model.
11:52But out of all the movements of Mercury,
11:54Venus, Jupiter, everything we are really
11:58interested in the movement of two
12:00things, sun and moon. Moon though we all
12:03know it goes around us. It is our
12:04satellite. There's no problem there. But
12:07does the sun move? Sun moves apparently.
12:11There is an apparent movement of the sun
12:13which I will illustrate to you. There
12:15are two apparent movements. One I
12:16already said sun rises in the east, sets
12:19in the west. Every day it's going around
12:20the earth. East to west, east to west.
12:23That's that part.
12:26But there is a second movement which
12:29most of us find hard to observe. It's
12:32not easy. Astronomers observed and they
12:34observed long long back thousands of
12:36years millennia back they observed there
12:38is a second movement from west to east
12:42the sun appears to go around us
12:46and that second movement is what gives
12:49rise to calendars this daily movement so
12:51it's clock hours minute seconds sunrise
12:54sunset but months fortnights weeks etc
12:59not weeks months fortnights years are
13:01based on this second
13:03opposite side movement which goes from
13:06west to east. So let me give you an
13:09animation
13:10to illustrate this concept because it's
13:12important to get this geocentric model
13:16correctly. So this is the solar system
13:19you all know there is the sun there is
13:20the earth and I'm also showing you a
13:23bunch of stars nakshhatra
13:26nakshatra mandala I'm showing you some
13:28bright stars like raati
13:32kitikarui ardrai ma etc maha
13:37now I will try to show you so if I am
13:40standing on the surface of the earth and
13:42I look at the sun
13:44my line of sight
13:48is that red line which you are seeing
13:50there. This is what I am seeing the sun.
13:52If you directly see the sun your eyes
13:54will get hurt. Don't do that.
13:56Conceptually the sun is aligned with
13:58raati nakhatra at the starting point.
14:02Now the earth is moving but see what's
14:05happening now.
14:09Now the sun appears to be aligned with
14:11kitika nakhatra no longer with raati. So
14:14the sun appeared to move from Raati to
14:17Kitika.
14:19That is the apparent movement that we're
14:21talking about. Not easy to observe in
14:22real life. You have to wake up before
14:24dawn. Go and look at the sky eastern
14:27horizon. See what stars are there
14:29because that's where the sun is going to
14:31come up. So it appears as if the sun is
14:34moving
14:36across the nakhatra mandala
14:39and the days are ticking here. 67 days
14:42it is moving from Ardra to Aditi.
14:45So this is the apparent movement of the
14:48sun. I will not use the word apparent
14:50any longer. I'll keep saying sun is
14:52moving, sun is moving, sun is moving.
14:54But this is what ancient astronomers
14:58worked with.
15:02So now we are halfway through.
15:04It's the earth which is really rotating.
15:06But for an observer on the earth
15:09it appears like the sun has moved. Now
15:11it is chitra nakhatra
15:14traversing.
15:22Now the sun has come to jt nakhatra.
15:26So this simulation I did using a
15:28software called gogeebra. This is the
15:30only one I have done. It's a geometrical
15:31simulation.
15:33Beyond this I will go to astronomical
15:35simulation. So Shrava nakhatra 280 days
15:41and when it comes to 365 days sun will
15:44be back at riyati nakhatra and that is a
15:48solar year. All of you know that
15:56350
15:59360 365
16:02sun is back to r where it started. In
16:05reality the earth is back to where it
16:06started.
16:08But it is this apparent movement which
16:10the ancient astronomers worked with.
16:12This is the geocentric
16:15model of the solar system. This is what
16:17is observed by somebody standing on the
16:20surface of the earth looking at the sun
16:24and this was known to the ancient Indian
16:27astronomers.
16:30Now
16:32the similar model I am going to now
16:35simulate
16:37in an astronomy software called a
16:39stellarium. This is a modern day
16:41astronomy software. They call it a
16:43planetarium software. It's open source.
16:45So anybody can download it, put it on
16:46your laptop and play with it. It's
16:48particularly useful for young people to
16:50learn astronomy. If you go out and
16:53observe, you need dark skies, you need
16:56good clear days, clear nights rather.
16:58Stellenium desktop astronomy, it'll work
17:00anytime.
17:02So in this Aarana model, this is the
17:04model that I created.
17:07You will get your first look at
17:10Stellarium software.
17:14So this is the starting point.
17:17So Stellarium has simulated. This is a
17:19screenshot from Stellarium. This whole
17:21video is uh recorded on Stellarium
17:25and I have configured Stellarium that I
17:27am in Bangalore and I'm facing north.
17:29There is a N at the center and it's 12th
17:33April 2021 7:00 a.m. in the morning. I
17:35recorded it four years back and there's
17:37a date window and time window up here.
17:39This is the date. This is the time 7:00
17:41in the morning.
17:43some unspecified beautiful meadow in
17:45Bangalore. They don't exist any longer
17:47at the corn.
17:49Now
17:51I'm going to step by step build myself
17:53to a astronomical model.
17:56The first step what I'm going to do is
17:59zoom out.
18:04So I zoomed out so much
18:08that not only north you are able to see
18:10east and west on the screen. So imagine
18:13if you are standing facing north, east
18:17will be there and west will be here. I
18:20have to completely swing my head to
18:23view. But here I zoomed out so much that
18:27east, west, north everything came right
18:29in front of your eyes. Very very very
18:31convenient. to watch. This is already
18:34like magic. I zoomed out so much that
18:36this is actually you'll see a little bit
18:39later. This is an outer space view
18:40again.
18:43Now the next step of my magic in
18:47software we can do all kinds of magic. I
18:51want to accelerate time.
18:57So you see this window up here. You will
18:59see that time will start ticking and
19:01running faster
19:04and as time starts changing
19:08clearly earth is going to rotate
19:13and the sun is rising. What was it? The
19:16horizon has now come right above your
19:19head. It's 12:00 in the afternoon and
19:22the sun has come overhead. Did the sun
19:25really move? No, it didn't. It's the
19:27horizon which moved. Sun also moves very
19:30little.
19:32So now I adjusted my camera view a
19:34little bit because the next step of the
19:36magic I want to show you what I already
19:39showed you right at the beginning. I'm
19:42going to show you the nawakraha.
19:45Not nagraha but the sa graha.
19:50seven of the nine
19:54in broad daylight because it's only
19:5612:00 but in stellarium I enlarged all
19:59the individual planets so you are now
20:01able to see here is Saturn here is
20:03Jupiter and there is Mars the black disc
20:06is the moon bright is the sun and there
20:08is uh mercury and Venus is somewhere
20:11hidden there in the cluster shukra you
20:14already saw them in the namagrahastuti
20:16they make their appearance back here two
20:18more Rahu ketu I cannot show because
20:20there is nothing there. They are two
20:21points in space on the moon's orbit.
20:26So sagraha and you know that these seven
20:28give the names to the days of the week
20:31names of the varas
20:35next step. So they are nicely there all
20:37of them but
20:40do you really have to imagine they are
20:43actually beautifully arranged in an arc
20:47a semicircle here and that arc is known
20:50as the ecliptic
20:52in Sanskrit that is ayanavta that is the
20:55path the sun takes in 365 days I already
20:58showed you a previous animation now I'm
21:00actually showing you the ark that is the
21:03apparent orbit of the sun around the
21:05Earth and that anchors this Ahar Gana
21:08model
21:10and everything is around that. It's
21:12because if you take this is the earth
21:14globe all the planets are orbiting in
21:16this plane little bit tilted like this.
21:20No planet orbits like this. They're all
21:22in the same plane. That's how nature has
21:25organized everything. And that's why all
21:27this look like okay so that's why there
21:29is this east west arc
21:32and you will find the planets arranged
21:35along that arc.
21:42Moving forward, let's continue with the
21:45acceleration of time.
21:58Now the sun is coming in to set in the
22:00west
22:05and that is dusk and night.
22:10The stars have come out.
22:21So, night sky, you can see all the
22:22stars. Now, I'm going to accelerate time
22:26because I don't want to go so slow. The
22:28moment I speed up time, everything is
22:31ticking very fast here up on the top.
22:33You can see a distinct movement of the
22:35moon now
22:37in the west to east direction.
22:42You can also start seeing the movement
22:44of the sun and Buddha and chakra.
22:48Everything is moving. But this day and
22:50night, day and night, black and blue,
22:54black and blue, it drives you crazy.
22:57Particularly since I even speeded up
23:00time some more super fast.
23:04Clear movements of many of the planets
23:06are beginning to be visible.
23:12And who wants this day any longer? Day
23:14is of no use when it comes to astronomy.
23:17It's actually a problem. You can't
23:18observe anything in the day. So I got
23:20rid of day.
23:22And finally I have only our earth left
23:25there spinning and spinning and spinning
23:29round and round and round. It's like
23:31that cursor goes in a computer now and
23:33things don't respond. So let me get rid
23:35of the earth itself. I don't want the
23:38earth. Now you can see the entire
23:41ecliptic. You can see the complete orbit
23:43and everything moving right in front of
23:45your eyes. Clearly all the movements are
23:48visible. And this is a geocentric model.
23:50And I don't even need the stars. At
23:52least for today's talk, I don't need the
23:54stars.
23:57This is the geocentric model. And this
23:59is I call it the Aharana model because
24:01this is my central tool. I will keep on
24:03using this in the rest of the talk to
24:05illustrate the v various concepts of our
24:08Hindu calendar
24:10and everything is moving nicely. In
24:11fact, if I run this long enough, you can
24:13see backward movement, retrograde
24:14movement, forward movement. Everything
24:16will become visible here. But that's not
24:20the focus of today. Today's focus is on
24:22the Hindu puncha.
24:25So, let me stop this animation here.
24:35Uh sir when you showed the previous
24:36thing you showed the stars like um the
24:39sun staring at rayati and all that but
24:41in this arana model it was the other
24:45planets that were there that was a
24:47little confusing.
24:47>> I just ignored the stars in the arana
24:50model. I have other animations which I
24:53might use later where stars become
24:55important when I bring them on. So the
24:58raati etc were somewhere far away that
25:01>> they are actually near that ecliptic.
25:03>> Understood.
25:04>> But I suppressed them. I didn't show
25:05them in stellarium.
25:07>> Got it. Thank you.
25:07>> There is an option to hide them.
25:12>> Thank you sir. uh just wanted to know if
25:15these uh planets orbit in the
25:17anticlockwise direction or the clockwise
25:20direction because they say that the uh
25:23in the Olympics the reason why uh the
25:25races happen in the anticlockwise
25:27direction is because to align with the
25:30planetary motions. Is that right? uh
25:32that I cannot comment on but uh like I
25:34said in this model it is orbits from
25:37west to east when we observe them from
25:40the surface of the earth the sun rises
25:43east to west this moves west to east I
25:46don't even use the term clockwise
25:49anticlockwise it depends on if you're
25:51looking at the north
25:53then this is anticlockwise
25:56but if I turn and face south it will
25:58appear clockwise those clockwise
26:00anticlockwise are relative terms. So I
26:02say west to east
26:05in this model which I use they'll all be
26:07clockwise.
26:09In some periods you will find shukra and
26:12buddha moving suddenly changing
26:14direction and then coming back straight
26:16but that's aside not for today's talk.
26:20>> I I think could be a repetition of what
26:22you already said because I have a doubt
26:23in that one is that uh you were trying
26:26to show the planets all the other
26:28planets. uh is that sort of a zoomed out
26:31version or rather a zoomed in version
26:34because not all are visible from the
26:37earth POV as you said right
26:39>> correct so when I showed you the planets
26:41in this animation I enlarged them in
26:44stellarium
26:45it's actually a 1,000 times enlargement
26:48in stellarium so they pop up but in real
26:50life except for sun and the moon all the
26:53others will look like stars they'll be
26:55tiny and up there just like stars you
26:58cannot distinguish that's why The NCS
26:59calls them tara graha. They look like
27:02tara but they are actually graa.
27:04>> Is it a different topic to ask about how
27:06the measurement happened? Because the
27:07point that is being viewed is also
27:09moving around.
27:10>> Yeah, the measurement how the ancients
27:12did it is a complex topic and really I
27:15am not qualified to comment on that
27:20sir. Thank you so far. Uh one question
27:22is probably more on the you mentioned
27:25about vas. Just trying to understand the
27:27significance of v is one where does that
27:30fit in the week and also how is that the
27:33gregorian calendar as Sunday and in
27:35hindu panchanga we are adiwar or bhanara
27:37or shaimara and Saturday so where do
27:40they come together or where's the
27:42>> so I will not go there at all but I will
27:45make a comment on this a little bit
27:47later bear with me
27:50>> sir are these observations specific to
27:52the northern hemisphere are there any
27:54instances of uh panchang or calendars
27:57from the southern hemisphere part.
27:59>> Okay, you are right. I mean this is
28:01specific to northern hemisphere. I did
28:03everything as observed from Bangalore
28:05city. That's how I configured
28:07stellarium. But according to me,
28:09hemisphere should not make a difference.
28:12It's the direction in which I am facing
28:14in this model. I am facing north and
28:17hence this model operates in a certain
28:19way. Even in the south, if you face
28:21southern hemisphere, if you face north,
28:22I think this same model should work.
28:25So let me continue forward.
28:29So the source for all my talk today is
28:32Surya Siddhant.
28:35Now Surya Siddhanta is
28:38a very old topic,
28:41a very old text. In fact, the surya
28:44sided starts at the beginning of a very
28:47long,500year
28:49tradition of Siddhantic astronomy,
28:51Siddhantic Hindu astronomy. And it's
28:54placed somewhere around 350 AD. 300 to
28:58400 AD somewhere in that time it was uh
29:01written. We don't know exactly when it
29:03was written or who wrote it. It is
29:04anonymous. We we don't know who wrote
29:06it. About 100 years after that came the
29:08most famous Aryabata
29:11and Aryabatia that is fairly very
29:13strongly dated. He wrote it in 476
29:17AD because there is internal reference
29:18he actually specifies when he wrote it.
29:21And then starting from there for a,500
29:25years you had a series of astronomers
29:28who are writing astronomical texts
29:30siddhantas most of them in Sanskrit.
29:34But as we move further and further in
29:37time
29:39at some point in time this astronomy
29:41knowledge actually moved to Kerala which
29:44is right next to us. And starting with
29:47the Madachara who a fantastic
29:50mathematician astronomy and mathematics
29:51are like entwin they are like one and
29:54the same you cannot separate them.
29:57And he wrote texts like Venarohashandrai
30:01etc. than paramedri
30:03ganita siddhantanta pikad all of these
30:07were written by Kerala school of
30:08astronomers
30:10some of them are probably in mallayam
30:13now I have only led a little read a
30:17little bit of that surya sitanta the
30:20calendarric portion of it and then the
30:22rest of it is there that much I am aware
30:26and this fantastic tradition of Hindu
30:28astronomy I am afraid is rather
30:31neglected. I very much doubt if anybody
30:33reads them and studies them. Probably
30:36some academicians do. But there is a
30:39thesis which is now coming around that
30:42the foundations of uh Newtonian calculus
30:47is found in these mathematics
30:51which were triggered by astronomy. And
30:53the calculus developed by specifically
30:55by Brahmagupta
30:57eventually was picked up by Isak Newton
31:00and became calculus in Principia
31:03Mathematica. So that thesis is now being
31:06worked upon. Many people are trying to
31:07prove that and I think that makes a lot
31:09of sense because there is tremendous
31:11amount of mathematics in all of these
31:15and to give you a context this is where
31:18Copernicus fits in and Copernicus coming
31:22so late in the day after him came
31:24Galileo and Newton and everybody
31:26followed he is the one who came up and
31:27said
31:30sun is not moving earth is moving around
31:32the sun.
31:35So again the thesis is that he had
31:37access to some of these works as he
31:40started developing his theories.
31:44So this gives us a com a feel for how
31:47ancient this astronomy is and this is
31:49what I call sidantic period. So you were
31:52asking about when did the punchanga
31:54start. You know clearly they were
31:55already well established by this time
31:58but if you go back to Ramayana and
32:00Mahabharata there are references to the
32:02punchanga. reference to masa uttarina
32:05duayana we all know bishma waited until
32:07duttayana began to give up his life. So
32:10these astronomical concepts the
32:11calendaric reference is 14 years in
32:13exile or 12 years in exile 13th year
32:16anatavasa what year are they talking
32:19about gregorian year not a chance. So
32:22there are different years they were
32:24talking about. So these concepts were
32:25well established in vic times itself
32:28but the siddhantic form started here.
32:31These are dedicated to astronomy. These
32:33texts unlike Mahabharata which is
32:35telling a big story and there are some
32:38references to astronomy spread all over
32:40it.
32:43Now let me come to Surya Siddanta
32:44itself. Uh
32:47it's a text with 14 chapters
32:52Chandra Grahana Surya Grahana all of
32:55these are discussed in great detail in
32:58Surya Siddhant. My focus has been on
33:02this last one mana different modes of
33:04reckoning time calendar.
33:08So that's what I am focusing on. And
33:10there is a lot of detail about this in
33:12these two chapters also.
33:15And the surya siddhant has things like
33:18this. I mean these pictures are not
33:19there in surya siddhant. It's just full
33:21of shlokas written in Sanskrit. But this
33:23is coming from a commentary in English
33:26written by Reverend Ebenezer Burgess in
33:29the 1860s
33:31and he has written elaborate commentary
33:33explaining with these diagrams the
33:36astronomy and the mathematics in the
33:37Surya Sitanta and honestly I haven't
33:40really studied and understood all of
33:42these. I have a long way to go. I'm
33:44hoping that there are generations of
33:46youngsters who will get interested in
33:47this topic and start digging into these.
33:50This mathematics was driven by
33:51predicting where a certain planet will
33:54be at a given point in time as observed
33:57from a given point on the surface of the
33:59earth. That's what drove this entire
34:02mathematics and prediction of solar
34:04eclipses, chundraatikara, surya
34:06granadikara.
34:11My focus is mahana different modes of
34:13reconing time.
34:16These are Hindu measures of time. Mana
34:18means a measure of time like a masa is a
34:20mana. A worsha is a mana. Titi is a
34:23mana. Year, month, fortnight, these are
34:26all called mana. Plural is also the
34:28same. You take a collection of them
34:29that's also a mana. And surya
34:32siddhantanta lists nine different manas.
34:37So the shloka in surya siddant in the
34:39manadaya first shloka is brahmanatyam.
34:44I'm going in that sequence.
34:53manas.
34:55But if I and I put that picture there
34:58because
35:00this Sana is pertaining to the sun solar
35:04chandra mana pertaining to the moon and
35:07this is a sculpture from badami circa 6
35:10600 AD. There is the moon and that is
35:13the sun.
35:16Sun and moon are deeply embedded in
35:18Hindu culture. It's not just in uh in
35:21these pictures. It's if you come back to
35:23recent times, you have songs which say
35:32so it's very much the sun and noner
35:34integral part of Hindu culture have
35:36always been like that.
35:38Now specifically these manners I
35:40rearranged them in a particular sequence
35:43of decreasing durations of time. Now if
35:46you look at Brahma manana it includes
35:48para which is a half life of Brahma. The
35:51full life of Brahma is double that and
35:53kalpa which is a day of Brahma. Praa is
35:56a night of Brahma and combine the two
35:58that becomes a full aoratra of Brahma.
36:02Then you have manantra maha yoga yoga
36:05these are all large time frames. You
36:07come down to the bottom you have
36:09nakshatra oratra nadi vinadi and prana.
36:11These are like hours, minutes, seconds.
36:14So you see a scale from 155.52
36:18trillion years coming all the way down
36:21to 3.99 seconds which are arranged
36:25inside these buckets. So there is a
36:28framework they structured these things
36:30the time elements. These are the small
36:32ones. These are the large ones
36:34and these ones which you are seeing um
36:38Diva Horatra which you see here below
36:41this is all astronomical above this it
36:44kind of become mathematical
36:47which says uh thousand years of the gods
36:50is a kalpa sorry is a yoga
36:54and then it goes in steps of multiples.
36:58Now out of these astronomical ones we
37:01are mainly focused on two things
37:02chandraana and saurana. A lot of
37:05calendaric elements which we use even
37:07today in the panchchanga will be found
37:10in saana or chandramanana.
37:13And my focus today is chandra manana. I
37:15will talk to you about chandra versasha
37:17chandra masa paka titi not so much about
37:20karana but about titi. So what is
37:24chandraana?
37:28Chandra is moon. Chandra is pertaining
37:31to the moon. Just like Surya is sun,
37:34Saur is pertaining to the sun. Soul,
37:36solar, luna, lunar, chandra, chandra. So
37:41chandraana is lunar measures of time.
37:46Again the moon deeply embedded in Hindu
37:49culture.
37:56the key down
38:01the
38:04mech.
38:11[Music]
38:23very popular song I'm sure I wonder if
38:26anybody in this room has used this song
38:28probably many of you some of you might
38:31have used it
38:34but we are going to dig into
38:38the calendarric elements which are
38:39defined by this moon
38:42and this is the structure
38:46so at the outermost level there is a
38:47year sora
38:50and that is made up of 12 uh such
38:53Chandra versasha that is made up of 12
38:55chandra masa the names are listed there
38:58each chandra masa is two pakshas shukla
39:00paksha krishna paksha and each paka is
39:0215 titi pratamadia etc
39:06this is very simple you can give it to
39:08any school and they will teach this in
39:11one class and all the children will sit
39:13and shaka
39:16no we know the hindu calendar no there
39:20is a reason and astronomy behind
39:23why these are structured this way and
39:26that's what makes this great fun to
39:29delve into.
39:32So to explain these things I need to get
39:34into one bit of mathematics
39:37angles
39:39elongation
39:41it's an angular measure and using this
39:44elongation I will explain everything
39:45else to you but the fundamental idea is
39:48you've seen this picture already so I'm
39:50standing facing north and I have Saturn
39:52I have shukra
39:54guru chundra mangala etc. So imagine
39:58that's me or that's Aryabata, whoever
40:01you wish.
40:04They measured these angles like as if
40:07they had a giant protractor. That's why
40:08I said I don't know how exactly they
40:10measured it. That's a subject I'm not
40:12qualified to speak about. But they did
40:14measure this somehow. For example, in
40:16this picture I'm saying between Shukra
40:17and Guru 68° gap. So it's just there is
40:21shukra, there is guru. this angle
40:25degrees that's what we are working with
40:27here in our mathematics.
40:30So when I say distance between guru and
40:32shukra, I'm not mean the linear distance
40:34that will be like lacks of kilometers.
40:36I'm talking angular distance as observed
40:38by me standing in Bangalore. What is the
40:42distance in angles 68°
40:46more specifically
40:48elongation is a smaller measure
40:52restricted measure.
40:54You measure any planet with respect to
40:58the sun. Sun is the big boss. From the
41:01sun, how far is moon? That is elongation
41:04of the moon. From the sun, how far is
41:05shukra? That's elongation of sukra.
41:08Again, in these angles,
41:10it's in three dimensions. So, we put it
41:13on two dimensions by that's why I say
41:14measured along the ecliptic plane. But
41:17those details you can leave out now. And
41:20this elongation is measured if the sun
41:22is to the east, you measure it this way.
41:24But if it's more than 180°, you switch
41:27angle and measure it on the other
41:28direction. So here is a stellarium
41:30screenshot. Elongation of Chundra is
41:32119° 33 minutes 16 seconds. Stellarium
41:36shows it there.
41:38And I marked it out here as an angle.
41:41Sun is moon is to the east of the sun.
41:45Now moon is to the west of the sun. I
41:47mean I can still measure it this way.
41:49Then it'll go beyond 180°. But we are
41:51constraining it to less than 180° by
41:53switching direction west of the sun.
41:57This is a fundamental idea of
41:58elongation. Now let's get into the
42:02puncha
42:04basic concepts I'm talking about. Now
42:07amawasa and purima
42:10new moon and full moon.
42:14Anybody can guess what new moon is?
42:18elongation is 0°.
42:22Sun and moon are together.
42:25Not that they physically crashed into
42:26each other. Of course, moon is closer,
42:28sun is farther away. But when I observe
42:30from the surface of the earth, sun is
42:32there, moon is also there.
42:35These are all very momentary, very
42:36fleeting because everything is moving.
42:39But the moment when they are together,
42:41and they are dwelling together
42:45means where are you reciding? They are
42:47reciding together
42:52and in English they say it is in
42:54conjunction with same thing amawasa in
42:57conjunction residing together. Who
42:59translated from whom?
43:01I'll let you guess.
43:04But the interesting thing is on amawasia
43:06day the moon will rise and set to the
43:08sun is rising. Actually moon is also
43:10rising with the sun. Sun is setting moon
43:12is setting with the sun.
43:15So you cannot see it. And even if you
43:16see it, the dark face of the moon is
43:18facing you.
43:21Poor Nimma is the exact opposite. 180°
43:23elongation. So now I'm showing in the
43:26center
43:27the earth. In the previous animation I
43:29showed you the big horizon going round
43:31and round. I removed the earth. I
43:33brought the earth back not as a big line
43:35but I'm showing it to you like a small
43:37ball. Bola, earth ball. In English the
43:40scientific term is terrestrial sphere.
43:42Bug gola.
43:44who translated from where to where you
43:48figure out. So this is 180° and pa I
43:52think basically means full and complete.
43:54So instead of saying pa chandra it
43:56became purima
43:58in English it is full moon.
44:02These are the two basic markers in the
44:05hindu chandraana calendar lunar calendar
44:08and purima.
44:11Now based on these two markers I'll
44:12define pakshia
44:16the first calendaric element. Those are
44:17not calendaric element those are markers
44:20moment in time is actually fraction of a
44:22second am is gone. Another fraction of a
44:24second pura is gone because sun is there
44:27moon is there moving all the time.
44:30What is a pakshia? What is the word
44:32pakshia?
44:34You know in politics pak vak
44:38this basically means side opposing side
44:41pak vak but here we don't have pak vak
44:45we have shukla paka and krishna paka one
44:49is the bright side one is the dark side
44:51which one is a bright which one is dark
44:53again you should make up your mind
44:55that's politics I won't go there so what
44:59is this shlabaka krishna I will animate
45:02this and show you. So, same as the
45:05previous one I showed you, I'm starting
45:07on April 12th, 2021. 6:23 in the morning
45:10now. 6:23 because that's the moment when
45:13they are both in the same ecliptic
45:16longitude as I call it. They are in the
45:18same angular position. The gap between
45:20them is zero.
45:24Now, let me play the animation.
45:34Shukla paksha has started the bright
45:37side of the moon
45:42starts becoming more and more visible.
45:44The silver side of the moon shukla is
45:46actually silver.
45:57Now it is fully silver
46:01and it has come opposite to the sun. Sun
46:04is there. Moon is there in the opposite
46:07side.
46:09Now Krishna Paksha has started.
46:13The dark side of the moon is more and
46:16more visible to you. That's where these
46:20names come from. It's not named after
46:21Bhagan Sri Krishna. It's the other way.
46:25Vasu Deva is dark and hence he is
46:28Krishna
46:34back where it started
46:37next Amawasa Krishna Paka
46:40is over. So Krishna Paka ends with
46:44Amawasa
46:46and Shukla Paka ends with Purima.
46:50In the first panchchanga picture also I
46:52showed you I showed you 28th February
46:552025 the pakshia was ending. So that was
46:58coming in the last row in that puncha.
47:04So these are basically fortnights.
47:07If you had followed the dates here it
47:09would have been approximately
47:1114 days. It'll be 14.75
47:14on an average. The exact duration will
47:16vary because though moon appears to be
47:18moving steadily, sometimes it's faster,
47:20sometimes it's slower.
47:23That's happening because this moon's
47:25orbit is not exactly a circle. It is an
47:27ellipse.
47:29So there is a constant variation in the
47:31moon's speed. And all these variations
47:34were handled by the astronomers whoever
47:37created Surya Siddhanta 1600 years back.
47:44So these are the two pakshas Krishna
47:47pakshia and shukla paka
47:51a summary of it and a much more simple
47:54simple picture amawasa to purima
47:56shaklaka purima tamawasa is krishna paka
48:00and paka is a fortnight waxing fortnite
48:03waning fortnite that's what we are
48:06talking about this one paka begins
48:09immediately after ends with puna This is
48:12the reverse begins immediately after
48:13purima ends with the masa
48:17fundamental organizing unit of the Hindu
48:20calendar is a paksha
48:23it is a fortnite not a v
48:28in fact in the surya sidant I showed you
48:30the nine manas the v doesn't find a
48:33place there at all v does get a mention
48:35somewhere else not as a calendaric
48:37element but more from a astrology
48:39perspective as a ruler of a day ruler of
48:41an hour those kind of statements are
48:44made there or doesn't find its place. So
48:46for our calendar
48:49pakshia is the basic organizing unit. In
48:53fact I am told that in north India many
48:55laborers would say we don't work on
48:57amawasa. So they are taking a fortnite
49:00end off not weekend fortnite end we're
49:04not working we need a day off.
49:09Key differences from modern calendar. A
49:11period of 2 weeks is a fortnight weeks v
49:14hours paka astronomical
49:17waxing and waning periods of the moon is
49:19an average duration of 14.5 days. How
49:21many days is it? We don't care. You
49:23figure it out. I'm an astronomer. I'm
49:25observing the moon. Waxing phase
49:28wing phase that's what I'm concerned
49:30with. That's my definition.
49:32How many days
49:34doesn't matter.
49:37This is a fundamental aspect of our of
49:39our calendar. That's why I keep saying
49:40this is 200% based on astronomy.
49:46So let me take a pause here. Are there
49:50any doubts from what you have seen?
49:57Okay, then let me keep going. So next I
50:00go to Chandra Masa lunar month.
50:04So what is a chandra masa? Very simple.
50:06It's uh composed of two paksha.
50:10You put a shukla paka and krishna paka
50:12together you get a chandra masa. So what
50:14I showed you is actually a chandra masa.
50:17You saw it begins immediately
50:19afterawavasa. From one amawasa to the
50:22next amawavasa is a chandra masa and the
50:25duration is again on an average 29.5
50:27days. Now interestingly I found out that
50:31u in two languages Canada and Tamil
50:35the same word means moon and month.
50:39So in Canada what is a month?
50:43Everybody knows
50:46month.
50:47But can anybody tell me where the
50:50wording
50:52refers to the moon? Basically think of
50:54uh
50:56exactly. Thank you very much.
51:00full moon. So there tingu means moon
51:05same word is it is coming into our
51:07language moon month same thing not
51:10January February March but paksha two
51:13pakshas put together which is defined by
51:16the moon same thing in tamil in tamil
51:1810th somebody tell me what is Monday
51:24moon day that is Monday
51:27but this one is harder can anybody tell
51:30me where tingle means month in Tamil.
51:36Perfect. Thank you very much. I thought
51:37I will have to give you more prompts. It
51:40is the first verse in which is composed
51:42by Andari
51:47the month of Margarit is month
51:51and moon. Month and moon same word it
51:54comes into our language. So these are
51:56integral part of our culture of our
51:58language but we haven't got it. We
52:00forgot that astronomy completely.
52:04So now I have got another question for
52:06you. I have become bal
52:10and you are the legendary kingda.
52:15So I just told you to chasa.
52:19So it started with the masa went back to
52:22masa.
52:24So am I right in saying during a chandra
52:27masa the moon completes exactly one
52:29orbit?
52:34True or false?
52:38True.
52:40Right? It looks like it's true. Right?
52:43Now here is where our astronomy gets
52:46extremely sophisticated. I mean these
52:48are actually basics of astronomy but
52:50they are so lovely. The answer is
52:52actually false. It actually moves more
52:55than one orbit as we traditionally think
52:57of an orbit. Orbit means finished one
52:59circle moved 360°.
53:03I'll show you why I'm saying this. I
53:05play the same animation the pakshia
53:07animation a second time. Same starting
53:09point. Amawasia April 12th 62330.
53:17So now Chundra is moving but keep your
53:20eye this time on Surya.
53:23Don't look at Chundra. What is Surya
53:24doing? Is he standing still?
53:27I told you surya is also there is an
53:29apparent movement of the sun. So this
53:31plus is where they started.
53:35So now you can already imagine
53:38that when the moon completes one or next
53:40ama is not going to happen.
53:44So now is Purima.
53:48So let's wait for it to come back to its
53:51starting point.
53:58Krishna Pakshia is going on.
54:02So when the moon comes here, it finishes
54:04one orbit exactly 360°.
54:07But the month will not complete.
54:16So this is 27.3
54:18days. Remember the days 27.3 it finished
54:21one orbit but it has to proceed to catch
54:25up with the sun.
54:27Now the masa gets over 29.5 days.
54:34So it had to move in extra 30° not
54:36exactly 30. There are always these
54:38slight fractions which create a lot of
54:39trouble.
54:41So that is the
54:44suk shma vichara which we should
54:46observe. These are subtle points.
54:50I'm showing you Wikipedia.
54:54Moon
54:55two orbital periods.
54:59One is called cidurial orbital period
55:0127.32
55:02days that is this. Another is called
55:05cyanotic orbital period 29.5 days that
55:09is this.
55:12This is a chandra masa. So it moved more
55:15than one orbit.
55:1730° more actually to instead of 360 390°
55:20moon had to go to catch up with the sun.
55:24But the interesting point is this 29.5
55:29went into the definition of titi. I will
55:31show that to you in a moment. There are
55:3430 titis in a chandraasa because this is
55:37approximately 30 days almost 30 days.
55:40Now can somebody tell me this number 27
55:4927 nakshatras in the nakhatra mandala
55:52you are a wonderful audience thank you
55:53very much
55:55that number 27 was not picked at random
55:58it's appears like a random number but it
56:00is not mean it's a prime number but who
56:03will pick 27 25 we can understand 30
56:05again 27
56:07because of this it takes is 27 days to
56:10finish one orbit. So you split that into
56:1327 equal parts. Moon will cover each
56:16part in approximately one day
56:19and that's why they created 27 nakhatra.
56:21In fact in the ancient times they
56:23thought this was closer to 28 and they
56:25defined 28 nakshatras. When astronomy
56:28became better they realized oh this is
56:30closer to 27. So they just dropped a
56:32bijit.
56:34We don't want you anymore. We will stay
56:36with 27 nakhatra.
56:38So nothing is random in the Indian Hindu
56:41calendar. Now there is one more thing
56:43hiding here. Can anybody spot it?
56:51That I will come to in a moment.
56:55Not here. Here what is hiding
56:58is this
57:01nakhatra. I have said
57:03rashi is also hiding here. Rashi is the
57:0830° segment of the ecliptic. 30 30 30 30
57:1230 30 you do 12 times you will get one
57:14full 360° circle.
57:17So the 30° for a rashi was also picked
57:20because of this. This is the distance
57:22the sun moves when the moon completes
57:26one masa.
57:28Moon completes one masa. Sun has moved
57:30one rashi.
57:33Moon completes second masa. Sun moved
57:34second rashi moon completes third masa
57:36sun moves third rashi not exactly
57:39because it's approximately 30° and that
57:41leads to adikam masa and I will come to
57:44that in a little bit little while but
57:46when I hit upon this picture I felt so
57:49happy because I I I think as a man of
57:51science I think there is beauty in this
57:53picture
57:55it reflects the amount of knowledge
57:56which was available at least 1600 years
57:58back probably much earlier santic period
58:01they definitely knew this completely
58:03inside out and probably even before that
58:07because Bishma talks about Adikasa in
58:08Mahabharata every 5 years two mas are
58:12added
58:14it's coming from this picture from these
58:16concepts
58:22so now that I told you about masa
58:25I have to backtrack a little bit is only
58:28one definition this is the original
58:30definition in Surya Siddhanta But we
58:34Hindus are very flexible.
58:36We have a second definition.
58:38So this is the first definition new
58:40month begins immediately after masa.
58:43But the second definition is wait for
58:47new month begins to pun.
58:52Okay. You want it you take it. We'll let
58:54you do that. Two definitions of this.
58:57This is called amant tradition. The
58:59meaning is amawasa
59:02ending with amawavasa. If you know the
59:04meaning then the concept registers very
59:07nicely. This is purima anta. The month
59:10ends with purima and I will start a new
59:12month.
59:15And by and large northern India follows
59:17purimant tradition. Southern India
59:19follows uh amant tradition. And here is
59:23another illustration of the same thing.
59:25This month
59:28October 2025
59:31we are in February 5th sorry October 5th
59:342 days from now is punima
59:37we don't care our month continues to be
59:39ashamasa that color and we wait until
59:43amawasa then we start kartika masa we
59:46meaning karnataka bangalore whereas if
59:49you go to northern India the moment
59:52purima ends the next day they will start
59:55kartika Masa
59:57and they continue in Kartik Masa till
59:59here. So this days these number of days
1:00:02from 8th to 21st we are in one month and
1:00:06they are in already in the next month
1:00:08they moved ahead.
1:00:10So when deep happens for us we will say
1:00:13deep happens in ashamasa they will say
1:00:15no happens in kartik masa same day you
1:00:19they just flipped the calendar earlier
1:00:20one fortnite earlier that's what is
1:00:24happening with the amant and pundima
1:00:26tradition this is an approximate picture
1:00:28of who uses which calendar
1:00:31southern India majority uses um the
1:00:35amant calendar northern India the
1:00:36purimant in green
1:00:39tamil nad and Kerala use a solar
1:00:41calendar sa I'm not talking about that
1:00:43today
1:00:45they will also use paksha and titi but
1:00:47not the masa and worsha they go to sun
1:00:49for the masa and worsha same way with
1:00:51the the Bangla speaking areas of Isisa
1:00:54Kolkata Assam they also use the solar
1:00:58Punjab has some traditions of solar but
1:01:00predominantly loner but they also have
1:01:02solar calendar somewhere but this is a
1:01:04rough picture individually communities
1:01:07decide amant or purima For example, I
1:01:10belong to a community from Turonadu. We
1:01:13are somewhere here near Mangalore. We
1:01:15follow the
1:01:18SA calendar, Sana calendar. Only Udupi,
1:01:21Krishna Mat, we follow Sana, not
1:01:23Chandra. We are in Karnataka. But our
1:01:25Pjangas will follow Sao. So lot of
1:01:28flexibility. We are sulpa just my dear
1:01:30state. You just have to have this grasp
1:01:34of the astronomy. What's going on? Okay,
1:01:37this is what is going on. This
1:01:39understanding is essential to really
1:01:42appreciate what's going on with our
1:01:45calendar.
1:01:47Key differences western calendar
1:01:49arbitrarily determines number of days of
1:01:5130 31 30 31
1:01:54whereas our chandra masa astronomically
1:01:56defined cyanodic orbital period of the
1:01:58moon. In fact I showed you 30 29.5 days
1:02:02is one chandra masa.
1:02:05That's kind of the same thing which is
1:02:06happening in the western calendar also
1:02:08not 29.5 but they made it 30 but they
1:02:11wanted to synchronize with the solar 365
1:02:14days so some months they made 31. So
1:02:16this is all coming from the moon even in
1:02:20the western calendar though they have
1:02:21forgotten the origin
1:02:23but the original Greek calendar must
1:02:25have been a lunar month.
1:02:31Then I come to Chandra worsha.
1:02:35Any questions here at this point.
1:02:40Ah there are some questions at the back.
1:02:51So there are days they add randomly uh
1:02:54like last month when uh Dashra was there
1:02:57one extra day came right and sometime
1:02:59they drop it. I'll come to that next.
1:03:01I'll talk about it in Titi.
1:03:02>> Okay.
1:03:06>> Hello. So I was wondering what happens
1:03:09to the 30° later on. So there's a
1:03:12nakhatra defined page of the 27 but the
1:03:15last where the catchup happens of uh in
1:03:19the three days. So are there no
1:03:21nakhatras defined for that?
1:03:23>> No those would be completely different
1:03:25topic. I cannot address them now. So
1:03:27nakhatra is a separate topic. I have a
1:03:29presentation on that and that rashi is
1:03:31another separate topic sa manana topic
1:03:34these are all in fact it's possible to
1:03:36do a series of lectures one by one but
1:03:39right now my focus is to get this lunar
1:03:42calendar
1:03:43demystified
1:03:45>> hi um so there are few communities in
1:03:48west Bengal who define amasa based on
1:03:51titi they do it ikadashi to ikadashi so
1:03:54is there any astronomical basis for this
1:03:57or is Is it something which they
1:03:59arbitrarily picked up?
1:04:00>> No, I have not heard of that. Thank you.
1:04:03Thank you for letting me know that
1:04:06happens. Akadeshi to Akadeshi is amasa.
1:04:10The definition would still hold, but I'm
1:04:12curious why it's not amawasa toa.
1:04:21Uh that's a different definition of the
1:04:23term masa.
1:04:25not as a calendarric month but more as
1:04:27the religious period of four months
1:04:30where you do certain festivities.
1:04:34uh in one of the slides I saw samatsara
1:04:36and worsha uh I've seen that where
1:04:39samatra is also a worsha uh is there a
1:04:43difference between
1:04:43>> yes yes so samatsara in the surya
1:04:46siddhantanta is actually based on the
1:04:48movement of uh jupiter
1:04:52now approximately jupiter moves through
1:04:55one rashi by the time the sun completes
1:04:58one year Jupiter is so there is a
1:05:00astronomical ratio I'll come to that
1:05:02later but Ahmed Sara is related to
1:05:04Jupiter's movement but over a period of
1:05:08time the term got morphed to apply to a
1:05:11solar year. So now solar year or lunar
1:05:14year also we call it a samsara and given
1:05:17name and there are 16 names defined and
1:05:19then it rotates back to the first name
1:05:22but the original definition is based on
1:05:24Jupiter's movement guru's movement.
1:05:28The question is uh you mentioned that
1:05:30there's a difference in the uh in the
1:05:32mass between north and south right one
1:05:35is amantikar another another one is the
1:05:39uh uh
1:05:41>> is it based is it related to the weather
1:05:43patterns in in these regions because of
1:05:46the sewing season or any of those
1:05:47things? No no no no that ru will matter
1:05:50for that but that is again uh solar and
1:05:53that is roughly equated to lunar
1:05:58my first reply is no but I I will think
1:06:01some more about it and see if that's a
1:06:03possibility I doubt it very much
1:06:06>> yeah I would like to add up uh his
1:06:08question he said that samwat I'm from
1:06:11north Indian we say vikram so samwat and
1:06:15currently we are in the year of 2018 80
1:06:18something. So you said astrology
1:06:20astronomy is something,500
1:06:22is back. How is this 2,00 like extra 500
1:06:27is how we adding?
1:06:28>> Yeah. So that vikram samat and shali
1:06:30shaka are a different concept and they
1:06:33are the ways of numbering the years like
1:06:35we have gregorian numbers we are in
1:06:382025. There are two traditions for
1:06:40numbering the Hindu years as Vikram
1:06:43samat sorry yeah
1:06:46vikram samat or shali shaka that is not
1:06:49at all astronomical. It is based on like
1:06:51Christian calendar is based on zero year
1:06:53is birth of Jesus Christ. So vikram
1:06:55samat is based on something which the
1:06:57legendary king vikramitya did. So
1:06:59historians have to figure out what
1:07:00exactly was the event which was
1:07:03considered so important they said let's
1:07:05make that a zero year and start from
1:07:06there. Shaliviawana Shaka similar there
1:07:09are multiple theories as to somebody
1:07:11called Shaliana king was a shalana
1:07:13shatawahana who defeated the shakas in a
1:07:16battle that was so important they made
1:07:18it zero here but that's completely
1:07:20nonastronomical it goes more into
1:07:22history
1:07:23to determine the start of the numbering
1:07:25sequence
1:07:27now we'll come to wora which is
1:07:29astronomical
1:07:31and now worsha definition is also
1:07:35straightforward 12 months
1:07:38You take 12 months together.
1:07:41Modern calendar is also exactly the same
1:07:43thing.
1:07:44Cha has a duration of 354 days.
1:07:48But here also there are a lot of sukma
1:07:51which are hiding there which you should
1:07:53take a look at. Why this 12? Why did
1:07:56they pick 12 months?
1:07:59Why not 15 months? Why not 10 months?
1:08:02Why 12?
1:08:04Same starting point. This time the amasa
1:08:07got a name fallas.
1:08:10This is my starting point. Falla masa is
1:08:12ending. Krishna paksha is starting. I'm
1:08:15going to now talk about mas. So one by
1:08:17one the names of the masas will come.
1:08:18You know one masa is amasa to masa.
1:08:23So let me start the first masa.
1:08:26I am accelerating the movement of the
1:08:28sun. I would cover now 12 times. You
1:08:31have seen this already. But now I added
1:08:33chaitramasa.
1:08:35So this was chitra purima and now this
1:08:37is chaitraasa.
1:08:41So purima got names now
1:08:44the name of the masa got added masa
1:08:50purima
1:08:53I continue to use the amant tradition in
1:08:56all of this.
1:09:02Now jaishtamasa is starting.
1:09:06Jaishtamasa shuklaka ends with ja purima
1:09:09purima is the middle of the month
1:09:12and amawasa is the end of the month.
1:09:20Now asharaamasa
1:09:22shuklaka. Now if clearly you can see the
1:09:24moon is a busy body running running like
1:09:28anything. Sun is extremely slow. The
1:09:31moon is like a a rabbit
1:09:36and every time the moon overtakes the
1:09:38sun a new maza starts in our Ram
1:09:41tradition. That's why I like this
1:09:42tradition easy to understand. So if this
1:09:45was an F1 circuit the sun is getting
1:09:47lapped again and again and again
1:09:51so slow the sun is plotting.
1:09:57So initially somebody asked about
1:09:59nakshatra. Actually there are a lot of
1:10:01nakshatra around this circle and sun is
1:10:03making its way slowly through the
1:10:05nakhatra like I showed you in the very
1:10:07first animation. But now my focus is on
1:10:10masa. So this every time it overtakes
1:10:13new masa now bada masa over ashamasa
1:10:16has started.
1:10:18In fact the names are actually coming
1:10:20from names of nakshhatra. I'm not going
1:10:23into that today
1:10:26because Ashina there is a awini nakhatra
1:10:29corresponding to it.
1:10:31So ashamas are over kartikamasa. Now sun
1:10:35has come beyond the halfway point but
1:10:39he's still a long way from finishing the
1:10:41first lap. So the first solar year is
1:10:44still going on and on and on whereas
1:10:48eight lunar months are completed.
1:10:51So now you can start imagining why there
1:10:53are 12 months in a year.
1:10:59Margashir Shamasa
1:11:04Margashi Shamawasa 9 months are over.
1:11:08Three more months to go.
1:11:20and
1:11:2310 months are over.
1:11:27So now the sun is making its way back to
1:11:29the starting point. That's where they we
1:11:31started this animation.
1:11:33The first month started there.
1:11:37Magamasa
1:11:40maga mawasa 11 months are done now let's
1:11:45see
1:11:46in the 12th month does the sun complete
1:11:49the first lap
1:11:52mapurima
1:11:54and finally we come to maga amawasa so
1:11:5912 months are over
1:12:04but did the sun complete the first lap
1:12:07Not yet. Not yet.
1:12:10Is almost there. But there is still a
1:12:13small gap. And this gap is not enough to
1:12:16cover one more masa. So we close the
1:12:19lunar year here. This is the end of the
1:12:22sa
1:12:24chandra
1:12:25masa
1:12:28finishes off the lunar year.
1:12:32But let me let the sun finish one lap at
1:12:35least.
1:12:38Let's see how many days he takes. If you
1:12:39track these, you'll be able to see that
1:12:41days also
1:12:4511 10 something 10 days and probably 16
1:12:49hours or something. Again those will
1:12:51vary this the speeds are varying.
1:12:55So now a solar year is complete. It
1:12:58finished off came back to where it
1:13:00started
1:13:01but the next lunar year started and sun
1:13:03has moved almost 2/3 of shuklap in the
1:13:07next year chaitramasa.
1:13:11So you must imagine so the first lunar
1:13:14year chandra worsha stopped here ended
1:13:17here next chandraasa started here then
1:13:21moon goes 12 times
1:13:24the end of the next lunar year would be
1:13:26here 22 days it's cumulative
1:13:31the lunar year after that will be 33
1:13:33days after that will be 44 days after
1:13:35that it will be 55 days it will start
1:13:37drifting away from the solar year
1:13:40in fact the Islamic calendar they allow
1:13:42this to happen without arresting it.
1:13:46So you know where this is leading it's
1:13:48leading to the concept of adikamasa
1:13:52because of these 11 days gap between a
1:13:54lunar year and a solar year. 354 days
1:13:58365 days.
1:14:05So 354 days lunar year,
1:14:10365 days solar year and this gap
1:14:15has major implications in the Hindu
1:14:17calendar in the form of adikamasa
1:14:19primarily.
1:14:21Now I come to titi
1:14:26titi I go reverse. I take a month and I
1:14:28split it into smaller parts. But before
1:14:31that if you know Canada then this was a
1:14:33very popular movie. It was an indie
1:14:35movie great comedy movie. I think this
1:14:38old man dies and it is about a sharda.
1:14:40So titi in Canada means sharda that's
1:14:43what I grew up with in my house when I
1:14:45was a small boy titi. I know that will
1:14:48come my father will do the ceremony push
1:14:51the dining table to one side and ya on
1:14:53the ground.
1:14:54That was titi. And now after I became 50
1:14:58years old, I realized there's a
1:15:00different definition for titi.
1:15:02So lunar day time taken by the moon to
1:15:04increase it elongation by 12°. There
1:15:07comes the elongation. Purely
1:15:08astronomical definition.
1:15:12I can't imagine something like this done
1:15:14by anybody else except Hindus
1:15:16and there are 30 thesis in a chandra
1:15:18masa. So let's take a look at the
1:15:21animation now.
1:15:24Same starting point.
1:15:28I'm going to show you Chaitra Masa,
1:15:32Krishna Paka and Shugla Paka but small
1:15:34small small small small small small
1:15:35periods of time like multiple days
1:15:38within a month
1:15:40except now I'm showing you here a time
1:15:42stamp April 12th 6:23 in the morning was
1:15:47Amawasia
1:15:50now I move forward Third
1:15:57very slowly
1:16:0012°
1:16:02the moon 12° from the sun. This is the
1:16:04end of pratamatiti
1:16:07where the moon is between 0 and 12° from
1:16:10the sun
1:16:13and pratamatiti ended at 4:13 8:42 in
1:16:17the morning. This is what is marked in
1:16:19the panchchangas. Titi
1:16:238:42 in the morning. They won't put
1:16:25seconds. Usually titi ends at 8:42. That
1:16:28means moon came to 12° ends. It's so
1:16:33geometric.
1:16:35Now dity is in progress.
1:16:4224°
1:16:4412 to 24° is dity.
1:16:49is 24 to 36°
1:16:56and it goes on and on and on like this
1:17:02and I'm giving you the durations. They
1:17:03kind of hover around 24 hours. Sometimes
1:17:06more, sometimes less because like I
1:17:07said, moon's angular velocity is not
1:17:10constant. It keeps changing its speed.
1:17:14Punchi 48° to 60°.
1:17:18And all these titi names keep coming in
1:17:22our festivals.
1:17:24So they are actually referring to a titi
1:17:26in our festival name. They don't say
1:17:28masa and paksha but titi finds a place
1:17:31in the festival names.
1:17:38Krishna everybody knows.
1:17:49So in the punchangas they are recording
1:17:52all this.
1:17:54In fact many of the modern panchchangas
1:17:55are based on durk ganita which was
1:17:59written in 1300s 1300 AD.
1:18:02They had formulas and arithmetic
1:18:05to compute these titis these durations
1:18:09based on the moon's speed and depending
1:18:12on where you are where your observation
1:18:14location is.
1:18:16Drianita is a very popular one. Surya
1:18:18Siddanta also has the formulas but Surya
1:18:20Siddhant is about a thousand years older
1:18:22than Drianita. So the formulas are less
1:18:24accurate. Danita is more favored
1:18:27nowadays.
1:18:29Now you're coming to
1:18:34That stays.
1:18:39Now finally we come to
1:18:42pima.
1:18:47So what's happening here is these ti
1:18:50names are actually nothing but counting.
1:18:52Pratama is first second is third is
1:18:56fourth fifth.
1:19:03counting in science
1:19:09is 10 and after that we go to
1:19:1311
1:19:1512
1:19:1713 dasha 14 and instead of saying pancha
1:19:22dasha we reuse this word in this case
1:19:25purimati because it's leading up to
1:19:27purima from Here to here is purima. But
1:19:32this moment is itself chaitima. The
1:19:34moment is a fraction of a second.
1:19:36Chaitra purima. But purima titi is 21
1:19:40hours 34 minutes 18 seconds. In this
1:19:42particular example on on that time.
1:19:47So we just reuse the word purima again
1:19:49as the name of a titi.
1:19:52Now the moon is going back.
1:19:57So the angles start reducing
1:20:01you're measuring in the other direction
1:20:03168.
1:20:06This why I said once it exceeds 180 you
1:20:08switch the direction of measurement to
1:20:10the west 156 and it starts reducing back
1:20:13to zero slowly slowly same names are
1:20:17reused but Krishna paka
1:20:22so 15 names are used to denote 30 titi
1:20:2615 for shuklaka 15 for krishna paka
1:20:49So, subt like I said is 7i.
1:20:53Ashami is 8i.
1:21:02Another thing I want you to observe.
1:21:06So here you are coming to Nami Titi. It
1:21:09ends at 35 1506 3:06 in the afternoon of
1:21:14uh May 15th.
1:21:18Next it moved to 1556.
1:21:24Next it moved to 1732. It's gone into
1:21:28the night.
1:21:29So here if you see ties are ending at 2
1:21:32in the night, 1 in the night. This is
1:21:3510:00 in the night. This is uh 5:40 in
1:21:38the evening. This is 2:00 in the
1:21:39afternoon. Titi can one titi ends
1:21:42another tit any time of the day or
1:21:45night. It doesn't care.
1:21:48Now we are coming back to chhaturashi
1:21:52end.
1:21:54And now the moon will go back to the
1:21:56next amawasa.
1:21:59Now not like punimati now it's
1:22:07so this picture I showed you right in
1:22:09the beginning I said if you see this we
1:22:11are coming to the end of the talk.
1:22:17So that is about titis. Now titi and
1:22:20solar days um
1:22:23let me I already pointed out titi
1:22:26doesn't care about sunrise sunset it ti
1:22:28can end next weekend any time day night
1:22:31it doesn't care because it is all about
1:22:33moon's angles who cares about sunrise
1:22:35sunset but
1:22:37our life is governed by the sun we all
1:22:41rise with the sun we start our day
1:22:43activities ideally we should set with
1:22:45the sun we don't nowadays too much
1:22:46electricity and TV and WhatsApp and all
1:22:51But we are forced to correlate
1:22:55titi with solar days. It makes sense.
1:22:58What is the titi today? How do I answer
1:23:02that question? So what we normally do is
1:23:04as a convention we just take this is the
1:23:08sunrise of today 5th October 2025
1:23:12Bangalore may sunrise was at 609 at that
1:23:15time the titi was triodishi. So we say
1:23:18all of today's triayogasheshi Baba for
1:23:21convenience for pragmatism.
1:23:24In fact right now as I am speaking we
1:23:25have moved into chhatur dashi already
1:23:28right we are at 7:15 so somewhere here
1:23:32uh it's already chhatur dashi as marked
1:23:34here this is from a website called dri
1:23:36punch.
1:23:42So we take the sunrise point and we
1:23:44decide what the whole titi is and
1:23:47sometimes an entire titti gets embedded
1:23:50between two sunrises in which case we
1:23:52say it's a shayi it's lost let it go
1:23:56sometimes it extends across two sunrises
1:23:59in which case we say this is adikati
1:24:04it's all to do with sunrises
1:24:10so now that you know all This you know
1:24:12to in the Hindu calendar
1:24:15you don't say 5th October you say
1:24:17ashamasa
1:24:21today
1:24:23it's actually dashi but sunrise it was
1:24:25so but if you're celebrating some
1:24:28specific wedding morta or festivals also
1:24:32will look very carefully oh it's already
1:24:33switched over to they will consider that
1:24:35but otherwise you say today ashamasa
1:24:412025 instead of that we may use a year
1:24:43number I'm not showing it here either
1:24:45shaliaka or vikram samat that's
1:24:48nonastronomical
1:24:52very important day for everybody's
1:24:53birthday
1:24:55so that is from my previous avatar I was
1:24:58I that was how I made my YouTube videos
1:25:00because I went outdoors and did them so
1:25:03my birthday is I always still I always
1:25:05think of it 26th July 25th July 1962 my
1:25:08birthday
1:25:12that is how I should really think about
1:25:14my birthday
1:25:17and more than that if I come to
1:25:18festivals
1:25:20a lot of Hindu festivals majority based
1:25:23on chandraana calendar
1:25:27in fact there is a shloka
1:25:35he gives a list of
1:25:37to which you should look at the moon
1:25:40is wedding
1:25:42is shaving
1:25:50you look at the moon and do all of them
1:25:52basically all religious rights is not
1:25:54explicitly saying festivals but all
1:25:56religious rights look at the moon so now
1:26:00we come to the main thesis of today's
1:26:02talk why do Hindu festival occur on
1:26:04different days Raman Nami was on 17th
1:26:07April last year now to 6th April this
1:26:09year. What's going on?
1:26:13It actually happens on the same day on
1:26:15our lunar calendar, Chandraana calendar.
1:26:19But our titties occur every 354 days,
1:26:23not 365 days.
1:26:29If you keep that in mind, then things
1:26:31will start falling in place. There are
1:26:33complications.
1:26:35So these are the festivals and these
1:26:38dates don't change. This is the dates as
1:26:41specified in our chandraana calendar.
1:26:45And the next festival which is coming up
1:26:48is karach
1:26:52and we say krishna
1:26:57will say karthika
1:26:59but it's the same
1:27:01actually. And then comes
1:27:06on five consecutive days.
1:27:14Five days split across two months.
1:27:20So this is our Hindu festival calendar
1:27:23where it doesn't change. But when you
1:27:25take this
1:27:27and put this on the Gregorian calendar
1:27:32then things change.
1:27:35So Ramomi was on 21st April in 2021
1:27:40but next year it won't happen on 21st
1:27:43April because that will be 365 days. It
1:27:46will happen 354 days later. So it comes
1:27:48approximately 11 days earlier 10th
1:27:50April. Next it advances by another 11
1:27:53days to 30th March other then it'll
1:27:55another 11 days it should keep on
1:27:57drifting but we push it forward
1:28:01by introducing anikamasa I can't go into
1:28:04the details but this is why natikamasa
1:28:06is introduced so that festivals don't
1:28:08drift off then it'll go to February
1:28:10January ram nami happening in December
1:28:13very confusing seasons particularly is
1:28:15very important for us so we push it back
1:28:18by pushing an adikamasai in Here is a
1:28:22little bit more detail. It would have
1:28:24fallen back 11 days but that same year
1:28:272024 we added an adikam masa which is
1:28:2929.5 days all fractions involved but net
1:28:34net it'll come forward by about 18 19
1:28:36days it jumps forward so it leaps
1:28:39forward so this is our leap year not a
1:28:43single day in February one full month we
1:28:45throw in there take push it forward and
1:28:47then we drift back drift back again put
1:28:49one month move it forward this pattern
1:28:52pattern is very much there in our
1:28:55calendar
1:28:57and this is the pattern. I went and sat
1:29:00through the online punchal looked where
1:29:02all adikamas came just plotted it. There
1:29:04was adikashana in uh 2023 24 here I put
1:29:09shaka year numbering.
1:29:12Then after 2 years in the third year
1:29:14there was an adika masa adika jesta and
1:29:16then the real ja nija jesta another two
1:29:20years adika chaititra and then
1:29:22nijachitra
1:29:24after that the pattern broke another one
1:29:26year and then adika bada nijabhadraha.
1:29:29So there is there is astronomy behind
1:29:32this but it's again more elaborate
1:29:35animations I have to explain why they
1:29:37decide to add an adikamasa here it's
1:29:41about a masa without any sanka happening
1:29:44inside but then what is srana that is in
1:29:46the solar calendar so there is a lot of
1:29:48things which blend in to make this
1:29:50calendar
1:29:53but this is the concept of adikamasa
1:29:58so now I make some concluding remarks. I
1:30:00am at the end.
1:30:03So this whole thing which you
1:30:06saw
1:30:08it's actually a celestial clock. I
1:30:11showed you the sun and moon moving but
1:30:13here I put a sun hand and a moon hand.
1:30:17And when the two hands come together
1:30:19it's a when the two hands are opposite
1:30:21it's
1:30:24the two hands are away by 12° 24° it's
1:30:2611 titi.
1:30:28So it's a calendar which is up there
1:30:30ticking in the sky difficult to read but
1:30:34it's sticking up above our head. It's
1:30:36like a huge dial on top of our head. And
1:30:39in fact there is actually a physical
1:30:41calendar which has been created by a
1:30:42company called Shri Astro time. I have
1:30:45this a beautiful product. It it's in
1:30:48real time clock. My animations I speed
1:30:50up time. They don't do that. It's a
1:30:52real-time clock and it's not just uh
1:30:54chandra mana but sa mana also lot of and
1:30:57nakhatra everything they have put in
1:30:59there
1:31:02but um
1:31:04more interestingly
1:31:09in our Hindu tradition
1:31:13this is a celestial dance which is being
1:31:15played out in the sky
1:31:18and there is a
1:31:20old bhanatium
1:31:22which goes as
1:31:33shivam sham sham.
1:31:37The meaning of that shloka is in
1:31:41baratnatam there are four abinas. Angi
1:31:43kabinaya is a bodily movement that is a
1:31:46dance. Vika is the words
1:31:50which accompany the music, the sounds
1:31:52without which there is no dance.
1:31:54Aarabina is the ornamentation,
1:31:57the costumes etc. And satikabina is the
1:32:01real emotions which is conveyed by all
1:32:03of these coming together and more facial
1:32:05expressions to touch your soul.
1:32:09That is what we normally think of as
1:32:10aaya. The expressions
1:32:13this is for a human dancer. But what if
1:32:15the dancer is divine?
1:32:18What if the dancer is Shivam?
1:32:21He has no form. He's formless. He has no
1:32:24body. So what is his anga?
1:32:28The Angika of Shivam
1:32:31is the movement of the entire universe.
1:32:36Take a look at this.
1:32:38[Music]
1:32:43Come.
1:32:46[Music]
1:32:49Yes. Yes.
1:32:55[Music]
1:33:01Chandra
1:33:06[Music]
1:33:09become
1:33:12she.
1:33:21[Music]
1:33:25So we take the movement of the entire
1:33:27universe. The cosmic dance of Shivam. We
1:33:31look at one small portion the sun and
1:33:33the moon dancing
1:33:35and we encoded it in the puncha. The
1:33:38panchchanga has survived over millennia
1:33:41because our culture kept it alive but
1:33:44the astronomy has been forgotten
1:33:47and it is my endeavor to bring that
1:33:50astronomy
1:33:51back so that we get a better
1:33:54understanding of the pangika vinaya of
1:33:58sham.
1:34:01So on that note I end my talk.
1:34:06Thank you very much for watching. So I
1:34:09think

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