This article is about the calendar introduced by the Government of India in 1957. For other calendars using the Śaka era, seeShaka era.
The Gazette of India is dated in both the Gregorian calendar and the Indian national calendar.
TheIndian national calendar, also called theShaka calendar orŚaka calendar, is asolar calendar that is used alongside theGregorian calendar byThe Gazette of India, in news broadcasts byAll India Radio, and in calendars and official communications issued by theGovernment of India.[1] It was adopted in 1957 following the recommendation of the Calendar Reform Committee.
Śaka Samvat is generally 78 years behind the Gregorian calendar, except from January–March, when it is behind by 79 years.
Chaitra is the first month of the calendar and begins on or near theMarch equinox. Chaitra has 30 days and starts on 22 March, except inleap years, when it has 31 days and starts on 21 March.[1] All months other than Chaitra start on fixed dates in the Gregorian calendar. The months in the first half of the year all average out to having 31 days, to take into account the slower movement of the sun across theecliptic at this time. This is similar to theIranianSolar Hijri calendar.
The names of the months are derived from the olderHindu lunisolar calendar, so variations in spellings exist, and there is a possible source of confusion as to what calendar a date belongs to.[2]
The names of the weekdays are derived from theseven classical planets (seeNavagraha). The first day of the week is Ravivāra (Sunday).[3] The official calendar reckoned by the government of India has Sunday as the first and Saturday as the last day of the week.[4]
Years are counted in theShaka era, which starts itsyear 0 in the year78CE of theCommon Era. To determine leap years, add 78 to theShaka year – if the result is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, then the Shaka year is a leap year as well.[5]
Senior IndianAstrophysicistMeghnad Saha was the head of the Calendar Reform Committee under the aegis of theCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research.[c]It was Saha's effort which led to the formation of the committee in 1952. The task before the committee was to prepare an accurate calendar based on scientific study, which could be adopted uniformly throughout India. The committee had to undertake a detailed study of thirty different calendars prevalent in different parts of the country. The task was further complicated by the integration of those calendars with religion and local sentiments.
In 1954 the committee recommended a fixed tropical solar calendar for use as a unified national civil calendar, which was adopted as the Indian national calendar. A tropical lunisolar calendar was also proposed for religious purposes but this recommendation was not accepted.
India's first prime minister,Jawaharlal Nehru, in his preface to the Report of the committee, published in 1955, wrote:
"They (different calendars) represent past political divisions in the country ... . Now that we have attained Independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity in the calendar for our civic, social, and other purposes, and this should be done on a scientific approach to this problem."[6]
Usage started officially on 1 Chaitra 1879 Saka Era, or 22 March 1957. However, despite the government's attempts to propagate the calendar through official Rashtriya Panchangs, the Indian national calendar did not find acceptance with panchang makers or the general public, and current usage is largely limited to governmental offices. Existing calendars based on the Saka era remain in use, which can lead to confusion.[2]
Saha, M.N. (chairman); Banerjee, A.C.; Daftari, K.L.; Karandikar, J.S.; Prasad, Gorakh; Vaidya, R.V.; Lahiri, N.C. (1955).Report of the Calendar Reform Committee(PDF) (Report). New Delhi: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – via dspace.gipe.ac.in.
