Indian National Calendar

The National Calendar is based on the Saka Era with Chaitra as its first month and a normal year of 365 days. It was adopted from 22 March 1957 along with the Gregorian calendar. The Saka calendar, often referred as the Hindu calendar is originally named as Saka Samvat. It is also used for the calculation days of religious significance in the Hindu Religion in the country. The national calendar is the official civil calendar in use in India. We can find a Saka calendar alongside a Gregorian Calender in an Indian Home.

The national calendar is used along with the Gregorian calendar for the following purposes:
(i) Gazette of India,
(ii) News broadcast by All India Radio,
(iii) Calendars issued by the Government of India and
(iv) Government communications addressed to the members of the public.

Dates of the Indian national calendar have a permanent correspondence with the Gregorian calendar dates, 1 Chaitra falling on 22 March normally and on 21 March in leap year.

Formation of Saka Calendar
In the Indian civil calendar, the initial period is the Saka Era. The Calendar is said to have begun with King Salivahana's accession to the throne. It is used as a reference for most astronomical works in Sanskrit literature written after 500 AD. The calculation of ‘thitis’ i.e. dates in this Calendar are done in accordance with the actual positions of Sun and Moon in the universe. In the Saka calendar, the year 2009 AD is 1932.

Adoption of Saka Calendar as National Calendar
The Saka Calendar was adopted as the National Calendar in 1957, by the Calendar Reform Committee. This committee made lot of efforts to coincide the astronomical data and harmonize the usage of this calendar after rectification of some local errors. It came into usage from March 22, 1957 according to the Gregorian calendar which was actually Saka Era, Chaitra 1, 1879 according to the Saka Samvat.

Before the adoption of Saka Calendar as the National Calendar, 30 different kinds of Calendar used in India at that time. Saka calendar was used to synchronize the usage of all those calendars.

The above figure shows the calendar which was used in Ancient indian Astronomy. It indicates the 27-fold and 12-fold division of the ecliptic. The first Rasi is Vrsa, with the corresponding month of Vaisakha.

This is the figure of a historical Hindu Calendar which was used in Ancient times.