Indian Calendar - Sun and Moon based

 

16 Dec 2022

Everyday has a sunrise and a sunset.Today  these events have happened. Whether we see them or not these actually happen. Similarly, there are certain people who work like the Sun, whether it’s a Sunday, Monday, or Diwali or Christmas they are coming and doing their duty. One such is the milk vendor. It’s a rarest case, that a milkman gets a holiday. On Our Holidays, people ask him more milk to make kheer and Basundi/ Shreekhand etc.

In addition, there are certain people in life who don’t get rest Like our mothers or women at home. They also have to work on each and every day to cater to our needs.

Therefore, these need to be respected and hence our Indian thoughts have always insisted on the worship of Mother, father, Acharya, atithi and then to others. (Matru devo Bhava, Pitru devo Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, Atithi devo Bhava). Similarly secret of Sun’s prayer is shared by the father to the Son during the Upanayanam or Munji/ Poita, pavitra dharan or Jenivu dharan or thread ceremony in most Brahmin families across India.

The worship of Sun has been of paramount importance in India. The calendar in India is both Chandramaan and Suryaman. While the waxing and waning moon make the Shukla paksha and Krishna paksha (Shukla means white, the nights gets whiter and whiter and Krishna means dark ,so the moon light gets darker and darker) . The moon takes 28-30 days to complete a cycle of its journey from Full moon (Poornima)  to full moon.  If a month has two Poornimas within the month, then it’s called Blue Moon month, which happens very rarely. Hence the idiom “Once in a blue moon” is coined.

Surya or Sun also takes care of the Ritu or Seasons. Based on the cycle of the sun the different seasons are formed in India. Hence the Aditya Hridayam also worships Sun has Ritu Karta. It makes the day, hence Sun is called Dinkar (Din +kar), the morning is called Prabhat  ,so as he makes the Morning he is called Prabhakar. Interestingly Sun Follows the English calendar and every 14^th or 15^th of the month he changes the Astrological sign or the constellation of stars or Rashi . Such a date is called as the Sankraman or Sankranthi. And in the month of January he moves to the Makar Rashi from Dhanu Rashi . Dhanu rashi symbolizes the bow. It is said that due to winter the Man is not able to stand straight and bends like a bow, hence the month of Dec 14 to Jan 14 is also called Dhanu Maas. During this period it is recommended to eat Khichdi with moong dal and Rice. I am not much into science, But if you think over, making dal and Rice separately, mixing it and then eating will lead to cooling of the rice, hence better making a ready to eat dish and start eating.

Once every 27 months, it so happens that there is a whole of a Chandra maas, means a poornima to Poornima or Amavasya to Amavasya which starts on 15^th or 16^th and ends before 14^th.. Such a rare month is called as a Shunya maas or an Adhik Maas..A whole month that misses the Sankraman of Surya. IT becomes Void and its called Adhik. This helps us to match the Chandraman with suryamaan and all the festivals in India which are dependent on the Ritu and ritu karta are back in the calendar and match the ritu.

Hence the Indians of the yesteryears took the decision that the Sun is to be worshipped and they worship him in different ways. The Telugu, Marathi, Gujrati, Kannada , Tamil etc have Sankranti has the important day for worshipping him. While the purvanchal guys (Eastern UP and Bihari’s do it on the Sashti of Kartik called as Chhat puja. Surya Sashti.

Don’t you think we Hindus are so much of nature lovers. Salute to our ancestors.  Waiting for another Sunrise.