Jur Sital

Last updated

Jur Sital
Maithil New Year
Aakhar Bochhor
Observed by Maithils and Tharus
TypeFestival
SignificanceSolar New Year
CelebrationsFeasting, gifts
Date1st Baisakh (15 April)
Frequencyannual
Related to South and Southeast Asian solar New Year

Jur Sital or Maithil New Year is the celebration of the first day of the Maithil new year also called Aakhar Bochhor. Maithils eat bari with bhaat (steamed rice) on the day. This day which usually falls on 15 April on Gregorian calendar is celebrated by the Maithils and Tharu people of India and Nepal. This is also called Nirayana Mesh Sankranti and Tirhuta new year. [1] The festive occasion is in keeping with the Tirhuta Panchang calendar used in the Mithila region.

Contents

Origin and significance

The Maithili New Year follows the Nirayanam vernal equinox and falls on 14 April (may sometimes vary by a day) on the Gregorian year. 15 April marks the first day of the traditional Tirhuta Panchang.
Tropical vernal equinox fall around 22 March, and adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti (Sun's transition into Nirayana Aries). [2]

Hence, the Maithili calendar begins on the same date, with Baishakh as first month of the year. It is also observed by most traditional calendars in India as in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura and also in Nepal. [3]

Tharu people

In the south eastern Terai of Nepal, Tharu people celebrate Jur Sital (also known as Siruwa) on the first day of the year in the month of Vaisakha by sprinkling water on each other. The elders put water on the forehead and head of the young ones with blessing, while the young people put water on the feet of the elders to pay respect. Compatriots sprinkle water on each other’s body. [4] [5]

Official significance

Maithili Calendar is the traditional Calendar of Mithila region of India and Nepal. After a long period of demand, Bihar government in 2011 declared this day as public holiday to be observed statewide. Officially, the Maithili New year day is called as Mithila Diwas by the Government of Bihar. Every year there will be holiday for Mithila Diwas on 14 April in the Indian State of Bihar on account of the great festival of Juir Sheetal. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Year</span> Beginning of the calendar year

The New Year is the time or day at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on January 1. This was also the first day of the year in the original Julian calendar and the Roman calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila (proposed Indian state)</span> Proposed state in India

Mithila is a proposed state in India, comprising the Maithili speaking region of Bihar and Jharkhand. The Maithili language has own traditional script, known as Mithilakshar. It is part of the historical Mithila region. The proposed state will also include Whole Angika and Bajjika speaking districts which are considered to be dialects of Maithili.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maithili language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in India and Nepal

Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of India and Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as the Nepalese Koshi and Madhesh Provinces. It is one of the 22 official languages of India. It is the second most commonly spoken language of Nepal. It is also one of the fourteen provincial official languages of Nepal.

Sankranti refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In Saurmanavarsha, there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broadly classified into four main categories: Ayan (Solstice), Vishuva (Equinox), Vishnupadi and Shadshitimukhi sankrantis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaisakha</span> Month in Hindu calendar

Vaisakha is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to April/May in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Indian national calendar, Vaisakha is the second month of the year. It is the first month of the Vikram Samvat calendar, Odia calendar, Maithili Calendar, Punjabi calendar, Assamese calendar and the Bengali calendar. This month lies between the second half of April and the first half of May.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goramansingh</span> Village in Bihar, India

Goramansingh also known as Gauramansingh is a small village in the Darbhanga district of Bihar, India. It is located approximately 62 kilometers east of Darbhanga and 12 kilometers east from its subdivisional headquarters of Biraul on the bank of the Kamala River in Bihar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Begusarai</span> City in Bihar, India

Begusarai is the industrial and financial capital of Bihar and the administrative headquarters of the Begusarai district, which is one of the 38 districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The district lies on the northern bank of the river Ganges in the Mithila region of India.

The term Uttarāyaṇa is derived from two different Sanskrit words – "uttaram" (North) and "ayanam" (movement) – thus indicating the northward movement of the Sun. In the Gregorian calendar, this pertains to the "actual movement of the sun with respect to the earth." Also known as the six month period that occurs between the winter solstice and summer solstice. According to the Indian solar calendar, it refers to the movement of the Sun through the zodiac. This difference is because the solstices continually precess at a rate of 50 arcseconds per year due to the precession of the equinoxes, i.e. this difference is the difference between the sidereal and tropical zodiacs. The Surya Siddhanta bridges this difference by juxtaposing the four solstitial and equinoctial points with four of the twelve boundaries of the rashis.

Maithils, also known as Maithili people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group from the Indian subcontinent, who speak the Maithili language as their native language. They inhabit the Mithila region, which comprises Northern and Eastern Bihar and Northeastern Jharkhand in India and some adjoining districts of Nepal constituting Madhesh Province in addition to some terai districts of Bagmati and Koshi Provinces. The Maithil region forms an important part of Hinduism as it is said to be the birthplace of Sita, the wife of Ram and incarnation of Lakshmi.

The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a Maithil Brahmin dynasty and the rulers of territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between India and Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila (region)</span> Cultural region in India and Nepal, Asia

Mithila, also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north. It comprises certain parts of Bihar and Jharkhand of India and adjoining districts of the Koshi Province, Bagmati Pradesh and Madhesh Province of Nepal. The native language in Mithila is Maithili, and its speakers are referred to as Maithils.

Mithila is a geographical and cultural region located in the Indian subcontinent. The native language is known as Maithili and its speakers are referred to as Maithils. The majority of the Mithila region falls within modern-day India, more specifically in the state of Bihar. Mithila is bounded in the north by the Himalayas, and in the south, west and east by the Ganges, Gandaki and Mahananda respectively. It extends into the southeastern Terai of Nepal. This region was also called Tirabhukti, the ancient name of Tirhut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duhabi, Dhanusha</span> Village in Janakpur Zone, Nepal

Duhabi is a Village Development Committee in Dhanusa District in the Janakpur Zone of south-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 5,762 persons residing in 990 individual households.

Mithila culture or Maithil culture refers to the culture which originated in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent. Mithila comprises Tirhut, Darbhanga, Kosi, Purnia, Munger, Bhagalpur and Santhal Pargana divisions of India and adjoining provinces of Province No. 1, Bagmati Pradesh, and Madhesh Province of Nepal.

Most of the languages of Bihar, the third most populous state of India, belong to the Bihari subgroup of the Indo-Aryan family. Chief among them are Bhojpuri, spoken in the west of the state, Maithili in the north, Magahi in center around capital Patna and in the south of the state. Maithili has official recognition under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The official language of Bihar is Modern Standard Hindi, with Standard Urdu serving as a second official language in 15 districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maithil Brahmin</span> Brahmin community of the Mithila region, India

Maithil Brahmins are the Hindu Brahmin community originating from the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent that comprises Tirhut, Darbhanga, Kosi, Purnia, Munger, Bhagalpur and Santhal Pargana divisions of India and some adjoining districts of Nepal. They are one of the five Pancha-Gauda Brahmin communities. Apart from the Mithila region, they also inhabit various other places in India, including Agra, Aligarh, Hathras And Mathura of Western Uttar Pradesh The main language spoken by Maithil Brahmins is Maithili.

Tirhuta Panchang is a calendar followed by the Maithili community of India and Nepal. This calendar is one of the many Hindu calendars. It is a tropical solar Hindu calendar in which the year begins on the first day of Baishakh month i.e. Mesh Sankranti. Every year, this day falls on 13/14 April of the Gregorian Calendar

Maithili may refer to:

The traditional New Year in many South and Southeast Asian cultures is based on the sun's entry into the constellation Aries. In modern times, it is usually reckoned around 14 April.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila State Movement</span> Movement for proposed separate Mithila state in India

Mithila State Movement is a movement advocating a separate Mithila state in India. This movement gained momentum in 1902 AD when Sir George Grierson, an official of the British Indian government, prepared a map of Mithila state by conducting a language-based survey. In 1881 AD, the word Mithila was added to the dictionary of the British India government. According to the founder, president Dr. Dhanakar Thakur of the International Maithili Council in the proposed Mithila state, 24 districts of Bihar and six districts of Jharkhand, a total of 30 districts, have been included, which has a population of about 70 million. At the same time, the area is 70 thousand square km.

References

  1. "MITHILA PANCHANG". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  2. Maithili Panchang, of Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University Published from Darbhanga
  3. "Keeping Track of Time". Imsc.res.in. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  4. "Joorshital/Siruwa: A unique tradition of celebrating the New Year among Tharus in southern Nepal". Online Khabar. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  5. टाइम्स, अन्नपूर्ण (13 April 2022). "JurShital". अन्नपूर्ण टाइम्स. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  6. "India (Bihar) - bank and public holidays of the world - 1970-2070". Bank-holidays.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.