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The Vira Nirvana Samvat (era) is a calendar era beginning on 7 October 527 BCE. It commemorates the Nirvana of Lord Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara. This is the oldest system of chronological reckoning which is still used in India.
The earliest text to mention 527 BCE as the year of Lord Vardhaman Mahavira's Nirvana is Yati-Vrishabha's Tiloya-Pannatti (6th century CE). [1] [2] Subsequent works such as Jinasena's Harivamśa (783 CE) mention the Vira Nirvana era, and give the difference between it and the Shaka era (beginning in 79 CE) as 605 years, 5 months & 10 days. [3]
On 21 October 1974, the 2500th Nirvana Mahotsava was celebrated (according to the Indian national calendar) by the Jains throughout India [4] and overseas. [5]
The Jain year Vira Nirvana Samvat is obtained by adding 469 or 470 years to the Kartikadi Vikram Samvat. For example, The Vira Nirvana Samvat 2544 started right after Diwali of 20 October 2017 on Vikram 2074, Kartika Krishna Amavasya (Chaitradi and Purnimanta). [6] [7] The new Chaitradiadi Vikram samvat (common in North India) starts seven months earlier in Chaitra, thus during Chaitra-Kartika Krishna, the difference between Vikram and Vir Nivana samvat is 469 years until Kartik Shukla 1 (Day following Diwali), when the difference becomes 470 years.
The Jain business people traditionally started their accounting year from Dipawali. The relationship between the Vir and Shaka era is given in Titthogali Painnaya and Dhavalaa by Acharya Virasena: [8]
पंच य मासा पंच य वास छच्चेव होन्ति वाससया | परिणिव्वुअस्स अरिहितो तो उप्पन्नो सगो राया ||
Thus, the Nirvana occurred 605 years, 5 months and 10 days before the Saka era.
From Vikram samvat, Vira Nirvana Samvat is obtained by adding 470, except during April to November, when 469 should be added. That is because the North Indian (Chaitradi Purnimanta) Vikram Samvat increments with Chaitra Krishna to Chaitra Shukla transition, where as Vira Nirvana Samvat increments with Kartika Krishna to Kartika Shukla transition. From the Julian year, VNS is obtained by adding 526 from January to November and 527 during November to December.
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The Jain calendar (Panchāng) is a lunisolar calendar, just like the traditional Vikram or Saka calendars . The months based on the position of the Moon with respect to the Earth and it is adjusted by adding an extra month (adhika masa) once every three years, to coincide with the Sun to bring month in phase with the season. Its day or date which is known as Tithi, indicates the moon phase and the month indicates the approximate season of the solar year.
The lunisolar calendar has the following arrangement: A regular or normal year has 12 months; a leap year has 13 months. A regular or normal year has 353, 354, or 355 days; a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days.
The months in a Jain calendar are – Kartak, Maagsar, Posh, Maha, Faagan, Chaitra, Vaishakh, Jeth, Ashadh, Shravan, Bhadarvo, Aaso.
The average number of days in a month is 30 but the average number of days in a Lunisolar year is 354 and not 360 (12 months in a year) because it takes the Moon about 29.5 days (not 30 days) to complete the circle around the Earth. Hence one Tithi is eliminated in about duration of two months.
The Hebrew, Hindu lunar, Buddhist, and Tibetan calendars are all lunisolar, and so were the Japanese calendars until 1873 and the Chinese calendars until 1912.
The Islamic calendar is a pure Lunar Calendar because its date (Tithi) indicates the moon phase but its months are not in phase with the time of the solar year or the season. It does not adjust its calendar to coincide with the sun or the season. Hence no extra month is added every three years.
The Gregorian calendar (English CE) is a pure Solar Calendar and its date indicates the time of the solar season but not the moon phase.
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, incorporating lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Earth's sky. If the sidereal year is used instead of the solar year, then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moon may occur. As with all calendars which divide the year into months there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months. In some case ordinary years consist of twelve months but every second or third year is an embolismic year, which adds a thirteenth intercalary, embolismic, or leap month.
A lunar day is the time it takes for Earth's Moon to complete on its axis one synodic rotation, meaning with respect to the Sun. The lunar day is therefore the time of a full lunar day-night cycle. Due to tidal locking, this equals the time that the Moon takes to complete one synodic orbit around Earth, a synodic lunar month, returning to the same lunar phase. The synodic period is about 29+1⁄2 Earth days, which is about 2.2 days longer than its sidereal period.
The Hindu calendar, also called Panchanga, is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on sidereal year for solar cycle and adjustment of lunar cycles in every three years, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle and the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start. Of the various regional calendars, the most studied and known Hindu calendars are the Shalivahana Shaka found in the Deccan region of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the solar cycle is emphasized and this is called the Tamil calendar and Malayalam calendar and these have origins in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. A Hindu calendar is sometimes referred to as Panchangam (पञ्चाङ्गम्), which is also known as Panjika in Eastern India.
A panchāngam is a Hindu calendar and almanac, which follows traditional units of Hindu timekeeping, and presents important dates and their calculations in a tabulated form. It is sometimes spelled Panchāngamu, Pancanga, Panchanga, Panchaanga, or Panchānga, and is often pronounced Panchāng. Panchangas are used in Jyotisha.
Chaitra is a month of the Hindu calendar.
Vikram Samvat, also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still used in several states. It is a solar calendar, using twelve to thirteen lunar months each solar sidereal years. The year count of the Vikram Samvat calendar is usually 57 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar, except during January to April, when it is ahead by 56 years.
Amāvásyā is the lunar phase of the new moon in Sanskrit. Indian calendars use 30 lunar phases, called tithi in India. The dark moon tithi is when the Moon is within 12 degrees of the angular distance between the Sun and Moon before conjunction (syzygy). The New Moon tithi is the 12 angular degrees after syzygy. Amāvásyā is often translated as new moon since there is no standard term for the Moon before conjunction in English.
Chaturthi refers to the fourth day of a lunar fortnight in the Hindu calendar.
Shankheshwar is a town in the Patan district of Gujarat state of India. It is an important place of pilgrimage for the followers of Jainism.
There are numerous days throughout the year celebrated as New Year's Day in the different regions of India. The observance is determined by whether the lunar, solar or lunisolar calendar is being followed. Those regions which follow the Solar calendar, the new year falls as Baisakhi in Punjab, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Pana Sankranti or Odia Nababarsa in Odisha and Poila Boishakh in Bengal in the month of the calendar, i.e., Vaishakha. Generally, this day falls during 14th or 15th of the month of April. Those following Lunar calendar consider the month of Chaitra as the first month of the year, so the new year is celebrated on the first day of this month like Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra. Similarly, few regions in India consider the period between consecutive Sankarantis as one month and few others take the period between consecutive Purnimas as a month. In Gujarat the new year is celebrated as the day after Diwali. As per the Hindu Calendar, it falls on Shukla Paksha Pratipada in the Hindu month of Kartik. As per the Indian Calendar based on Lunar Cycle, Kartik is the first month of the year and the New Year in Gujarat falls on the first bright day of Kartik (Ekam). In other parts of India, New Year Celebrations begin in the spring.
Kārtika is the eighth month of the Hindu calendar, which falls in October and November of the Gregorian calendar. In India's national civil calendar, Kartika is the seventh month of the year, beginning on 23 October and ending on 21 November.
Paksha (Sanskrit: पक्ष, romanized: pakṣa) refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar.
Saal is an Indo-Persian word meaning year, and mubarak is an originally Arabic term meaning blessing or good wishes. The greeting Saal Mubarak is therefore used to mark the New Year.
Adhika-māsa, also called the Adhik-mas, Mala-māsa, and the Purushottama-māsa, is an intercalated month in the Hindu calendar that is inserted to keep the lunar calendar aligned with the months of the year. The adhika-masa is an extra lunar month added to the solar calendar every three years so that the lunar and the solar years are synchronised, along with the agricultural cycle and seasons.
Pūrṇimā is the word for full moon in Sanskrit. The day of Purnima is the day (Tithi) in each month when the full moon occurs, and marks the division in each month between the two lunar fortnights (paksha), and the Moon is aligned exactly in a straight line, called a syzygy, with the Sun and Earth. Full moon is considered the third of the four primary phases of the Moon; the other three phases are new moon, first quarter moon, and third quarter moon. The full moon shows 100% illumination, causes high tides, and can concur with lunar eclipses.
Prathama or Pratipada is the Sanskrit word for "first", and is the first day in the lunar fortnight (Paksha) of the Hindu calendar. Each month has two Prathama days, being the first day of the "bright" (Shukla) and of the "dark" (Krishna) fortnights respectively. Prathama occurs on the first and the sixteenth day of each month.
Here is a list of glossary of Culture of India in alphabetical order:
Panch Kalyanaka are the five chief auspicious events that occur in the life of tirthankara in Jainism. They are commemorated as part of many Jain rituals and festivals.
Diwali in Jainism marks the anniversary of Nirvana or liberation of Mahavira's soul, the twenty-fourth and last Jain Tirthankara of the present cosmic age. It is celebrated at the same time as the Hindu festival of Diwali. Diwali marks the end of the year for Jains, and it likewise commemorates the passing of their twenty-fourth Tirthankara Mahavira and his achievement of moksha.
Jain festivals occur on designated days of the year. Jain festivals are either related to life events of Tirthankara or they are performed with intention of purification of soul.
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