Vani Bansal
TRIN, trin… the phone was ringing from the past five minutes. Seema got fed up of answering the phone calls. She thought that her friends were making fun of her by wishing her a happy new year in this month of April. Being very irritated she went to her granny and narrated the situation. To this granny told her about Vikrami Samvat. Like Seema there are many of us who don’t know about the Indian calendar (Vikrami Samvat). India is a land of festivals. Each and every day has some or the other importance. But the first day of the Indian calendar is in itself important. Important? But how? In this very day the earth completes one round of the Sun. From this day onwards, the night shrinks while the day stretches away. Flowers blossom, trees dance and it seems like ‘Mother Nature’ is itself celebrating. Now some may think about the name. Hmm…
The big name “Vikrami Samvat” well!! One of India’s greatest kings King Vikramaditya started the Indian calendar and due to this very reason the calendar was known as “Vikrami Samvat”. Now being a little scientific. The very calendar divides a year into 12 months and a week into 7 days. The months were calculated on the speed of moon and the sun. The Indian calendar was created 57 years before the English calendar. Every month is divided into two parts – Krishnapaksha and Shuklapaksha. The moon deteriorates in the Krishnapaksha while it increases in Shuklapaksha. The moon becomes invisible on the last day of Krishnapaksha i.e. Amavasya while it completes itself in the last day of Shuklapaksha. Days are named after the names of the planets in Hindi and that also in the very sequence in which planets are. Since the calendar has its roots steeped down in ancient times we can’t neglect its history context. History is all about learning dates. But learning the dates become very easy after knowing the day when earth originated, the day when Satyug started, the day when Sri Ram, King Yudhishthira as well as King Parikshit were crowned.
Apart from this, saint Jhulelal, saint Gautama as well as Dr Hedgewar (founder of the biggest cultural organisation RSS) have the birthday on the very first day of the Indian calendar. Swami Dayananda Saraswati established Arya Samaj on this pious day only. According to the Gregorian calendar earth is only about 2,000 years old; in Yunani calendar it is 3,581 years; in Yahudi it is 5,769 years; in Egypt it is 28,672 years and in China it is 96,002,306 years.
Leaving all these behind the Indian calendar tells that the earth is 97 crore, 39 lakh, 49 thousand and hundred and eleven years old. It is interesting to learn that English calendar has its link-ups with Jesus Christ and the Hijri calendar has its link-ups with Hajrat Mohammad Saheb. But, interestingly the Indian calendar does not have any connection with any of the religion and is entirely based on the nature, planets and other celestial bodies. Now the main question arises how to celebrate the Indian New Year?There are no particular steps to follow to celebrate the New Year but like each festival the Indian New Year should be celebrated by waking early in the morning and remembering God. We should decorate our houses by making rangolis. We should wish each other, should tell them the meaning and importance of the Bharat’s New year. Saffron flags should be hosted on every house of the country which is a symbol of rich, cultural and spiritual values of the country. Being a part of India we should be proud of our Indian calendar and should celebrate Indian New Year.
(The writer is a class 12 student of Hamdard Public School, New Delhi)
