In the months of March-April, we ring in the New Year as per Bharatiya calendars. We use the word calendars because Bharat has a variety of calendars, some are lunar based, some are based on the Sun, some are luni-solar.
Have you noticed the phonetic as well as semantic similarity between the English word calendar and the Indian word Kalaantara, which denotes the antara i.e. duration, space between different Kala, instants of time? It is about lapsing time, elapsed time. A New Year is one such Kalaantara which is a cyclic span of 12 months, called calendar in Western thought.
Calendars of Bharat
The calendars in India follow both the Sun and Moon. They are essentially Luni Solar and use the Rasi, Zodiac as the months. Some parts of India use the Sun and stars of the Zodiac, Rasi as the marker, i.e. Sauramanam. They celebrate the New Year typically on April 14th / 15th as it is the day when Sun transits into Aries Zodiac. These include states such as Tamil Nadu which celebrates New Year as Puduvarsham or Puthandu, Kerala as Vishu, Punjab as Baisaki, Assam as Bohag/Rongali Bihu, Manipur as Cheiraoba etc. Sri Lanka too celebrates its New Year at the same time as Aluth Avurudda.
Most other parts of India use the Moon and the Zodiac Rasi as the marker. The months start based on the phase of the Moon and the Zodiac being transited by the Sun or the Zodiac of the full Moon, i.e. Chandramanam.
Varsha in Bharat
A year in most Indian languages is called Varsha or variants thereof such as varudam in Tamil and Malayalam. Rain, in India, is also called Varsha. Our land is also called Bharatha Varsha.
So, there seems to be a distinct correlation between rain, year and land. They are all called Varsha, Varsha and Varsha. Why?
We find that a year is called Varsha, since Bharat has a distinct phenomenon of receiving rains unfailingly in a particular pattern. This cyclic pattern of rains, called monsoon, coincides with a time span of 12 months or 1 year.
Hence, the time span from one rainy season to another has also come to be called Varsha. Here, we see a beautiful connection between rain and the time space/span of a year.
At the same time, since this phenomenon is special to the landmass called Bharata, the land where this Varsha pours every year and thus showers prosperity every year, has also come to be called Bharata Varsha.
We thus have the word Varsha for rain, year and our land.
What is the prosperity that comes with Rain? But of course, trees, crops, food and grains besides water. All of which had kept the Bharatiya civilisation well fed and had given them lots of products to make, trade and generate wealth.
Influenced By Varsha
Agriculture was thus the mainstay of this civilisation and it was intricately tied to this Varsha, rain. Bharat is thus an agrarian civilisation by nature.
The Varsha, year and its months were defined by the agricultural activities such as when sowing should happen, when to harvest, when to account, when to clean and rest.
All these together went on to define the kalachar, culture of Bharata Varsha. These harvests went on to determine some of the main festival seasons of this land such as
- Deepavali which followed the harvest during October/November and
- Pongal, Bihu, Lori etc. which followed the harvest during January. What about Summer then?
Aspects Of Agriculture
If we look at agriculture, two aspects of agriculture come to fore.
Seasonal agriculture
This is agriculture where the crop lifecycle from seed to flower to seed all starts and ends within one season itself (i.e one harvest). The plants live for one season alone. It is the seed that acts as a bridge between 2 generations of the species.
Perennial agriculture
This is agriculture, where the seed once planted, gives rise to a plant that continues to keep giving flowers, fruits and seeds for years to come and the plant itself spans across generations.
While rain is important for all crops, we find that the seasonal agriculture is dominated by the rainfall pattern, whereas, it is Spring that rejuvenates Perennial agricultural plants and most buds, flowers, fruits and vegetables are formed during the seasons of Spring to Summer. The ushering in of the New Year in March/April is the signal for majority of the trees and plants of Bharat to produce their fruits and vegetables.
Focus On Society and Divine
It is also a time when it is dry and there is more daylight for other activities in this agrarian civilisation. This is then time for focussing on conducting various activities for the society and the Divine such as undertaking temple renovations and brahmotsavs (temple festivals), cleaning the village ponds and temple tanks in anticipation of the coming monsoon and so on.
