Conventions of Indian calendars

[yanom at ksuvx0.kyoto-su.ac.jp]

Frank Conlon asked:

>recall that in the definition of months, in north India and south India
>(roughly) there was a difference as to whether the month began with the
>bright (shukla) half or the dark (krishna) half.
>Would some of you be so kind as to refresh my memory as to whether
>
>(1) I am correct in my recollection?
>(2) Which region has shukla or krishna first?
>(3) Can we identify a sort of calendrical frontier where practice changes?
>(4) Does this really mean that if we use a date of shukla 10th of one
>month that in another part of India that day would be recorded as krishna
>of the adjacent month?

Here is my answer:
(1) Yes, you are correct.
(2) In general in the north it is 'pUrNimAnta' (full moon ending)
    and in the south it is 'anAnta' (new moon ending).
(3) In 1991 I made a field research correcting about 50 kinds of
    pancAngas (traditional calendar).  I am preparing a rough report
    of my survey.
(4) Difference of month names occurs only in kRSNapakSa, and there is
    no variation in zuklapakSa, as Dominik said.

Michio YANO
yanom at cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp