Q: New Year

[mgansten at sbbs.se]

Amita Sarin wrote:

>I'm curious to know why April 13th is the solar New Year for so many Indian
>communities.  In Punjab also, Baisakhi celebrates the New Year on the same
>date.  The Persian New Year Navroze, however, although also solar, is on the
>21st of March.  [...]

April 13th, or thereabout, is the time when the sun enters Aries
(meshasaMkrAnti), the first sign of the zodiac, according to the nirayana or
sidereal system followed in most of India. This system takes into
consideration the precession of the equinox, i.e., the fact that the
position of the earth in relation to the fixed stars changes slightly with
every year, so that if one's birth sign according to Western astrology is
Aries, it is likely that the sun was in fact in Pisces at the time of his
birth. At present, the precession (ayanAMs'a) is around 23-24 degrees; there
are some differences of opinion as to the exact value.

March 21st, or thereabout, is the date of the vernal equinox, which remains
the same from year to year.

Festivals which are based on the sun's entering a particular zodiac sign
(saMkrAnti) will change, but very slowly, whereas those that are based on
the soli-lunar calendar, e.g. on the phases of the moon (tithi), may vary by
several weeks from one year to another, as the moon will complete something
like 13.38 cycles (i.e., not a whole number) in one solar year.

Martin Gansten
mgansten at sbbs.se