ON January 1, AD (Anno Domini) 2000, or, according to some opinion, January 1, AD 2001, is the first day of the 21st century and the third millenium of the internationally accepted Christian era. The entire world, including this country, is likely to usher in the 21st century at midnight of December 31 this year itself, with gala celebrations. In the Western world, hotel bookings had to be done several years ago for a dinner table on the night of December 31, 1999/January 1, 2000.

Unfortunately, unknown to most Indians, particularly the Hindus, on Thursday March 18 of the Gregorian calendar, the 52nd era of the Yugabda dawns with the Shukla Pratipada of the lunar month of Chaitra. This "tithi" (not date) is celebrated as the Varsha Pratipada or the beginning of the new year by Hindus of several regions of the country (not all) and is known variously as Gudi Padva, Ugadi, Yugadi, etc.

That day, the (Lunar) Vikrami era 2056 will commence in Hindu calendars of many regional and linguistic groups of India, particularly in Maharashtra, the Hindi-speaking States, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and others. However, few people are aware that Shukla Pratipada, 2056 is also the Shukla Pratipada of the 52nd Yugabda signifying the beginning of the 52nd century after the end of the great Mahabharat war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, in which the Pandavas had emerged as victorious. It is surprising for many that the Hindus, particularly those subscribing to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology, were able to remember or recollect that this calendar was ever in existence. Yet when one goes through the history of calendar-making in this country, one is just stupefied at the accuracy the Hindu astronomers had calculated the length of the year and the months, the timings of the eclipses and the likes. The tragedy is that Hindu astronomy or Vedic Astronomy or to be more precise, Vedanga Jyotisha, is a neglected subject in our colleges and universities. It has to be noted that in ancient times, our astronomers did not have such facilities for studying astronomy as are commonplace today such as telescopes, computers, artifical satellites and the likes. Yet, like traditions maintained in the study of the Vedas and other ancient texts, the tradition of calendar-making also survived and today we are in a position to describe the new lunar year as the first day of the 5200nd year after the end of the Mahabharat war at Kurukshetra.

In fact, most of us are not even aware of the names of the great Hindu astronomers such as Aryabhata, Latadeva, Varahmihira, Brahmagupta, Lalla, Manjula, Sripati and Bhaskara II. There are a large number of Hindu astronomical works, in which there are eighteen siddhantas headed by the most well-known of them, Surya Siddhanta, a copy of the reprint of the Engoish translation of which I was able to lay my hands on at a bookshop of Hazratganj in Lucknow a few years ago. This just one volume reveals the extent to which the Hindu astronomers had perfected their knowledge of the motions of heavenly bodies, the differences in time between a solar day and a lunar "tithi", the relationship between the solar year and the lunar year, and how to reconcile these differences. The intricate mathematical calculations necessary for predicting the timings of the eclipses for example is simply mind-boggling.

Just to give one example (quoted from the Surya Sidhhanta mentioned earlier, p. 27) the comparative table of the "siderial" revolutions of the sun and the planets shows that in respect to the sun, the period of revolution according to the Surya Siddhanta was 365 days (d), six hours (h), 12 minutes (m) and 36.6 seconds (s).

According to the "Siddhanta Shiromani" it was 365 d, 6h, 12m and 9.0s. According to the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, it was 365d, 36h, 9m and 48.6 and the modern period is 365d, 6h, 9m and 10.8s. (Quoted from Surya Siddhanta, a textbook of Hindu astronomy; translated with notes and appendix by Rev. E. Burgess in 1860, reprinted Calcutta 1935 and again reprinted Delhi, 1989. The present volume is published by Motilal Banarasidass of Delhi).

While not expressing any doubts about the accuracy of the beginning of the Yugabda from the end of the Mahabharata war, from the day Kaliyuga began, this scribe has certain questions for Hindu calendar-makers or other astronomers and scholars that he has not been able to understand so far. (I am only an occasional star gazer, not even qualified to be called an amateur astronomer). First, we know from the Mahabharata that Bhishma Pitamaha decided, while lying on his sharashayya, that he would breathe his last only after the Uttarayan of the sun sets in meaning, the day after the sun begins his northern journey from the Tropic of Capricorn (Maker Vritta). Now this event takes place according to the modern Gregorian calendar on December 22 or 23, but according to the Hindu calendar on a day corresponding to January 14 of each year. This even is known as Makar Sankranti, or the day the sun enters the Maker Rashi (Capricornus). This means it is a winter phenomenon. How it is then that the Kaliyuga began on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, which occurs during the spring? Bhishma Pitamaha died after the war was over, not during the war that lasted only 18 days.

This can probably be explained by the astronomical phenomenon called "precession of the equinoxes" over the last several millenia, which, we learn from modern astronomy, is caused by what is called the wobbling of the earth just like that of a revolving top with which we had played during our school days. The phenomenon has changed the position of the fixed stars in the sky relative to our line of sight from the earth. It is claimed that about 27,000 years ago, it was the star Abhijit (Alpha Lyrae) that used to be the Pole star, that is the star just above the north pole instead of today's Dhurva Tara (Alpha Ursa Majoris).

This presumption of mine is corroborated somehwat by the sky map provided in the Surya Siddhanta volume, which shows that the celestial equator of 2350 BC had passed through other set of fixed stars on the heavens than done by the present-day celestial equator. This is an imaginary line cutting through the dome of the sky as it appears from the earth at night and is a projection of the terrestrial equator, also an imaginary line, extended to the said dome. The line is obtained by extending the plane of the terrestrial euqator to the dome. There is another imaginary line passing through the stars "fixed" on the dome—the ecliptic that plots the path of the sun through the fixed starts. These two imaginary lines intersect at two imaginary points that are called the Vernal Equinox corresponding to March 22/23, and the Autumnal Equinox corresponding to September 22/23. On both these dates, days and nights are of equal durations all over the world, and on that day, the sun shines just above the terrestrial equator. This probably explains the question raised earlier, but not completely.

Similarly for Baishakhi or Nabavarsha (Bengal) or Vishu (Kerala). This day, also called the Mahavishuva Sankranti, is now taken to occur on a day corresponding to the 13th/14th of April, postponed by a day in the leap years of the Gregorian calendar. In actual observation this Sankranti occurs on a day corresponding to March 22/23, the Vernal Equinox. In this writer's opinion, the New Year's Day in Assam, Orissa, Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Tamilnadu and our neighbouring country Nepal, should be celebrated on March 22/23, the day Mahavishva Sankranti occurs. Nothing of importance occurs in the heavens on April 13 or 14 or 15 to warrant new year celebration in these States and Nepal.

About Nepal, one might add here that this Hindu coutnry follows for all its official and non-official works only the Vikaram era. However, the calendar is solar in nature, and not lunar, hence the months have "dates" and no "tithis", although the names are the same in both these calendars. The New Year's Day in Nepal will come on April 13 and not on March 18. Another question in context of the 52nd Yugabda is its historicity and therefore of the Mahabharata and the Kurukshetra war too. Since archaeological excavations at the Purana Quila in Delhi during the early seventies did not take back the history of the site to beyond the Maurya era, there can be genuine misgivings about the historicity of the Mahabharata. Only scholars can explain this. However, one may add here that marine archaeology pioneered by the wellknown archaeologist S.R. Rao in the Dwarka area has conclusively proved the existence of a city there more than 3000 years ago which is now under the sea. If Lord Krishna's Dwarka did exist, it is reasonable to assume that the Mahabharata is also based on history and not fantasy. And if Mahabharat war is a historic event, the Yugabda too can be explained in terms of ancient history.

Incidentally, the official calendar of the country, adopted since 1956, is the Saka era and is solar in character. The year begins in this calendar on the Vernal Equinox day and is much more scientific than the Gregorian calendar. While expressing no bias at all against the Gregorian calendar, by which we are guided 24 hours of the day, this writer has one question to put to our political leaders. Why should the Prime Minister and the President, among others, celebrate January 1 as the New Year's Day and not Chaitra 1 of the official calendar? On March 23 this year the Saka era 1921 begins. It is also a New Year's Day for the Government. Would Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee greet President K.R. Narayanan with bouquests that day? After all the Saka era calendar does not belong to any community. It is the "official" calendar and to my mind the most scientific of all the calendar prevailing in the world today. January 1 is not an important day from the point of astronmy, while March 22/23 or Chaitra (solar) 1 is an important day astronomically. Let this Government start respecting it by celebrating the New Year's Day on Chaitra 1, 1922, if not on March 18.