Bhaskarabda: A Luni-Solar Calendar

• 20 Oct 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Assam Government has announced that Bhaskarabda, a Luni-Solar Calendar will be used as an official calendar.

• Presently, the official calendar of Assam government makes use of the Saka calendar and the Gregorian calendar.
• However, the Bhaskarabda calendar will also be used from now onwards.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • Bhaskarabda, an era counted from the date of the ascension of a 7^th-century local ruler Bhaskar Varman.
  • It is based on both the phases of the moon and the solar year.
  • It began when Bhaskaravarman was crowned ruler of the Kamrupa kingdom.
    
    • He was a contemporary and political ally of northern Indian ruler Harshavardhana.
  • The gap between Bhaskarabda and Gregorian is 593 years.
• Type of Calendars:
  
  • Solar:
    
    • Any dating system based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun.
  • Lunar:
    
    • Any dating system based on a year consisting of synodic months—i.e., complete cycles of phases of the Moon.
  • Luni-Solar:
    
    • In the lunisolar calendar months are lunar but years are solar, it was used in the early civilizations of the whole Middle East and in Greece.
• Bhaskarvarman (600–650):
  
  • He belonged to the Varman dynasty and was the ruler of Kamarupa Kingdom.
    
    • Kamarupa was one of the most advanced kingdoms in India under Bhaskaravarman. Kamarupa was the first historical kingdom of Assam.
  • His name has been immortalised in the accounts of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Xuanzang, who visited Kamarupa during his reign.
  • He is known for his alliance with Harshavardhana against Shashanka, the first major ruler of Bengal (Karnasuvarna).

Classification of calendars in India
Vikram Samvat  (Hindu lunar calendar)	It dates back to 57 B.C where 57 B.C. is the zero year. Introduced by King Vikramaditya to mark his victory over the Saka rulers. It is a lunar calendar as it is based on the movement of the moon. Every year is divided into 12 months and each month is divided into two phases. The bright half is called the Shuklapaksha (15 days). It starts with the new moon and ends with a full moon. The dark half is called the Krishnapaksha (15 days). It starts with the full moon and ends with a new moon. The month begins with the dark half. There are 354 days in a year. Hence every third and fifth year in a cycle of five years has 13 months (the 13th month is called Adhik Mass).
Saka Samvat (Hindu Solar calendar)	The zero year of Saka Samvat is 78 A.D. It was started by Saka rulers to mark their victory over Kushanas. It is a solar calendar, any dating system based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun. It was adopted by the Government of India as the official calendar in the year 1957. Every year has 365 days.
Hijri calendar (Islamic lunar calendar)	The zero year is 622 A.D. It was initially started and followed in Saudi Arabia. Every year has 12 months and 354 days. The first month is called Muharram. Ninth month is called Ramzaan. During this month, Muslims observe a fast for the purification of souls. The morning breakfast is called Shehri and evening food is called Iftar.
Gregorian calendar (Scientific solar calendar)	The Gregorian calendar is used as the civil calendar. It began to be used from 1582. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced the calendar. It substituted the earlier Julian calendar because the Julian calendar had a miscalculation regarding leap year. The Julian year had 365.25 days.

Source: TH