cjfuller calendrical system

THE CALENDRICAL SYSTEM IN TAMILNADU (SOUTH INDIA)

By C. J. Fuller

The ancient lunisolar calendar of the Hindus is still widely used in India, especially for ritual purposes. In most of India, months are lunar and the discrepancy between lunar and solar years (12 lunar months equal approxi

mately 354 days) is resolved by the periodic addition of an intercalary month into the year. However, in Tamilnadu, Kerala and eastern India (Bengal, Orissa and Assam), months are solar, but because the lunar calendar is also used, complications arise which are absent in areas employing only the lunar calendar. The aim of this paper is to describe the calendrical system currently in use in Tamilnadu and to explain the basic principles of the Tamil almanacs. While

conducting research in the Great Temple at Madurai, a &aivite temple dedicated to the goddess Mlnaksl and her husband Sundaresvara (a form of Siva),1 I found that a knowledge of the Tamil calendrical system was vital to an under standing of the temple's ritual cycle, and it seems clear that such a knowledge

would be equally vital for almost any research into temple or domestic ritual in Tamilnadu. This paper is partly intended to save other researchers the difficulties encountered by the author in his attempts to grasp the Tamil calendrical system and learn how to read the almanacs. However, I hope it will also prove useful to others requiring a basic understanding of the astronomical and calendrical

systems, which is, for example, often useful in the study of Hindu mythology and, of course, indispensable in the field of astrology

? a topic which I do not, however, discuss in detail here. I hope that the paper may be relevant too for research elsewhere in India, particularly Kerala and the eastern states.

Some of the information I provide is available in the outlines of classical Hindu astronomy and calendrical systems by Filliozat and Kane and the brief summary by Basham. Useful information is also to be found in the older, though rather inaccessible, works of Sewell and Dikshit, and Pillai. None of these sources, however, is sufficiently detailed to be directly useful to a researcher

requiring a practical understanding of the Tamil system.2 In the paper, terms are given in their Tamil forms, as it is necessary to know

these to consult the Tamil almanacs, although their Sanskrit equivalents are also supplied.3 The names of gods, however, are usually given in their more

readily recognisable Sanskrit forms. All Hindu astronomical and calendrical systems are based on a geocentric

universe. There are believed to be nine planets (navakkirakam; Skt. navagraha) orbiting the Earth, and the days of the week are named after the first seven of them

(see Table 1). These days are considered to be "ruled" by their respective planets.

THE CALENDRICAL SYSTEM IN TAMILNADU (SOUTH INDIA) 53

TABLE 1: THE PLANETS AND THE DAYS OF THE WEEK

Plane t Day of week *

1. Sun: curiyan,ravi (surya,ravi) Sunday: nayiru (ravi) 2. Moon: cantiran (candra, soma) Monday: titikal (soma) 3. Mars: cevvay, kujan (marigala) Tuesday: cevvay (mangala) 4. Mercury: putan (budha) Wednesday: putan (budha) 5. Jupiter: viyajan, kuru (guru, brhaspati) Thursday: viyalan (brhaspati) 6. Venus: velli, cukkiran (sukra) Friday: velli (sukra) 7. Saturn: cani (sani) Saturday: card (sani) 8. rahu (rahu) 9. ketu (ketu)

Sanskrit names are in parentheses; most of the planets and days have alternative names not included in the Table. *A suffix meaning 'day'

- kijamai (Tarn.), vara

(Skt.) - is added to the names in this column (according to the rules of consonantal

combination).

Rahu and ketu, equivalent to the ascending and descending nodes of the Moon respectively, are mythical planets believed to cause eclipses by "swallowing" the Sun and the Moon as they move around the Earth in the opposite direction to the other planets (some of which, however, have occasional brief retro

gressions). All the planets are regarded as divine and in all large Tamil temples there is a shrine containing their images. They are worshipped by individuals

mainly to propitiate them, especially the malevolent Saturn. The ecliptical zone, through which the planets appear to move around the

Earth, is segmented in two different ways. The first of these is the segmentation into twelve rdcis3 (Skt. rasi, "house"), by reference to the zodiacal constellations

similarly employed in Western astronomy. The second is the segmentation into twenty-seven naksattirams (Skt.naksatra, "star" or "lunar asterism"), by reference

to a separate set of constellations which are also referred to as naksattirams*

like the planets, the naksattirams are also regarded as divine ? the wives of the Moon.

The Tamil solar month begins when the Sun moves from one rdci to another

(a passage termed cahkiranti; Skt. sahkranti). If this passage occurs before sunset, then the day of its occurrence is the first day of the month; if after sunset, the following day is the first of the month. In Table 2, the names of the rdcis and their equivalent Tamil months are given. (The meanings of the Latin zodiacal names and the rdcis are almost identical, except that makaram ? cf. Capricorn - is a mythical fish.) It should be noted, however, that Indian astronomers have not accounted for the equinoctial precession in the same

way as Western astronomers, and the Sun moves into a particular rdci in the Indian (sidereal) system approximately three weeks after it moves into the same

house in the Western (tropical) system.5 Tamil months last from 29 to 32 days and the same month may differ in length in different years.

54 THE CALENDRICAL SYSTEM IN TAMILNADU (SOUTH INDIA)

TABLE 2: THE RACIS AND THE TAMIL MONTHS

Raci Month

1. Aries: mesam (mesa) April-May: cittirai 2. Taurus: risapam (vrsabha) May-June: vaikdci 3. Gemini: mitunam (mithuna) June-July: ani 4. Cancer: karkkatakarh (karka) July-August: ati 5. Leo: simham (sirnha) August-September: avani 6. Virgo: kanni (kanya) September-October: purattaci 1. Libra: tuldm (tula) October-November: aippaci 8. Scorpio: viruccikam (vrscika) November-December: karttikai 9. Sagittarius: tanucu (dhanus) December-January: mdrkali

10. Capricorn: makaram (makara) January-February: tai 11. Aquarius: kumpam (kumbhd) February-March: mdci 12. Pisces: minam (mind) March-April: pahkuni

Sanskrit names of racis in parentheses.

TABLE 3: THE NAKSATTIRAMS

1. acuvani (asvinl) 2. parani (bharani) 3. kdrttikai (krttika) 4. rohini (rohini) 5. mirukacirusam (mrgasiras) 6. tiruvatirai, aruttirai (ardra) 1. punarpucam (punarvasu) 8. pucam (pusya) 9. dyilyam (dslesa)

10. makam (magha) 11. puram (purva-phalguhi) 12. uttiram (uttara-phalgunl) 13. hastam (hasta)

14. cittirai (citra) 15. cuvati (svati) 16. vicakam (visakha) 17. anusam (anuradha) 18. kettai (jyestha) 19. mulam (muld) 20. puratam (purvasddha) 21. uttiratam (uttardsddhd) 22. tiruvonam (sravand) 23. avittam (dhanistha) 24. catayam (satabhisaf) 25. purattati (piirva-bhadrapadd) 26. uttirattati (uttara-bhadrapadd) 27. revflri (revati)

Sanskrit names in parentheses; some of the naksattirams have alternative names not included in the Table.

Although the rdcis are the most important segments of the Sun's orbit, the naksattirams are the crucial segments of the Moon's orbit. The Moon remains within each naksattiram for approximately one day.6 The 27 naksattirams are

given in order in Table 3. The two systems of segmenting the ecliptical zone are congruent, each raci

being equivalent to 2\ naksattirams or 9 pdtams (Skt. pdda), as one pdtam equals one quarter of the span of a naksattiram. Thus mesam raci corresponds to the naksattirams acuvani, parani and the first pdtam of kdrttikai,risapam to the last three pdtams of karttikai, rohini and the first two pdtams of mirukacirusam, etc.

The synodical revolution of the Moon around the Earth (from Full-moon to Full-moon or New-moon to New-moon) defines the lunar month. Although the

THE CALENDRICAL SYSTEM IN TAMILNADU (SOUTH INDIA) 5 5

Tamil calendar is not based on lunar months, many festivals are nonetheless fixed by these months and their units, the titis (Skt. tithi, "lunar day"). The lunar months in South and Central India end on New-moon day (amdnta system), whereas in North India they end on Full-moon day (pitrnimanta system).7 The names of the lunar months (Skt. names in parentheses) are: 1. caittiram (caitra), 2.vaicakam (va&dkha), Z.jesta (jyaistha), A.dsdtam (dsddhd), 5.cirdvanam

(iravana), 6.pattirapatam (bhddrapada), l.dcuvTjam (dsvina), S.kdrttikam

(karttika), 9. mdrkkaciram (margasTrsa), 10. pusyam (pausa), 11. mdkam (mdgha) and 12. pdlkunam (phdlguna). Within the year, they approximately correspond to the solar months cittirai to pahkuni.

Each month is made up of the "bright" fortnight, cukkilapaksam (Skt. suklapaksa), which ends at Full-moon and the "dark" fortnight, kirusnapaksam (Skt. krsnapaksa), which ends at New-moon. Each fortnight is divided into 15 titis. The names of the first fourteen titis are forms of the Sanskrit words for "first", "second", etc.; Table 4 gives their names.

TABLE 4: THE 77775

1. piratamai (pratipad) 2. tuvitiyai (dvitiya) 3. tiritiyai (trtiya) 4. caturtti (caturthi) 5. pancami (pancami) 6. sasti (sasthi) 7. captami (saptami) 8. astami (astami)

9. navami (navami) 10. tacami (dasami) 11. ekataci (ekddasi) 12. tuvataci (dvadasl) 13. tiriyotaci (trayodasi) 14. caturttaci (caturdasi) 15. paurnami (purnimd)

- Full-moon amdvacai (amdvasya)

- New-moon

Sanskrit names in parentheses; some of the titis have alternative names not included in the Table.

Two other units in the calendrical system are the yokam (Skt. yoga) and the karanam (Skt. karana). There are 27 yokams corresponding to the 27

naksattirams. The yokam is defined as the time during which the sum of the

angular movements of the Sun and the Moon is equal to the angle subtended by the "arc" of a naksattiram; it is thus an arithmetical, rather than an astronomical,

concept. There are 11 karanams, four "fixed" and seven "moveable". Each titi is divided into two karanams and thus a lunar month equals 60 karanams; the four "fixed" ones plus eight cycles of the seven "moveable" ones. I found neither of these units to be of great importance in my research and further details of them are placed in a footnote.8

In the almanacs, times are recorded in traditional Hindu units, which I must now outline. The day begins at sunrise and is divided into 60 ndlikai (Skt. nalika, nddikd, ghatt), themselves divided into 60 vindti (Skt. vinadT, paid). Thus 1 ndlikai = 24 minutes and 1 vindti = 24 seconds. Times recorded in the almanacs

may be translated into standard time by converting the ndlikai and vindti into


hours, minutes and seconds and adding them to the time of sunrise. (A brief table of sunrise, midday and sunset in Indian Standard Time, i.e. 5^ hours ahead of G.M.T., is provided in the almanacs.) Unlike the Tamil almanacs, however, the Rashtriya Panchang records times in Indian Standard Time. The period of daylight (ahacu; Skt. ahas), i.e. sunrise to sunset, is also given for each day.

The almanacs, known in Tamil as pancdhkam (Skt. pancdhga), derive their name from the "five items" which are recorded for each day. In order, these are the day of the week (tinam or ndl; Skt. vara), the titi, the naksattiram, the

yokam and the karanam. The basic information in the almanacs is also printed on the Tamil wall calendars, and both of them emply a host of often inconsistent abbreviations.9

The almanacs contain one page for each month, and these twelve pages contain most of the information to be discussed below. On the monthly pages, there is one entry for each day which records the day of the week, followed by the titi, naksattiram, yokam and karanam current at sunrise on that day, together with the times at which these phenomena end on that day. These data are crucial for the fixing of festivals, as I explain briefly below.10

On each monthly page is printed a cakkiram (Skt. cakra) on which is indi cated the position of the planets in the rdcis during the month. These cakkirams are drawn as squares, as in Diagram 1 which shows the rdcis in their invariable

positions. In Diagram 2,1 show the cakkiram in a circular form with the Earth at the centre ?

perhaps a more logical design to the Western eye. Each rdci, it will be seen, subtends an angle of 30? and each naksattiram an angle of 13^?.

Diagram 3 reproduces the cakkiram for the month of cittirai in 1977. The Sun, obviously, is in mesam in cittirai, while the Moon is omitted because it will describe the entire orbit within the month. At the beginning of the month, the other seven planets were distributed between the rdcis as shown. In the centre of the cakkiram are given the dates on which these seven planets move from one rdci to another, although in any one month most of them will remain

within the same rdci. At the foot of each monthly page are printed tables

showing the exact dates and times at which all the planets (except the Moon) move from one pdtam to another during the month; they thus supply more detailed information than that in the cakkiram. The position of the planets in the rdcis is important in connection with determining auspicious times within the day (see below) and with predicting the fate of individuals from their

personal horoscopes. The majority of festivals in Tamilnadu are fixed by the days on which par

ticular titis or naksattirams are current, although a small number are fixed by the day of the week or date in the month. Most temple festivals, which are

fixed by the temple's own tradition, and all purely Tamil festivals, whether in temples or homes, are fixed with reference to Tamil solar months. However,


/A mesam nsapam /X minam mesam nsapam mitunam / \ / \

_/ mTnam \ / mitunam \

kark- I ^n. \ / ^s^ \ kumpam katakam / , \. \ / ^ \ I kumpam ^s. \ / ^s^ karkkatakam '

. , makaram ^^ / \\. simham , makaram simham \

^^ / \ ^. /

X tanacu / \ kanni jf viruc- , \ / \ / tanacu cikam m --' X / \ / n. / tulam \ >/ \/ viruccikam \s

Diagram 1: The racis in the cakkiram Diagram 2: The racis in the cakkiram (as in pancdnkam) (in circular form)

non-Tamil festivals, including all-India festivals such asNavardtri orMahdsivardtri, are fixed by the lunar calendar, as they are throughout India. The Tamils them selves are mostly unaware that these latter festivals are fixed by lunar months.

They explain their fixing with reference to their own months; for example, most Tamils state that Mahdsivardtri falls on caturttaci titi preceding New-moon day in mdci, whereas it correctly falls on caturttaci titi in the "dark" fortnight of the lunar month of mdka, in the amdnta system. In most years, the two formulae

will give the same date, but occasionally the Tamil formula will supply the wrong date.11

In the case of festivals fixed by the titi, determination of the correct day is not always simple. For many festivals, the correct day is the day on which the appropriate titi is current at the prescribed time for the ritual. For example,

Krsna's birthday should be celebrated at midnight; hence the correct day in the "dark" fortnight of the lunar month of cirdvana is the one on which astami titi is current at midnight. However, unlike the &aivites and the Vaikhanasa sect of

Vaisnavites, the Pancaratra sect of Vaisnavites, according to my information,

always determine the correct day by the titi current at sunrise. Hence Krsna's

birthday, for example, is frequently celebrated by the Vaikhanasas one day before the Pancaratras. This occurred in 1977; the relevant astami titi began during the morning of 20th dvani and ended during the morning of 21st dvani. The Vaikhanasas thus celebrated the birthday on the 20th and the Pancaratras on the 21st.

For rituals for which there is no prescribed time, the correct day is the day on which the correct titi is current at a specified time during the afternoon; this titi is separately indicated in the almanacs. They also record days on which two


titis are current (titituvayam; Skt. tithidvaya) and also the various titis which are inauspicious.12

Determining the correct day for a festival fixed by the naksattiram rarely causes any problem, for this is always the one on which the relevant naksattiram is current at sunrise. From time to time, two naksattirams may end within one

day, in which case the names of both and their ending times are given; some times one naksattiram is current throughout a whole day, in which case its name is followed by "60", i.e. 60 nalikai equal to one day.

The naksattiram which determines the timing of many of the most important festivals, especially in the temples, is the one which, in any particular month, falls on or near to Full-moon day. To elucidate this further, we must consider

briefly the relation between the rdci, titi and naksattiram. At the conjunction of the Sun and Moon at Full-moon, the two bodies must be in rdcis diametrically opposite to each other, as shown in Diagram 4. For example, in the month of cittirai the Sun is in mesam rdci and thus at Full-moon, the Moon must be in tuldm rdci, which is equivalent to the naksattirams cittirai (last two pdtams), cuvdti and vicdkam (first three pdtams). By tradition, however, one of the

possible naksattirams which may coincide with Full-moon (paurnami titi) is

specified as the significant one. Eight are specially significant: cittirai naksattiram in the month of cittirai, vicdkam in vaikdci, avittam in dvani, karttikai in kdrttikai, tiruvdtirai in mdrkali, pucam in tai, makam in maci and uttiram in

pahkuni. All of these eight are important festival days for some or all Tamil Hindus. The naksattirams coinciding with Full-moon in the other four months are not so important, and there is confusion about their identity. My information,

which might be correct, is that they are mulam in ani, tiruvonam in dti, purattdti in purattdci and acuvani in aippaci.13

I-.-1-.-, SU*S#^---^

Venus Sun Jupiter S\. me?am >. ketu Mercury / \ j^.-^^ \

Mars Saturn / / V \ \ - - \ EARTH

rahu \ \ \\ / /

\ \^^ VMOON /

\ tuldm Jy

Diagram 3: The cakkiram for month of Diagram 4: Conjunction of Sun and Moon cittirai (1977) at Full-moon (in cittirai)


In each solar year, there are normally thirteen Full-moons and twelve New moons, or vice versa. If two Full-moons fall within one Tamil month, then a decision must be made about which is the more auspicious for holding a ritual fixed by the Full-moon or its corresponding naksattiram. A similar decision has to be taken about any other ritual for which there are two possible dates. In Vaisnavite temples, the rule is normally that the second of two possible dates is to be chosen, whereas in Saivite temples the astrologers decide which is the

more auspicious by considering other astrological factors present on the two

days. The almanac daily entry also indicates the yokams for the day in a second

sense of this word. This yokam is defined by the combination of the day of the week and the naksattiram; there are three such yokams: amirtam (Skt. amrta), cittam (Skt. siddha) and maranam (Skt. marana). If, for example, acuvani naksattiram falls on a Sunday, it is cittam; on a Wednesday maranam; on a

Thursday amirtam. Amirtam and cittam are auspicious, but maranam is in

auspicious and a venture begun while it is current may be expected to fail. Also indicated is the tiyajiyam (Skt. tydjya), a fixed part of the period of a naksattiram which is inauspicious. Separate tables give the times of the rdhu kdlams (Skt. kdla) and the ema kantam (Skt. yama ghanta)

? periods deemed

inauspicious by their associations with the planet rdhu and the "god of death", Yama. On each day, there are two rdhu kdlams (one in the daytime and one at

night) and one ema kantam; the three periods always occur at the same time on the same day of the week, and each lasts l-? hours. No important ritual will

begin during the highly inauspicious rdhu kdlams and very important rituals will also avoid the ema kantam. Other days deemed inauspicious for one reason or another are also indicated in the daily entry. So too are most of the important domestic festivals to be celebrated throughout the year.

The final major item in the daily entry that I must discuss is the data on the lakkinam (Skt. lagna). During each solar day, all the planets appear to complete one ecliptical revolution; this is, of course, the geocentric conception of the effect caused by the Earth's daily revolution on its axis. The Sun's daily revolu tion defines the units of time known as lakkinams, of which there are twelve corresponding to the racis and known by the same names. The Sun rises in the lakkinam corresponding to the raci it occupies during that month; i.e. it is the constellation of this raci which appears to lie on the eastern horizon at sunrise. After rising, the Sun then moves through the other eleven lakkinams in order and re-enters the original lakkinam shortly before sunrise on the next day. At the beginning of the month, the Sun rises at or very close to the start of the lakkinam corresponding to the raci of the month, and thus moves through all or almost all of this lakkinam after sunrise. The proportion of this lakkinam

through which the Sun moves after rising decreases daily, until on the last day of the month, it rises at or very close to the end of this lakkinam, moving almost


immediately into the lakkinam corresponding to the rdci of the subsequent month. In each daily entry is indicated the length of time from sunrise during which the Sun is moving through the lakkinam corresponding to the rdci of the month.

The twelve lakkinams are of unequal length, ranging from approximately 4\ndlikai (lhr42mins) to S\ndlikai (2hrl2mins). The exact duration of each lakkinam varies from place to place; the almanac I have used gives the data for Ramesvaram, the holy city on the south coast of Tamilnadu.14

Certain rituals should take place during an auspicious lakkinam on an

auspicious day: for example, tying the tali at a wedding. (The tali is an emblem tied around the bride's neck by the groom; tying it is the crucial rite in the Tamil wedding.) The day having been chosen, the auspicious lakkinams are determined by reference to the cakkiram of the month; this is done by elimi

nating all inauspicious lakkinams according to a set of rules, which define the

auspicious or inauspicious effects of all the planets on the various lakkinams.

Having determined the most auspicious lakkinam, the time at which the ritual should take place can be calculated, given that it is known how long the Sun remains in its original lakkinam after sunrise and the lengths of all the lakkinams.

I have now considered all the most important data contained in the monthly pages of the almanacs, but will briefly review the other information in them which I also found useful.15 The Tamil New Year begins on 1st cittirai. In different regions of India, the New Year begins on different dates, which are

given in the Rashtriya Panchang. The Tamils do not number their years in an

era, but continue ? at least for religious purposes ? to name them by the

sixty named years forming the "cycle of years of Jupiter" (Skt. brhaspati samvatsara cakra; Tarn, perdntu). In the South Indian system, 1977?8 was

pihkala (Skt. pihgala), the 51st year in the cycle.16 The Tamil almanacs, however, record the year in the other main eras used in India as well. They also

state, at the head of each monthly page, whether the month is in the uttarayanam (Skt. uttardyana)

? the more auspicious six months beginning on 1st tai ? or in the taksindyanam (Skt. daksindyana)

? the more inauspicious six months

beginning on 1st dti. The two periods are regarded as starting on the winter and summer solstices respectively, but owing to the equinoctial precession (see above), the tropical solstices now occur approximately three weeks before the dates 1st tai and 1st dti. Also indicated are the two-monthly seasons (rutu; Skt.

rtu); from the start of the Tamil year, these are (Sanskrit names in parentheses): l.vasantam (vasanta), 2. kirismam (grisma), 3. varusam (varsa), 4. carat (sarad), S.hemantam (hemanta) and 6.ciciram (sisira). Elsewhere in the almanacs are

given details of eclipses which will occur during the year, abbreviated ritual calendars of the major temples in Tamilnadu, lists of auspicious days on which domestic rituals (such as marriages) should be held, an explanation of how to

compare the horoscopes of possible marriage partners,17 and a host of other

astrological and predictive information which need not be discussed here.


The Government of India's Rashtriya Panchang is not arranged like the Tamil almanacs. It contains an entry for each day and, because it eschews the endless abbreviations used in the Tamil almanacs and gives times in Indian Standard Time, is much easier to consult. This almanac also contains an introduction

explaining its arrangement and it omits any references to horoscopes and predic tion. However, although it does list festivals celebrated throughout India, which is useful for comparative purposes, it does not mention many of the lesser festivals which are nonetheless important to Hindus in Tamilnadu. As a guide to ritual activity in Tamilnadu, therefore, the Rashtriya Panchang is no substitute for the local Tamil almanacs. I should imagine that this is likely to be true for research work in any other local area as well.

In the pages above, I have mainly concentrated on the technical aspects of the Tamil calendrical system. However, the reason why the system is so important in the ritual context is, of course, precisely because the Hindus do not regard it

purely technically. In this paper, I cannot discuss this question in detail. Briefly, however, it is the case that all units of time may themselves be regarded as

divine, but in general it is the various ritual attributes and connotations of units of time and astronomical phenomena which are most significant. Many of these units and phenomena are, in one context or another, specially associated with different deities and hence with rituals of worship for these deities. Some information about inauspicious periods of time has been given above, but I

must emphasise that the problem is not simply one of times at which events should be held. The ritual cycle embodies the much more complex and subtle idea that inauspiciousness is linked not only to the forces of malevolence and danger, but also to the forces of creation and fertility, which are particularly

manifested in the goddesses. For example, it is in the most inauspicious months during the inauspicious half of the year (taksindyanam) that in the temples and homes of Madurai, the most important rituals for the goddesses and fertility are celebrated. Any analysis of the ritual cycle in Tamilnadu must go far beyond the rather narrow focus I have adopted in this paper, but it cannot even be begun satisfactorily unless it rests on an adequate understanding of the basic calendrical system on which this cycle depends.18

NOTES 1 Research in Madurai was carried out in 1976-7 for a period of 12 months, and was

financed by a research grant from the Social Science Research Council, whom I would like to thank. I also thank Ms Penny Logan for supplying most of my data on domestic ritual and for her comments on this paper. 2 Filliozat in L. Renou and J. Filliozat, L'Inde classique, vol. 2, Hanoi, 1953, 720-38; P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, V, Part 1, Poona 1962, section 2; A. L. Basham, The wonder that was India, third edition, London, 1971, 491-7; R. Sewell and S. B. Dikshit, The Indian calendar, London, 1896; L. D. Swamikannu Pillai, Indian chronology, Madras, 1911 and Panchang and horoscope, Madras, 1925. Pillai is particularly useful on


the Tamil system, which is summarised (using Tamil terms only) by A. H. Arden, A progressive grammar of the Tamil language, fifth edition, Madras, 1969, 316-9. C. G. Diehl discusses the almanacs but does not explain clearly how to consult them in Instrument and purpose; studies on rites and rituals in South India, Lund, 1956, 200-11. Two anthropologists have discussed the calendrical system of a North Indian

village: R. S. and S. A. Freed, "Calendars, ceremonies and festivals in a North Indian village: necessary calendrical information for fieldwork", Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, XX, 1964,67-90. 3

Nearly all these terms are Sanskrit words, but Tamil orthography makes them hard to recognise. To reduce this difficulty as far as possible, I have sometimes deviated from "strict" Tamil spelling and employed the grantha letters often used in modern Tamil; e.g. rdci for irdci, naksattiram for natcattiram.

4 The Western astronomical names of these constellations are in Renou and Filliozat, op. cit., 729-30 and Basham, op. cit., 492.

5 For detailed discussion of this problem, see Sewell and Dikshit, op. cit. and R. Sewell, Indian chronology, London, 1912.

6 The sidereal lunar month slightly exceeds 27 days and a twenty-eighth intercalary naksattiram has been used by the astronomers to correct the error (see Renou and Filliozat, op. cit., 185, 721 and Basham, op. cit., 492). However, modern practical astronomy does not use this extra naksattiram, named Skt. abhijit. 7 See Renou and Filliozat, op. cit., 722; Basham, op. cit., 494; Government of India

Rashtriya Panchang, the official government almanac published annually in English and all the major Indian languages. 8 In order, the 27 yokams corresponding to the naksattirams are (Sanskrit names in parentheses): l.viskampam (viskambha), l.piriti (prlti), 3.dyusmdn (dyusmant),

4.saupakyam (saubhdgya), S.copanam (sobhana), 6.atikantam (atiganda), l.cukarumam

(sukarman), S.tiruti (dhrti), 9.culam (sula), 10. kantam (ganda), 11. virutti (vrddhi), 12. turuvam (dhruva), 13. viydkdtam (vydghdta), 14.harsanam (harsana), 15. vajram (vajra), 16. citti (siddhi), 17. viyati (vyatipdta), 18. variydn (variyas), 19. parlkam (parigha), 20. civam (siva), 21. cittam (siddha), 22. cdttiyam (sddhya), 23. cupam (subha), 24. cuppiram (sukla), 25. piramyam (brahman), 26. mahentiram (indra), ll.vaitiruti (vaidhrti). The 11 karanams are (Sanskrit names in parentheses): 1. kimstukkinam (kimstughna), l.pavam (bava), 3. pdlavam (bdlava), 4. kaulavam (kaulava), 5. taitulam (taitila), 6. karacai (gara), 7. vanacai (vanij), 8. pattirai (visti), 9. cakuni (sakuni), 10. catuspdtam (catuspada), 11. ndkavam (ndga). The 60 karanams of the lunar month ending on New-moon day start

with kimstukkinam, followed by eight cycles of the seven pavam to pattirai, and closing with the last three karanams. The almanac daily entry normally records only the karanam current at sunrise (with its ending time) and not the subsequent one, which will also end

within the same day. I understand that only the highly inauspicious pattirai (visti) is of much significance. Many explanations of the karanams are incomprehensible; I have relied on Renou and Filliozat, op. cit., 722, 734.

9 The Tamil almanacs I have used are the Vdkkiya Pancdhkams by K. Muttukkirus

nayyankar, published in Madurai, for the years 1976-7, 1977-8 and 1978-9. Other almanacs contain almost exactly the same information. Sewell and Dikshit, op. cit., 14-15, reproduce a (translated) page from a Bombay almanac, which closely resembles a modern

Tamil one. 10 Each day's equivalent date in the Gregorian (Western Christian), Indian National and

Muslim calendars is also given. The Gregorian calendar is generally used in daily life in

Tamilnadu; The Tamils call it the "English" (inkiUs) calendar. The Indian National calendar

(Saka era), introduced by the Government of India in 1957, is only used by government offices in Tamilnadu. The Rashtriya Panchang is based on this latter calendar. Hindus, of

course, never use the Muslim calendar. 11 See H. Brunner-Lachaux, Somasambhupaddhati, pt. 2, Pondicherry, 1968, 6, 8, on

confusions caused by reading lunar dates as solar dates in the ancient ritual texts known as

the Agamas. These confusions also occur in some of the books published in Tamil explain ing how to conduct the rituals at domestic festivals.

THE CALENDRICAL SYSTEM IN TAMILNADU (SOUTH INDIA) 63 12 For further details of the complexities of tins, see Sewell and Dikshit, op. cit., 17-18

and Pillai, Ind. chron., 46. If the same titi of the same fortnight occurs twice within one solar month, it is a cunniya (Skt. sunya) titi on its first occurrence, and it is inauspicious, as is a day on which two iitis end or no titi ends. Various other titis, on which Vedic study is

prescribed (see P. V. Kane, History of Dharma'sastra, II, Poona, 1941, 395-6) and which are inauspicious, are marked in the almanacs as well.

13 The lunar months are named from the naksattirams traditionally linked to their

Full-moons, but some of these naksattirams differ from those specified in the Tamil tradition. Some Tamil solar months have names similar to their approximate lunar equivalents. It may also be noted here that 13 sidereal lunar months (i.e. cycles of naksattirams) last almost the same time as 12 synodical lunar months (i.e. cycles of titis). 14 The Rashtriya Panchang gives these data for the Central Station of India, where local

mean time is Indian Standard Time; a table of correction times for all major centres in India is provided. 15 Some of this information, including the predictive data, is discussed by Diehl, op. cit., 200-11.

16 The Tamil names of these 60 years are printed in some almanacs; they are also in

Arden, op. cit., 318. The Sanskrit names are in Renou and Filliozat, op. cit., 735-6. For a Tamil man whose wife is alive, the 60th birthday is specially important, for then he has lived through the entire cycle and also half-way through the cumulative cycle of all the

planets, believed to total 120 years and to be the allotted span of life. On the 60th birthday, the ritual includes the invocation in pots of water of all the years

- regarded as divine like

all units of time may be. The years are then worshipped in the water before it is used to bathe the celebrant and his wife.

17 The list of auspicious days is headed cupa muhurtta tinahkal - "days with good

(auspicious) periods". To the best of my knowledge, the auspicious days are determined

simply by eliminating all inauspicious periods. I lack complete data on these periods; in

Madurai, the more important ones are: ati, purattaci, mdrkali and (for Non-Brahmans

only) maci; Tuesday and Saturday; piratamai, astami, navami, amavacai and (for Non Brahmans only) paurnami titis; parani, kdrttikai, ayilyam and kettai naksattirams. Some of the other inauspicious periods have been referred to above.

18 Modern discussions of the Tamil ritual cycle are contained in B. E. F. Beck, Peasant

society in Konku, Vancouver, 1972, 52-6, 282-3; F. W. Clothey, The many faces of Murukan: the history and meaning of a South Indian god, The Hague, 1978, 131-48; Diehl, op. cit., 158-97 and passim; L. Dumont, Une sous-caste de VInde du sud, Paris, 1957, 372?403. But none of them deals with the problem comprehensively. There are several older ethnographic sources but few of them contain much worthwhile discussion.

Many features of the Tamil cycle are, of course, also features of ritual cycles in other parts of India ? a fact which considerably complicates analysis, but which I cannot discuss here. Some aspects of the cycle in the Madurai temple are discussed in my forthcoming paper, "The Divine Couple's relationship in a South Indian temple: Minaksi and Sundaresvara at Madurai", History of Religions, XIX, May 1980.

cjfuller calendrical system

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