The Telugu and Kannada calendars

What kind of calendar it is

Telugu and Kannada speakers, in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, use the same basic calendar. It is lunisolar and Amanta. Lunisolar means the months follow the Moon, while an extra month is added from time to time to keep the year in step with the seasons. Amanta means each month ends on the new moon (amavasya) and the next one begins with the bright fortnight.

The Telugu and Kannada versions share the same month names, the same era and the same New Year, Ugadi. The two languages simply pronounce and spell the names a little differently.

Era and year number

These almanacs count years in the Shaka era, also called the Shalivahana Shaka, which counts from 78 CE. The scholarly history of the era is debated, but the number is fixed: after Ugadi, the Shaka year is the Gregorian year minus 78. In the early months of the Gregorian year, before Ugadi arrives, it is the Gregorian year minus 79.

Each year also carries one of sixty names in a repeating cycle, called the Prabhavadi cycle because it begins with Prabhava. The new year name is announced in the almanac and mentioned at Ugadi. Some almanacs also print the Vikram Samvat year.

The year changes at Ugadi, on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, and not at the Gregorian January 1.

The twelve months

Spellings vary between almanacs and in English. You will also see Vaishakamu, Jyeshtamu and Karthika.

Each month has two fortnights, Shukla (bright) and Krishna (dark), with a tithi count of fifteen in each.

The New Year

Ugadi (Telugu) or Yugadi (Kannada) is the first day of Chaitra, on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. The word means the beginning (adi) of an age (yuga). The day is marked with an oil bath, mango-leaf garlands on the door, new clothes, a special dish with six tastes, and the hearing of the year's almanac. The Ugadi regional page describes these customs, and the main Ugadi page covers the festival that the Marathi world calls Gudi Padwa.

Festivals that differ from the North Indian calendar

Most festivals fall on the same lunar day as elsewhere, but the Amanta system shifts some of them by a month in name. The most obvious effect is on the dark fortnight. For example, Maha Shivaratri is the same night everywhere, but a Purnimanta almanac places it in Phalguna Krishna, while a Telugu or Kannada almanac places it in Magha Krishna, because the month in this system ends at the new moon.

Festivals with a strong regional character include:

• Sankranti in January, kept for several days in Andhra and Telangana (Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma) and as Makara Sankranti in Karnataka with the sharing of ellu-bella, a mix of sesame and jaggery.
• Bathukamma in Telangana, a festival of women who stack flowers into a decorated mound and sing around it during the Navaratri period.
• Bonalu in Telangana, when women offer pots of food to the Goddess in the month of Ashadha.
• Karthika masam, the month of lamps, kept with oil lamps and fasting on Mondays by many families.
• Mysuru Dasara in Karnataka, the grand ten-day festival of Navaratri.
• Vinayaka Chavithi and Gowri-Ganesha, the local forms of Ganesh Chaturthi.

How the day is reckoned

The day begins at sunrise. A tithi is assigned to the day on which it is present at sunrise, in most almanacs. Many Telugu and Kannada almanacs also give the Hindu day in two lines: the tithi and nakshatra, and then the festival note for the day. Where a tithi touches two sunrises, almanacs apply rules for particular festivals, and temples may choose differently. Follow your temple's panchangam or family priest.

How it differs from the site's main Panchang

The site's main pages use Vikram Samvat in the Chaitradi, Purnimanta style. Compared with that:

1. The months here end on the new moon (Amanta), while the main pages show Purnimanta, where the dark fortnight is counted with the following month. The site shows the Amanta name beside the main one, so you can check your own almanac.
2. The era is the Shaka era, 135 years behind Vikram Samvat in number. The year starts at the same time, on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada.
3. Within the bright fortnight, the dates are identical. The two systems only differ in how the dark fortnight is named.

Because the Chaitradi year begins at Chaitra Shukla Pratipada in both systems, Ugadi and the Vikram Samvat New Year in Chaitra fall together.