Bengali Calendar

The Bengali calendar (Bônggabdo or Bangla Shôn) or Bangla calendar is a traditional solar calendar used in Bangladesh and India's eastern states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura.

The year begins on Pôhela Baishakh, which falls on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in India. In Assam, this corresponds to Bhaskar Era, named after the Kamarupa king, Bhaskara Varman.


The current Bengali year is 1416.


The Bengali year is always 593 less than the year in the Gregorian calendar of the Christian Era or Anno Domini era or Common Era or Current Era for the period after Pôhela Boishakh. However, the Bengali year is 594 less than the Gregorian year if it is before Pôhela Boishakh. King Shashanka of Ancient Bengal, who ruled approximately between 590 AD and 625 AD, is credited with starting the Bengali era.


Shashanka was the sovereign king of Bengal at the start of seventh century. Much of today’s Indian states of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa was under his kingdom. The starting point of the Bengali era is estimated to be on Monday, 12 April 594 in Julian Calendar and Monday, 14 April 594 in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. The Bengali calendar is derived from the Hindu solar calendar, which is itself based on the Surya Siddhanta.
Mughal Emperor Akbar, who ruled from 1556 AD until 1605 AD, and one of his councillor Fatehullah Shirazi are credited with modifying the new Bengali calendar for tax collection purposes. Before the introduction of the Bengali calendar, during Muslim rule in India agricultural and land taxes were collected according to the Islamic Hijri calendar. However, as the Hijri Calendar is a lunar calendar, the agricultural year did not always coincide with the fiscal year. Therefore, farmers were hard-pressed to pay taxes out of season. In order to streamline tax collection, Emperor Akbar ordered a reform of the calendar. Accordingly, Amir Fatehullah Shirazi, a renowned scholar of the time and the royal astronomer, formulated a new calendar based on the lunar Hijri and solar Hindu calendars. The resulting Bangla calendar was introduced following the harvesting season when the peasantry would be in a relatively sound financial position. In keeping with the harvesting season, this new calendar initially came to be known as the Harvest Calendar, or Fôsholi Shôn. During the reign of the Mughals, the Bengali Calendar was officially implemented throughout the empire. The name of the months continued to be in Sanskrit. Akbar did not start the Bengali calendar with a value 0, but instead jump-started it with the then existing hijri-calendar value.



Seasons
The Bengali calendar consists of 6 seasons, with two months comprising each season.
Beginning from Pohela Boisakh, they are:

• Grishsho or Summer;
• Bôrsha or Rainy/Monsoon season;
• Shôrot or Autumn;
• Hemonto or the Dry season;
• Šit or Winter;
• and Bôshonto or Spring.
  

Months
The names of the twelve months of the Bengali calendar are based on the names of the nokkhotro (lunar mansions): locations of the moon with respect to particular stars during the lunar cycle.

These names were derived from the Surya Siddhanta, an ancient Indian book on Astronomy. The names of the months are:

• Boishakh after the star Bishakha (Librae)
• Joishţho after the star Jeshţha (Scorpius)
• Ashaŗh after the star Uttorashaŗha (Sagittarii)
• Srabon after the star Srobona (Aquilae)
• Bhadro after the star Purbobhadropôd (Pegasus and Andromeda)
• Ashshin after the star Ôshshini (Arietis)
• Kartik after the star Krittika (Pleiades)
• Ôgrohaeon after the star Mrigoshira
• Poush after the star Pushsha (Cancer)
• Magh after the star Môgha (Regulus)
• Falgun after the star Uttorfalguni (Leonis and Denebola)
• Choitro after the star Chitra (Spica)
  

Days
The Bengali Calendar incorporates the seven-day week as used by many other calendars. Also like other calendars, the names of the days of the week in the Bengali Calendar are based on celestial objects, or nôbogroho.

Monday: Shombar, after Shom (a Lunar deity)
Tuesday: Monggolbar, fter Monggol (planet Mars)
Wednesday: Budhbar, after Budh (planet Mercury)
Thursday: Brihoshpotibar, after Brihoshpoti (planet Jupiter)
Friday: Shukrobar, after Shukro (planet Venus)
Saturday: Shonibar, after Shoni (planet Saturn)
Sunday: Robibar, after Robi (a Solar deity)



In the Bengali calendar, the day begins and ends at sunrise , unlike in the Gregorian calendar, where the day starts at midnight.

The Bengali Calendar in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was modified by a committee headed by the celebrated scholar Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah under the auspices of the Bangla Academy of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, on 17 February 1966.
The length of a year in the Bengali calendar, as in the Gregorian calendar, is counted as 365 days. However, the actual time taken by the earth in its revolution around the sun is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 47 seconds. To make up this discrepancy, the Gregorian calendar adds an extra day, to make a leap year, to the month of February every fourth year (except in years divisible by 100 but not by 400). The Bengali calendar, which was based on astronomical calculations, did not make this extra leap year adjustment. Bengali months, too, were of different lengths. To counter this discrepancy, and to make the Bengali calendar more precise, the following recommendations of the Bangla Academy are followed:
The first five months of the year from Boishakh to Bhadro will consist of 31 days each.
The remaining seven months of the year from Ashshin to Choitro will consist of 30 days each.
In every leap year of the Gregorian calendar, an additional day will be added in the month of Falgun, which is just 14 days after 29th February. (Modified without material change).
The revised calendar was officially adopted in Bangladesh in 1987. However, it is not followed in the neighbouring state of West Bengal, India, where the traditional calendar continues to be followed due to the deep bond of Hindu culture with the Bengali calendar. Hindu religious festivals are celebrated based on a particular lunar day and Bengali calendar combination.

The first of Boishakh, Pôhela Boishakh, is the Bengali New Year's Day. In West Bengal, it is celebrated on 14/15 April. However, since the calendar was revised in Bangladesh the new year now always falls on 14 April.
In West Bengal, India, the Bengalis follow a sidereal solar calendar unlike the tropical solar calendars, such as the revised Bengali and Gregorian Calendars. The mathematical difference between the sidereal and the tropical calendars accounts for the difference of starting the new year in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Because of this the length of the months are also not fixed in the Bengali sidereal calendar, but rather are based on the true movement of the sun.

Although the sidereal solar calendar is followed in West Bengal, India, the number of days in the months are determined by the true motion of the Sun through the zodiac. In this calendar, seven is subtracted from the year number the result is divided by 39. If after the division the remainder becomes zero or could be divided by 4, the year is then designated as a leap year and contains 366 days with the last month Choitro taking 31 days. There are 10 leap years in every 39 years, although an extraordinary revision may be required over a long time.

According to the new calendar system in Bangladesh, Falgun (which begins mid-February) has 31 days every four years. To keep pace with the Gregorian calendar, the Bengali leap years are those whose corresponding Gregorian calendar year is counted as a leap year. For example, Falgun 1410 was considered a Bengali leap month, as it fell during the Gregorian leap month of February 2004.

The usage and popularity of the Bengali calendar in eastern South Asia is partly due to its adaptation to the unique seasonal patterns of the region. Eastern South Asia has a climate that is best divided into six seasons, including the monsoon or rainy season and the dry season in addition to spring, summer, fall, and winter.
In everyday use, the Bengali Calendar has been largely replaced by the Gregorian Calendar in Bengali-speaking regions, although it is still essential for marking holidays specific to Bengali culture (e.g. Pôhela Boishakh, Durga Puja, etc.), and for marking the seasons of the year. Bangla calendar is recognized by the government of Bangladesh as all its offices use Bangla Date with Gregorian one for all their correspondance. Almost every Bengali- and English-language newspaper in Bangladesh and West Bengal prints the day's date according to the Bengali Calendar alongside the corresponding date of the Gregorian Calendar. Many newspapers in Bangladesh also add a third date, following the Islamic Hijri Calendar. Thus, it is quite common in Bangladesh to find the date written three times (e.g. "25 Falgun 1412, 17 Muharram 1427, 27 February 2006") under the newspaper title.

(From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)