Guest guest Posted January 4, 2000 Report Share Posted January 4, 2000 Dear Hans, > Narasimha wrote: > > From my program (for Washington DC): > Date of Birth: April 4, 2000 > Time of Birth: 1:12:37 pm > Time Zone of Birth: 5:00 West of GMT > Longitude of Birth: 77 W 02 > Latitude of Birth: 38 N 54 > Lunar month (maasa): Chaitra > Lunar day (tithi): Sukla Pratipat > Tithi balance: 0.99997 > Nakshatra balance: 0.64322 > Sun-Moon Yoga: Indra > > Thank you for replying. > Could you kindly explain, on which astronomical basis these calculations are > done. LUNAR MONTHS & DAYS A new lunar month starts whenever Moon conjoins Sun exactly. As Moon advances, his longitude will come after Sun's. When Moon is ahead of Sun by exactly 12 deg, the first tithi (lunar day) ends. When Moon is ahead of Sun by exactly 24 deg, the second tithi (lunar day) ends. When Moon is ahead of Sun by exactly 36 deg, the third tithi (lunar day) ends. At the end of 30 tithis, Moon is ahead of Sun by 360 deg, i.e. Sun-Moon conjunction occurs again (360 deg = 0 deg). A new lunar month starts. Thus a lunar month consists of 30 tithis and it starts at the time of a Sun-Moon conjunction. Based on the sign (rasi) in which Sun-Moon conjunction occurs, we can figure out the name of the lunar month. NAMES OF LUNAR MONTHS Sun-Moon conjunction in Pi starts lunar month Chaitra Sun-Moon conjunction in Ar starts lunar month Vaisaakha Sun-Moon conjunction in Ta starts lunar month Jyestha Sun-Moon conjunction in Ge starts lunar month Aashaadha Sun-Moon conjunction in Cn starts lunar month Sraavana Sun-Moon conjunction in Le starts lunar month Bhaadrapada Sun-Moon conjunction in Vi starts lunar month Aaswayuja Sun-Moon conjunction in Li starts lunar month Kaarteeka Sun-Moon conjunction in Sc starts lunar month Maargasira Sun-Moon conjunction in Sg starts lunar month Pushya Sun-Moon conjunction in Cp starts lunar month Maagha Sun-Moon conjunction in Aq starts lunar month Phaalguna (Note: The names are based on the most likely constellation of Moon at the time of Full Moon in the month. For example, in the month commencing from Sun-Moon conjunction in Pi, Sun is most likely to be at the border of Pisces/Aries on Full Moon day and Moon is likely to be in the constellation of Chitra. So it is called Chaitra month. Chaitra means " belonging to Chitra " .) My free program JHLite displays the name of the running lunar month, tithi and tithi balance. LUNAR YEAR Chaitra is the first month of a lunar year. The order of months is as shown above. Sun-Moon conjunction in Pisces starts a lunar year (and the first lunar month of Chaitra). LUNAR NEW YEAR/MONTH CHARTS You can erect charts at the time a lunar new year or month starts for any place and make mundane astrological predictions for that place. For predictions about a nation, capital of the nation should be taken as the place. ADHIKA MAASA (EXTRA MONTH) Each lunar year consists of 360 tithis and it typically lasts 355 days. So, compared to the solar year, lunar year is 10 days short. The Islamic holy month of Ramadan, for example, is based on the lunar calendar and it comes 10 days earlier every year. It comes in December now and it may come in August several years later. Indians sunchronized their lunar years and solar years. Once in every 3 years, an adhika maasa (extra month) comes and lunar years are thus synchronized with solar years. In fact, the way the extra month is defined is also based on clear astronomical reasons. Sometimes Sun and Moon conjoin in the same sign twice. For example, Sun-Moon conjunction occurred at 0 deg 23 min in Taurus on 15th May 1999, 7:05:35 am (EST). Next Sun-Moon conjunction occurred at 28 deg 29 min in Taurus on 13th June 1999, 2:03:24 pm (EST). So we have Jyestha maasa coming twice! The first one is called " Adhika (extra) Jyestha " maasa (month) and the second one is called " Nija (real) Jyestha " maasa (month). Thus the extra month that comes once in every 3 years can be any of the twelve months. We add the adjectives " adhika " and " nija " to denote the extra and real ones. Lunar year with an extra month will have 13 lunar months or 384 days. CONCLUDING REMARKS The lunar and solar calendars of the Vedic system are very very systematic, logical and based on astronomy (motions of Sun and Moon). They have been in use for many millennia. The modern western calendar is very arbitrary. Some months with 30 days, some with 31, some with 28, leap year once in every 4 years, except the 100th year, but except the 400th year etc etc - all these rules are arbitrary and not systematic. Hindu way of measuring of time is much more systematic. It is remarkable that Hindus had this system in place *atleast* 5,000 years ago!! May Jupiter's light shine on us, Narasimha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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