Indian calendar-making

[Mani Varadarajan]

Nicholas Bedworth wrote:
>
> Well, as a start, look at the Hinduism Today website. They have a very
> detailed panchang that is downloadable as a pdf document, and they seem to
> be highly involved in understanding all the calendar systems.

Thank you for this reference, but I am sorry to say
that the Hinduism Today essay is characteristically
long on self-promotion, and short on research and facts.
In addition to being more astrological than explanatory,
there are also quite a few errors.

To cite one example, the author says, "In all [Indian] states
the lunar calendar is used for determining the dates
of religious festivals..." [p.7] This is not true of many
festivals in Tamil Nadu, where the sauramAna-nakshatra
calendar is used for the most part.  The birth of
Krishna, for example, is celebrated by nearly all
Tamils on aavaNi-rOhiNi. It is also surprising that
Mr. Subramuniyaswami's "Vedic Calendar" uses a lunar
cycle that counts months beginning with the full moon
day. The Vedic tradition almost universally, as far
as I am aware, begins on the prathamA after the new
moon.

Mani