Page:Sewell Dikshit The Indian Calendar (1896) proc.djvu/20

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THE INDIAN CALENDAR.

11. The paksha. The next natural division of time greater than a solar day is the paksha (lit. a wing[1]) or moon's fortnight. The fortnight during which the moon is waxing has several names, the commonest of which are śukla or śuddha (lit. "bright", that during which the period of the night following sunset is illuminated in consequence of the moon being above the horizon). The fortnight during which the moon is waning is called most commonly kṛishṇa or bahula or vadya (lit. "black", "dark", or the fortnight during which the portion of the night following sunset is dark in consequence of the moon being below the horizon). The first fortnight begins with the end of amâvâsyâ and lasts up to the end of pûrṇimâ; the second lasts from the end of pûrṇimâ to the end of amâvâsyâ. The words "pûrva" (former or first) and "apara" (latter or second) are sometimes used for śukla and kṛishṇa respectively. "Śudi" (or "sudi") is sometimes used for śukla, and "vadi" or "badi" for kṛishṇa. They are popular corruptions of the words "śuddha" and "vadya" respectively.

12. Lunar months. The next natural division of time is the lunation, or lunar month of two lunar fortnights, viz., the period of time between two successive new or full moons. It is called a chândra mâsa, or lunar month, and is the time of the moon's synodic revolution.[2]

The names of the lunar months will be found in Table II., Parts i. and ii., and Table III., col. 2, and a complete discussion on the luni-solar month system of the Hindus in Arts. 41 to 51. (For the solar months sec Arts. 22 to 24.)

13. Amânta and pûrṇimânta systems. Since either the amâvâsyâ or pûrṇimâ, the new moon or the full moon, may be taken as the natural end of a lunar month, there are in use in India two schemes of such beginning and ending. By one, called the amânta system, a month ends with the moment of amâvâsyâ or new moon; by the other it ends with the pûrṇimâ or full moon, and this latter is called a pûrṇimânta month. The pûrṇimânta scheme is now in use in Northern India, and the amânta scheme in Southern India. There is epigraphical evidence to show that the pûrṇimânta scheme was also in use in at least some parts of Southern India

  1. ↑ An apt title. The full moon stands as it were with the waxing half on one side and the waning half on the other. The week is an arbitrary division.
  2. ↑ The "synodic revolution" of the moon is the period during which the moon completes one series of her successive phases, roughly 29½ days. The period of her exact orbital revolution is called her "sidereal revolution". The term "synodic" was given because of the sun and moon being then together in the heavens (cf: "synod"). The sidereal revolution of the moon is less by about two days than her synodic revolution in consequence of the forward movement of the earth on the ecliptic. This will be best seen by the accompanying figure, where ST is a fixed star, S the sun, E the earth, C the ecliptic, M M' the moon. (A) the position at one new moon, (B) the position at the next new moon. The circle M to Ml representing the sidereal revolution, its synodic revolution is M to Ml plus Ml to N. [R. S.]

    C. A. Young ("General Astronomy", Edit. of 1889, p 528) gives the following as the length in days of the various lunations:

    d. h. m. s.
    Mean synodic month (new moon to new moon) 29 12 44 2.684
    Sidereal month 27 7 43 11.545
    Tropical month (equinox to equinox) 27 7 43 4.680
    Anomalistic month (perigee to perigee) 27 13 18 37.440
    Nodical month (node to node) 27 5 5 35.810
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