When is Gaijatra (Saparu) 2080?
गाई जात्रा (सापारु) २०८० कहिले हो?
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| Source: Nepali Panchang |
Tithi
Most of the festivals in Nepal are based on lunar day i.e. Tithi rather than a solar day. A lunar day as per Panchang or Nepal Sambat is not the same as solar day. To understand a lunar day or tithi in detail we have to we have to firstly understand the Lunar Month which will be another topic. But in simple terms, a lunar month is the duration between successive new moons (in Nepal Sambat) or full moon (in lunisolar Bikram Sambat) and a lunar day or Tithi is the duration taken by moon to travel 12° on its orbit respective from the new moon or full moon. A lunar month on average is 29.53 days long. Now owing to variation in speed of moon during it's revolution around earth the length of lunar days and month are not the same. All of these means a lunar day or tithi can change at any time during 24 hours solar day.
Festival and rituals date
As mentioned earlier, most of the festivals in Nepal are based on lunar day i.e. Tithi rather than a solar day. Because a solar day can have more than one overlapping Lunar Days, in Nepal Sambat Calender, a tithi at the time of the sunrise is taken as the tithi for the whole day, on the basis of which the day of festival is choosen. While the lunisolar BS calender (based on Panchang:) can have two overlapping tithis, the basis for fixing the date of fesival is the same i.e the tithi at the time of sunrise. Hence the time of sunrise plays an important role in determining the festival dates. This rule has some drawbacks which we faced in this years Gai Jatra and hence is not a universal rule among the astrologers.
Issue with Gai Jatra 2080
The table above shows the distribution of lunar days (tithi) over each solar day. As we can see on Bhadra 13, Wednasday, during the time of sunrise 5:42AM, it is Chaturdasi, hence the whole day is taken as Chaturdasi under Nepal Sambat Calender even though at 11:14AM the tithi changes to Punhi. Hence it was not marked as Janai Purnima or Kwati Punhi in the calender.
The next day, Bhadra 14, during the time of sunrise which is 5:43AM, it is Punhi, hence it is marked as Janai Purnima or Kwati Punhi in the calender even though the Tithi changes to Pratipada or Paru at 7:23AM.
Now on Bhadra 15, the tithi changes from Pratipada or Paru to Dritiya before the sunrise at 3:35. And at the time of sunrise it is Dritiya. As a result, this day cannot be GaiJatra or Saparu hence they are marked a day before on the same day as Janai Purnima or Kwati Punhi. So technically we had both the festivals on the same day
What was the best solution?
Since it can be dificult to celebrate two festivals on a single day, Janai Purnima or Kwati Punhi could have been accomodated on Bhadra 13 and GaiJatra or Saparu on Bhadra 14. But this is entirely an opinion. This would mean going against the rule of Panchang and Nepal Sambat. But sometimes we have to make a logical decision. On a positive note this was adopted by few municipalities including in Bhaktapur and Thimi.
Untimately this is not the last time this problem will occur, but when it does, here are two sites which shows you the information on Tithis. They can also be helful, if you follow tithis for your birthdays and rituals .
https://www.ashesh.com.np/panchang/
Are Nepal Sambat Tithis and Panchang Tithis same?
The Bikram Samat calendar we use today is just a solar calendar with 365 (366 on leap year) guided and in sync with Luni solar Bikram Sambat calendar calculated through Panchang Tithis. Please note while Panchang tithis and Nepal Sambat tithis are similiar in concepts, both being based on Lunar calender, there are differences.
A month in Bikram Sambat is the duration between two successive Full Moon or Purnima. Hence a month starts from the next day of full moon. In case of Nepal Sambat, month starts from the next day of New Moon or Aausi.
Panchang tithi strictly follow rotation of moon and can have overlapping tithis (in a solar day), the NS takes tithi at the time sunrise as reference for the entire day. As mentioned earlier in NS, whichever tithi the moon is at the time of sunrise, the entire day is named after it.
Other than these other concepts including the concept of additional month (Anala or Purusotam Maas) to sync with solar calender is same.
Thank you
I am not a astrologer nor an expert on this topic hence if you see any errors above a correction or insights will be highly appreciated.
There are few festival which are not based on lunar position some of which are as follows
- Sangranti: First day of Nepali Months e.g Maghe Sangranti
- Biska Jatra: First day of new year of Bikram Sambat
If you are interested in Calenders and Festival, this may be of interest to you
LUNAR CALENDER AND MAJOR FESTIVALS OF NEPAL
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