Panchanga - What are they? What does the lunar calendar constitute of?

During our childhood in the days where there was no TV or mobile, we used to have a evening ritual known as "Purochi". We used to all assemble around our elders, specifical our grandmother who used to make us recite all the elements of an almanac. 

I am putting together the curated version as the memory has not been jogged for some time. 

The Panchanga constititues of five elements that define the day and time

1. Tithi (lunar day),
2. Vara (day of the week),
3. Nakshatra (lunar mansion),
4. Yoga (luni-solar day) and
5. Karana (half lunar day).

Let us look at each one of them

Tithi denotes the 15 days of the waxing and waning of the moon. Waxing or the increasing moon size ends with full moon day Purnima'. These 15 days are known as Shukla Paksha. The waning or the reducing moon size ends with new moon day 'Amavasya'. 

We used to recite the Thithis like below. 

• Padya - Ugadi Padya
• Bidagi - Bhava Bidagi
• Tadagi - Akkana Tadagi
• Chowthi - Ganesh Chowthi
• Panchami - Naga Panchami
• Shashti - Shiriyala Shashti
• Saptami - Ratha Saptami
• Ashtami - Gokula Ashtami
• Navami - Rama Navami
• Dashami - Vijaya Dashami
• Ekadashi - Vaikuntha Ekadashi
• Dwadashi - Utthaana Dwadashi
• Trayodashi - Jalapurna Trayodashi
• Chaturdashi - Anantha Chaturdashi
• Hunnime - Holi Hunnime
• Amavasya - Mahalaya Amavasya, Bhimana Amavasya

A unique way of associating the day with the respective festival day enabled us to remember all the days in the right sequence. There are several festivals associated with these days or Thithi but we remembered and recited these.

The Varas - weekdays were recited like this along with the respective grihas and lords

• Aditya - Bhanu : Sun
• Soma - Indu : Moon
• Mangala - Bhomya : Mars
• Budha - Soumya : Mercury
• Brihaspati - Guru : Jupiter
• Shukra - Bhargava : Venus
• Shani - Manda : Saturn

I guess the missing planets Uranus, Neptune & Pluto were not considered significant during those days.   

Nakshatras The 27 Nakshtras or constelletions or spaces in the sky were recited as follows

1. Ashvini
2. bharaNi
3. kRuttikA
4. rOhiNi
5. mRugashirA
6. ArdrA
7. punarvasu
8. puShya
9. AshlESha
10. makhA
11. pUrva phalguNi
12. uttara phalguNi
13. hasta
14. chitra
15. svAti
16. vishAkha
17. anurAdha
18. jyEsTha
19. moola
20. pUrvAShADha
21. uttarAShADha
22. shravaNa
23. dhaniShThA
24. shatabiShA
25. pUrva bhAdra
26. uttara bhAdra
27. rEvati

Just some interesting bit of astrological background for Nakshatra - location in sky. 

• These nakshatras are 27 in numbers and together they comprises of 360 degrees in the sky from a fixed point. So the value for each nakshatra is 13 degrees and 20 minutes. 
• The 360 degrees from a fixed point comprises 12 zodiacs and 27 nakshatras. 
• Janma nakshatra is the nakshatra where moon is placed at the time of the birth of the native. Each space is divided in to 4 sections or charana or padas.
• Based on Janma Nakshatra most of the traits and characteristics are predicted. 
• It seems to be an early method of Data Science where the intelligence is built on large data sets of chronicled predictions.What we today call as Machine learning & Artificial Intelligence.

Luckily for us we were not needed to recite the yogas and karanas. However I have collated the same for posterity.

Yoga is the angle between Sun and the Noon with earth as a vertice. There are 27 yogas equal to the number of nakshatras - 

ViShakumbha, Preeti. AyushmAn, SaubhAgya, ShObhana, Atigandha, Sukarma, DhRuti, Shoola, Gandha, VRuddhi, Dhruva, VyAghAta, HarShaNa, Vajra, Siddhi, VyateepAta, Varigha, Parigha, Shiva, Siddha, SAdhya, Shubha, Shukla, Brahma, MahEndra, VaidhRuti

Karana is half of a Tithi. Some mathematical division of time. Will explore the significance in a later post

The four “fixed” karanas are - Kimstughna, Shakuni, ChatushpAda, NAga

The seven “repeating” karanas are: Bala, BAlava, Kaulava, Taitila, Garaja, Vanija, VishTi (or bhadra) 

The way they are arranged are as follows:

• The first half of the first tithi (of the bright fortnight) is always kimstughna karana. 
• Next, the seven repeating karanas repeat eight times to cover the next 56 half-tithis.
• The three remaining fixed karanas take up the remaining three half-tithis in order. 
• Thus one gets sixty karanas or sixty half-Tithis from eleven..

Now the twelve months of the calender were split among six Rutus or seasons and we recited as follows

• Chaitra Vaishaka - Vasanta Rutu - Spring
• Jyeshta Ashadha - Greeshma Rutu - Summer
• Shravana Bhadrapada - Varsha Rutu - Rainy
• Ashwina Karthika - Sharad Rutu - Autumn
• Margashira Pushya - Hemantha Rutu - Winter
• Magha Phalguna - Shishira Rutu - Cool

Then came the 60 Samvatsaras or the names of the lunar years which repeat cyclically

1. Prabhava
2. Vibhava
3. Shukla
4. Pramoda
5. Prajāpati
6. Āngîrasa
7. Shrīmukha
8. Bhāva
9. Yuva
10. Dhātr
11. Īshvara
12. Bahudhānya
13. Pramāthi
14. Vikrama
15. VriSha
16. Chitrabhānu
17. Svabhānu
18. TāraNa
19. Pārthiva
20. Vyaya
21. Sarvajit
22. Sarvadhāri
23. Virodhi
24. Vikrti
25. Khara
26. Nandana
27. Vijaya
28. Jaya
29. Manmatha
30. Durmukha
31. Hemalambi
32. Vilambi - the new year starting on 18th March 2018
33. Vikāri
34. Shārvari
35. Plava
36. Shubhakrt
37. Sobhakrt
38. Krodhi
39. Vishvāvasu
40. Parābhava
41. Plavanga
42. Kīlaka
43. Saumya
44. Sādhārana
45. Virodhakrt
46. Paridhāvi
47. Pramādi
48. Ānanda
49. RākShasa
50. NaLa
51. PingaLa
52. Kālayukta
53. Siddhārthi
54. Raudri
55. Durmati
56. Dundubhi
57. Rudhirodgāri
58. RaktākShi
59. Krodhana
60. KShaya

Other than the recitation of Panchanga and elements of the almanac we had the recitation of numbers in kannada 1 to 100, tables from 1 to 20 for senior kids, Dashavataras, 12 zodiac signs and so on. 

It was a very nice way to get the kids together to learn and remember interesting things. Later Sanskrit lessons for different forms of words and verbs. Sometimes this was followed by stories from Ramayana, Mahabharatha and Bhagavatha. Or recitation of songs by Haridasas by the ladies. So the lack of TV serials and mobile phones did not matter. 

The so called family times through "Purochi"