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Bhaskarabda: A Luni-Solar Calendar

Published: 25th Oct, 2021

Context

Assam government has approved Bhaskarabda, a period counted from the date of ascension by the great Kamrup king Kumar Bhaskar Varma as an official calendar and the Saka and Gregorian charts.

What is Bhaskarabda?

  • Bhaskarabda can be understood as a period calculated from the date of the ascension of the 7th-century local ruler Bhaskar Varman.
  • It is based on both phases of the moon and the solar year.
  • The gap between Basaskarabda and Gregorian is 593 years.
  • It all started when Baskaravarman was crowned ruler of the Kamrupa kingdom.

Kamrup king Kumar Bhaskar Varma

  • Kamrup, which was also known as Pragjyotish in the mythological era, has been recognised as the first historical kingdom of Assam and was the most advanced territory under his reign.
  • Bhaskar Varma was a contemporary to the north Indian emperor Harshavardhan, another celebrated ruler of
  • Both enjoyed political ties with mutual respect.

Kamrupa kingdom

  • Kamarupa was a typical Hindu kingdom of old.
  • It now designates a district of Assam, was formerly applied to the whole of the eastern province of the ancient Bharatavarsha.
  • It is synonymous with Pragjyotish which, however, seems to have been the older appellation for the country.
  • In the Ramayana and Mahabharata the country is called Pragjyotish, and its ruler, the Pragjyotisheswara.
  • The term Kamarupa is first made use of in some of the Puranas and Tantras, which are admittedly of a later date than the great epics.

Use of the calendar by Assam

  • Currently, the official Assam government official calendar uses the Saka calendar and the Gregorian calendar.
    • However, the Basquearabda calendar will be used from now on.

Type of Calendars

  •   Solar: Any dating system based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun.
  •   Lunar: Any dating system based on a year that contains synodic moons - that is, complete cycles of phases of the Moon.
  •   Luni-Solar: The luni solar calendar month is a month but the solar years were used in early Middle Eastern civilizations and Greece.

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