PANCHANGA, a Hindu almanac. The Hindu almanacs are all so complicated, and so few persons are able to understand them, that in ever Indian town astrological professors, called Josh!, Jotisi, or Jotisaru, earn a livelihood by going in the early morning from house to house to mention the circumstances by which the religions observ ances of the Hindus are to be guided. The Hindu year is solar or sidereal, but the religious life of the Hindu follows the lunar calendar. A very complicated method has been devised for keeping the two concurrent, and the result is the Hindu luni-solar year,' a mode of reckoning time which has no parallel in any age or in any country. The solar year begins with the entrance of the sun into the sign Aries, and is of the same length as that of Europe ; but the Hindu allows for the precession of the equinoxes, so that his year is gradually getting a little behind the Europe year. The luni-solar year begins with the new moon which immediately precedes the commencement of the solar year. The lunar month consists of thirty tithi or lunar days, which vary slightly in length according to the varying motion of the moon. These lunar months and days have to be kept concurrent with solar time, and this is effected by intercalation and omission. The lunar months are named from the solar month in which the new moon falls ; and when two new moons occur in one solar month, the name of that month is repeated in the luni-solar calendar. It happens, at long intervals, that there is no new moon in one of the solar months, and when this occurs the name of that month is expunged. The same principle applies to the days. When two tithi or lunar days end in one solar day, that day is re peated, and when it happens that no tithi ends in a solar day, that day is expunged. The inter calated months and days are known as adhika, excessive, and the expunged as kshaya, destroyed. Each lunar month is divided into two halves, or fortnights, that of the increasing moon called sudi, and the waning half called badi ; and the days are numbered from one to fifteen.
It will be seen from this how indispensable an almanac is to a Hindu. In his public and private accounts, and in his usual daily occupations, a Hindu keeps to civil reckoning of time. In his
religious ceremonies he must keep his attention to astronomical aspects, and in his festivities and other occupations, to the astrological aspects of the planets. In business matters a solar year and months are generally used, as in the era of Saliva liana and others ; but the Samvat, or era of Vik ramaditya, which follows the luni-solar reckoning, is also extensively employed in the ordinary affairs of life. The almanac being thus a necessity, great numbers of almanacs are published in all the principal languages, varying of course in accuracy and completeness, but all showing a considerable amount of scientific knowledge. The Hindu almanac is everywhere called Panchanga, because it must exhibit five (pancha) distinct matters :— 1. the tithi or lunar day ; 2. the vara or solar day of the week; 3. the nakshatra or lunar asterism for each day ; 4. the yoga, the conjunctions and transits of the planets, eclipses, etc. ; 5. the kar anas or subdivisions of the lunar day. These are essentials, and to them must be added the sank ranti or entrance of the sun into the different signs of the zodiac. The corresponding dates of different eras current in the country are generally given,—the Christian era, the Muhammadan era of the Hijira, and the Parsee era of Yezdejird. The table for each fortnight must show also the exact time of the rise, culmination, and setting of the sun, and the position of the moon and the planets, and may give illustrative diagrams. The amount of the accumulated precession of the equinoxes at the beginning of the year is assumed to be 18° 11' . 10", and the annual variation 50' 2". There is also in the Panchanga almanac a table of latitudes and longitudes of important places in India, the approximate declination of the sun for each day of the year, and the ascensional difference. The various eclipses are carefully described, and many have diagrams exhibiting the phases as visible. There are lists of the names of the nakshatras, the tithi, the yogas, and the karanas, the signs of the zodiac, the days of the week, and the six seasons of the year, etc.