Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c32.25

c32.25

In the North the luni-solar year begins with the new moon, or 1st day of *Chaitra-Sudi*, and as this is the latter half of the month, this Hindu year has the strange anomaly of beginning in the middle of a month. The first half of Chaitra, or the period of the waning moon, called *Badi*, or *Krishna Paksha*, belongs to the past year. This mode of placing the *Badi*, or waning half of the moon, in the beginning of the month is known as the *Krishnadi* reckoning; while the opposite practice of putting the *Sudi*, or *Sukla Paksha*, half of the moon, as the beginning of the month, is known as the *Sukladi* reckoning. The names *Badi* and *Sudi* are contractions of *bahula-paksha-dina*, the "day of the dark half," and *sukla-paksha-dina*, the "day of the bright half," the first and last syllables only being retained.