Indian Chronology (Solar, Lunar and Planetary): A Practical Guide to the Interpretation and Verification of Tithis, Nakshatras, Horoscopes and other Indian Time-records, B.C. 1 to A.D. 2000 c26.3

c26.3

151. Like the lunar calendar of the Jews, and unlike that of the Muhammadans, the Hindu calendar may be described as luni-solar since all its periods of time, though regulated by the movements of the moon, are made to fit in with divisions of the Solar Year. A lunar tithi is not counted at all unless the Sun rises upon it. A Tithi, Nakshatra, or Yoga may begin, or end, at any moment of the day, but the Tithi, Nakshatra, or Yoga pertaining to a day is that which is current at *sunrise*. A lunar month takes its name from the next following Solar *Sankrānti* : if there are two lunar months entitled to derive their name from a single Solar *Sankrānti*, they both receive the same name and one, the first, is called *adhika*. On the other hand, if a new moon is followed by two *Sankrāntis* before it is followed by another new moon, the lunar month which would ordinarily have been derived from the second of the two *Sankrāntis* is suppressed and is said to be *Kshaya*, that is, in defect. Lastly the lunar year, beginning in the month of Solar *Chaitra*, which is itself the last month of the Solar year, is named after the *next* Solar Year. These considerations suffice to prove that the Hindu lunar year is properly a luni-solar year.