Indian Epigraphy c15.t1.31

c15.t1.31

The length of the lunar year made of twelve such months is regarded as 354 days, 22 ghaṭikās or daṇḍas, 1 pala and 24 vipalas, the year therefore being shorter than the solar year by 10 days, 56 ghaṭikās or daṇḍas, 30 palas and 6 vipalas. Thus 32 lunar months become roughly equal to 31 solar months. Since the tithis have considerable importance in the religious life of the people throughout the country, the lunar year is made equal to the solar year in the areas following the solar system by what may be called the luni-solar reckoning. According to this, the lunar month, in which the saṅkrānti (i.e. the sun's entry into a rāśi) does not occur, is called the Adhika or Mala month, while the lunar month witnessing two saṅkrāntis is regarded as the Kṣaya or Nija month. Medieval inscriptions sometimes mention yogas and karaṇas in the dates. The yogas (the word yoga meaning 'conjunction' used with reference to the astronomical association of the movements of the sun and the moon and noticed in some records)² are 27 in number; e. g. (1) Viṣkambha, (2) Prīti, (3) Āyuṣmat, (4) Saubhāgya, (5) Śobhaṇa, (6) Atigaṇḍa, (7) Sukarman, (8) Dhṛti, (9) Śūla, (10) Gaṇḍa, (11) Vṛddhi, (12) Dhruva, (13) Vyāghāta; (14) Harṣaṇa, (15) Vajra, (16) Siddhi or Asṛja, (17) Vyātīpāta, (18) Varīyas, (19) Parigha, (20) Śiva, (21) Siddha, (22) Sādhya, (23) Śubha, (24) Śukla, (25) Brahman, (26) Aindra and (27) Vaidhṛti. The karaṇas, each of which indicate half of a tithi, are noticed in medieval inscriptions like the Ajmer inscription of Vikrama 1210.¹ The karaṇas called (1) Bava, (2) Bālava, (3) Kaulava, (4) Taitila, (5) Gara, (6) Vaṇija and (7) Viṣṭi (Bhadrā or Kalyāṇī) make a cycle which are repeated for eight times covering 56 half tithis from the second half of śudi 1 to the first half of badi 14. The remaining four half tithis from the second half of badi 14 to the first half of śudi 1 are covered by the karaṇas : (8) Śakuni, (9) Catuṣpada, (10) Kintughna and (11) Nāga.