History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.687

v6.c82.687

The subject of months is one of the most complicated. Indians followed the luni-solar calendar from very ancient times like the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Jews and the Chinese. All had therefore to resort to the device of intercalary months (*adhika-māsa* or malamāsa ). But Indians had rarely a *kṣaya* month also which is absent in the systems of the other peoples. This difference arose owing to the different ways of the calculations of the motions and positions of the sun and moon, in which I do not propose to enter for reasons already stated But a few words to indicate how an additional month arises may be said here. The solar year exceeds the lunar year by a little over eleven tithis This excess amounts to one lunar month in about 32 solar months The Babylonians had a cycle of 19 solar years in which there were 7 intercalary months (i e in all 235 lunar months ) The same cycle was called Metonic cycle after Meton, an Athenian, who introduced it in Greece. This cycle is the foundation of the Jewish and Christian calendars, especially so far as Easter is concerned From the Vedāṅga-Jyotiṣa¹⁰²² it appears that in a cycle of five years there were two intercalary months, one being a 2nd Āṣāḍha at the end of 2½ years and the other a second Pauṣa at the end of the *yuga* of five years. Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra merely echoes this The Pitāmaha-siddhānta provided that an intercalary month was to be added after thirty months.¹⁰²³ In the Virāṭaparva¹⁰²⁴ it is said that the period of 13 years (12 years in exile and one year *incognito*) was more than completed by the Pāṇḍavas if the cāndra reckoning were followed, as two months were to be added in five years. The purāṇas and other works give varying periods after which an intercalary month occurs A few examples may be cited. Viṣṇudharmottara¹⁰²⁵ states that the solar year has eleven days more than the lunar one and that after two years eight months, sixteen days and four ghaṭīs a month has to be added. This is not to be taken literally, otherwise it would have to be held that after four ghaṭikās on 2nd tithi of the dark half of a month an intercalary month has to be added All that the passage of the Purāṇa does is to indicate the number of days in the lunar reckoning after which an additional month is possible Similarly, a passage of the Kāṭhakagṛhya¹⁰²⁶ says that in the lunar month in which there is no *saṅkrānti* or there are two saṅkrāntis a month is added after thirty months have expired from a previous intercalary month. This too indicates only a possibility and not a certainty. The Nirṇayāmṛta¹⁰²⁷ declared that a month is added between thirty and thirtysix months. This too is only approximate. A more definite rule is that the lunar month in which no saṅkrānti occurs is called adhika (intercalary) and bears the same name as that of the next lunar month which is called *śuddha* or *nija* or *prākṛta* to distinguish it from the intercalary month or if in one solar month two amāvāsyās¹⁰²⁸ end then there is an adhikamāsa or malamāsa. That lunar month in which two saṅkrāntis occur gets two names of which the first is retained and the second is suppressed (i. e. this second becomes a *kṣaya māsa*). This means that a kṣaya māsa occurs when there are two saṅkrāntis in a month. That lunar month in which the sun enters Meṣa sign is called Caitra, that in which he enters Vṛṣabha is called Vaiśākha and so on.¹⁰²⁹