[Advaita-l] Sringeri Panchanga

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 14 Apr 2016, D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ wrote:

> Yes, sir. Whether it is adhikamasa or kshayamasa or 28 or 29 days in February
> are done for purpose of adjusting our calender  to the accurate
> length of the year which Astronomical science determines  with progressively
> increasing accuracy.
>

That would be news to the people who fixed the days of the western months 
many centuries before modern science existed.  What human societies have 
typically needed is to match up their time systems with the seasons for 
agricultural purposes.  But the year does not need to be super accurate 
for this purpose.  The rule in the Gregorian calendar for example that 
every fourth year has an extra day unless it is divisible by 100 but not 
by 400.  This gives an average length of the year of 365 days, 5 hours, 
49 minutes and 12 seconds.  The actual average period[1] of the Earths 
orbit around the Sun is 365 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes, and 38.4 seconds. 
For the purpose of agriculture worrying about a slightly less than 20 
minute difference per year (over 400 years!) is pure pedantry.  So too for 
dharmic events.

And some cultures do not even try to be precise.  The Islamic calendar is 
purely lunar for instance which is why the dates of Ramazan cycle through 
the whole year.  In fact it is not even computed.  Months begin when a 
competent authority has witnessed the crescent moon.[2]  Now there are 
many things wrong with Islam but I don't think their calender is one of 
them.

Scientists don't bother with traditional years and months at all.  They 
use Julian dates or what is called TAI (the French abbreviation for 
International Atomic Time.)[3]

Or take computers for instance. Unix and Unix-like operating systems such 
as Mac OS X or Linux measure time by the number of elapsed seconds xince 
12AM on January 1, 1970.[4] Actually the Surya Siddhanta takes the same 
approach.  Calculations are made on the basis of ahargana or number of 
elapsed days since the beginning of the Kali Yuga in approximately 3102 
BC.

> Either way  observation is needed.

The differences between siddhanta and drk ganita are real but the issue 
is precision of observations not the need for observation itself.


On Fri, 15 Apr 2016, D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ via Advaita-l wrote:

> It is meaningless to use a panchanga which
> uses one ayanamsa for eclipses and another for tithis.

That is your opinion and you are welcome to it but please note your 
opinion is arbitrary and unscientific. :-)


[1] In fact it can vary a small but measurable amount due to the 
gravitational attraction of other planets.

[2] In fact there are formulas which can be used but I'm told most
still prefer direct observations.

[3] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Time

[4] For Windows I believe the epoch is Jan 1, 1980 but the principle is 
the same.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>