Tamil calendar
The Tamil calendar is one of the many traditional calendars of India. He is a solar calendar and is mainly used in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
History
The oldest evidence of chronology in the Indian subcontinent, there are already in the Vedas, the oldest parts date back to about 1200 BC. From a later time, the Jyotisha Vedanga comes with treatises on astronomy and astrology. Greek and West Asian knowledge influenced in the first centuries AD, the Siddhantas ( astronomical textbooks). Above all, the Arya - Siddhanta, and the Yakkya - Karana form the basis of the Tamil calendar.
The year
The year is a sidereal year. In the Surya Siddhantas the length is given as 365.2587558 days ( 36.5 seconds 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes); other Siddhantas diverge from it by a few seconds. The actual value is 365.256360 days (365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 9.5 seconds ).
The annual count
The annual count takes place after the Kali Yuga era and after the 60-year Jupiter cycle in which each year has its own name. The government used since 1981 (partly since 1971) the Tiruvalluvar era.
The 60 year cycle are the names of the year:
The beginning of the year
The beginning of the year is determined by the entry of the Sun in the zodiac Mesha (Aries). The year begins with the month Chittirai. 2008, the beginning of the year was moved to the month of Tai, but this move was so controversial that it was 2011 again reversed. In the years after the census Thiruvalluvar era, used by the regime, the year still begins with the month of Tai.
When the sun between sunrise occurs ( start of day ) and sunset in this zodiac sign, the year begins on the same day when the sun is between sunset and sunrise ( end of day ) enters this sign of the zodiac, the year begins the next day.
The circuit
A fixed shift pattern for years with 366 days, there is not, since the beginning of the year is determined by the entry of the Sun in the zodiac sign Aries. Whether a year has 365 or 366 days, results from the astronomical data. The next few years with 366 days are:
The accuracy
The Siddhanta - year is 365.2587558 days to 0.0023958 days (3 minutes and 26 seconds) longer than the sidereal year with 365.256360 days. Thus it moves in around 400 years by one day against the fixed stars. The Siddhanta - year is 365.2587558 days to 0.01656528 days (23 minutes and 51 seconds) longer than the tropical year with 365.24219052 days. Thus it moves in around 60 years, one day through the seasons. Currently, the year begins around 23 days after the vernal equinox.
The month
The way the sun apparently travels in one sidereal year is divided into 12 zodiac signs of 30 °. Since the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is an ellipse, the sun is at its apparent path of different length in each sign of the zodiac, as the following table shows:
The beginning of the month
The beginning of the month is determined by the entry of the Sun into a new zodiac sign. When the sun between sunrise occurs ( start of day ) and sunset in the zodiac sign, the month begins on the same day when the sun is between sunset and sunrise ( end of day ) enters the zodiac sign of the month begins the next day.
The monthly length
The sun is at its apparent path of different lengths in the different zodiac signs. The time varies between 29.34806 days ( 29 days 8 hours 21 minutes 12 seconds ) and 31.61057 days ( 31 days 14 hours 39 minutes 13 seconds ). According takes one months 29-32 days, and a single month in different years can have different lengths.
The month names
The months were originally named after the lunar mansions Nakshatra in which took place the sun's entry into a new zodiac sign. The months of the year have the following names and corresponding data in the Gregorian calendar:
The days of a month are counted 1 to 29 and 32 respectively. The Tamil numerals can be found at Tamil font, but they are almost completely displaced from the usual in Europe Spelling of numbers.
The week
The weekly schedule is Babylonian- Greek origin. The names are derived from the corresponding Indian deities. The names are compiled in the following table:
The day
The day lasts from sunrise to sunrise.