INSIDE OUTSIDE OF Abhishek Mohta

Vikram Samvat 2071

Vikram samvat 2071 will begin on 31st March 2014 i.e. Chaitra shukla pratipada. Most of the people throughout the world either follow the system of the Georgian calendar or English calendar. But in India, we follow the calendar system based on the Hindu traditions, which is known as “Vikrami Samvat”. This calendar is based on the movement of moon and is widely followed by a large number of priests and astrologers in India.

What is Vikaram Samvat?

Samvat is a short form of the Sanskrit word ‘Samvatsar’, literally meaning ‘year’. This system of Hindu calendar was started by King Vikramaditya and hence it is known as “Vikram Samvat”. Vikramaditya was the king of Ujjain.

Structure of a Hindu calendar

The structure of a Hindu calendar is very interesting. The lifetime of the universe is known as “Kalpa” which is further segmented into period units known as “Manavantra”. Now, each Manavantra have various set of four yugas, namely Kretha Yuga, Thretha Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. The present era is known as “Kali yuga”.  Each yuga further comprises of a number of years or “Samvatsars”. Samvastar is also a time period in which the planet Jupitar moves through one sign with its average speed.

The four Yugas

Following is the number of years constituted by each Yuga –

Name of the Yuga	Number of calendar years
Kretha Yuga	17,28,000
Thretha Yuga	12,96,000
Dwapara Yuga	8,64,000
Kali Yuga	4,32,000

The numbers in the Hindu system are based on the Shaka System. And the numbers in the Shaka system are the variables which depend on the first year in which the Shaka was started by an emperor. But irrespective of fact to which Shaka the year belongs, the names of the year always remain the same. Since Samvatsar is the yearly movement of Jupiter within one zodiac, it might be at a varying distance from Earth at times. So, while transiting in the zodiac, it is under different celestial influences during a cycle of sixty years.