Jai Mataji,

I Hope you all in good health. Chaitri Navratri begins from today (9 April) and ends on Tuesday, 16 April 2024.

Introduction

The Hindu festivals, fasts, rituals, holy baths and the observance of sacred days are part and parcel of the great cultural heritage. They are religious and social and a great source of spiritual and moral enrichment. They also lend zest, variety, colour and grandeur to an otherwise insipid, routine and care-worn day-to–day human existence. The Hindu festivals are more than what they appear to be. They are essentially a way of living and thinking in the course of existence, and as such bring their whole right to bear on the individual and the society.

Unlike the deities of the Hindu pantheon, the festivals are numerous and frequent, but basically religious, psychological and intimately connected with the changes of seasons, though many of them have lost the history of their origin in the mists of hoary past. With passage of time they have undergone a process of transformation and evolution and many new festivals have been grafted upon the old ones.

A Hindu festival is, in fact, something more than a ‘festival’. It is cathartic in nature, and as a means of purification strengthens the spirit within. Their goal is to find enjoyment through renunciation and self-denial. They are more of an exploration of the colourful things of life, without being bound to or obsessed by them.

Why do we require panchang for different cities (Countries)?

Most people buy the Panchang from India and use it everywhere in the world. This is not a good practice and one could lead to people observing festivals on incorrect days and at incorrect times abroad. Each festival has a different set of rules about when to observe them.

Hindu festivals are generally based on the Tithi and/or Nakshatra as per the lunar calendar (& some as per the solar calendar). For example, Ganesh Chaturthi is Bhadrapad Shukla Chaturthi Madhyahn purvavidha vyapini (4^th tithi prevailing at midday).

Each tithi begins and ends at the same instant all over the world. After correcting for the time zones, the tithi will begin/end at different local times in different parts of the world. The next thing is to decide if the tithi is visible during the specified time. This is done by using local sunrise, local sunset and local moonrise times. Since India has little variation in terms of sunrise/sunset, a panchang computed for one area of the country is generally usable throughout the country. For example - on a given day if Chaturthi end time is 2:30pm in India. Hence, UK will observe the chaturthi end time of 9:00am (GMT). This clearly indicates in the United Kingdom that the Chaturthi tithi is not prevailing during madhyahan kal (noon time) but it does prevail in India. Hence, the UK will celebrate Ganesha chaturthi on the previous day, as the chaturthi prevails during the noon on the previous day (chaturthi start time is 9:30am GMT in the UK.). What is important is to observe the festival at the right time in your location. If you blindly use the Indian calendar published in India, it won’t be any good to you as the festival observance dates might change due to local sunrise, sunset, moonrise, time differences etc.

The panchang available in India only prints end times in Indian standard times (IST). You need to convert them to your local standard time and use local sunrise and sunset to find out when it can be observed. Most common mistakes people make is observing Pradosh and Ekadashi vrat on incorrect days by following the Indian panchang printed in India.

Gujarati GCSE Classes online. (Pearson Edexcel GCSE 9-1 - See below for details). 

This month’s Festival.

09-04-2024 Gudi Padvo, Shalivahan Shake 1946 begins, Chaitri Navratri begins, Chandra Darshan

                   Beejna until 21:22

10-04-2024 Matsa Jayanti, (Mu. 10 Shavval, Ramadan Eid - UK)

15-04-2024 Vasanti Durga Pooja, Jetha Ravivar

16-04-2024 Shree Ram Navmi, Abhijit Muhurat 12:36 to 13:33 Leicester, (Midday 13:04),

                  Chaitri Navratri ends today in UK, USA and Canada

19-04-2024 Kamda Ekadashi, Shree Vallabhacharya Vadhai

20-04-2024 Anang Trayodashi

21-04-2024 Shree Mahavir Jayanti - UK, QEII Heavenly Birthday - UK

22-04-2024 Shivdamanak Chaturdashi

23-04-2024 Vrat Purnima, Chaitri Purnima, Shree Hanuman Janmotsav, St. George's Day - England

01-05-2024 Gujarat & Maharashtra Day

04-05-2024 Varuthini Ekadashi

06-05-2024 Shivratri

07-05-2024 Darsh Amavas (Moon set 20:20), Amavas Kshaya Tithi - UK

REFERENCE:

If you would like a copy of the Rushi Panchang please call 07976 738671 for further details.

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(Contact Email: pyg_hounslow@hotmail.com)

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LIST OF IMPORTANT HINDU FESTIVALS & VRATS FOR U.K.
From 14-11- 2023 TO 01-11-2024 - V.S. 2080
(Prepared according to local UK Time).

 Important Note: 

The Hindu festivals are generally based on a certain Tithi (roughly translated as the lunar phase) or the Nakshatra (Position of Asterisms with respect to the moon and the earth) in a given month or the transition of other heavenly bodies. When the time and place differ a lot from the place for which the Panchang (Religious Almanac) is computed the occurrence of the festival on a given day could change. To correctly compute the time and date of a festival, one must compute the Tithi, Nakshatra etc. for that place in terms of the local time of that place. The festival celebration times and days/dates listed here are calculated according to local UK times and these may differ from other places in the world (e.g. India, USA).

The above auspicious times are calculated according to the Leicester, UK co-ordinates Latitude 52N38 and Longitude 1W05.

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Lunisolar Almanac:

Lunisolar months are lunar months and based upon the appearance of the moon. Interestingly there are two kinds of lunisolar months too.

1. Amanta Months: The months start with the new moon and end with the new moon. This almanac is synchronized with the Nirayana year i.e. with the leap year consideration. Amanta months are divided into Sudi (Sukla Paksha) and Vadi (Krishna Paksha). The sudi is the period of new moon to the full moon (i.e. increasing moon shape), it is also called the waxing phase. The vadi is the period of full moon to the next new moon (i.e. decreasing moon phase), it is also called the waning phase. The Amanta months start with the Sudi (Sukla Paksha). The Chaitra Amanta Lunisolar almanac the New Year starts with Chaitra and is followed in the South and South-West Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.The Kartika Amanta Lunisolar almanac the New Year Starts with Kartika and is followed in Gujarat including Sauratra-Kathiawar.The Aashadhh Amanta Lunisolar almanac the New Year Starts with Aashadhh and is followed in Kachhchh region of Gujarat.

2. Purnimanta Months (in Rushi Panchang the Purnimant months are written in brackets): This type of almnac uses the full moon ending months. Thus the months start with the day after the full moon to the next full moon. The Purnimanta months are also divided into vadi and sudi paksha (period) like amanta months. Thus the purimantha months start with the Vadi (Krishna Paksha). The vadi is the period of full moon to the next new moon (i.e. decreasing moon phase), it is also called the waning phase. The sudi is the period of new moon to the full moon (i.e. increasing moon shape), it is also called the waxing phase. The Purnimanta Almanac is followed in most of the North India (Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar). 

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