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Shree Ganeshai Namah
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 (4th 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 main Panchang Details.
13-03-2025 Vrat Purnima, Holi, Purnima Vruddhi Tithi - UK. 14-03-2025 Purnima until 6:54, Dhuleti, Dhulivandan, Holastak ends 6:54. Total Lunar Eclipse - Visible in UK and need to be obseved. Lunar Eclipse time is 05:09:40 until 06:27:34 in UK (Leicester). Since the Moon set in Leicester at 6:27 you will see the begging of the Partial Eclipse from 05:09 until the Moon set at 06:27. Eclipse Vedh - The Lunar eclipse occurs in the forth prahar of the night hence the maximum vedh starts three prahar before on 13 March 2025 from 18:04 until the eclipse end which is at 06:27 on 14 March 2025. For children, elderly, weak and ill people whi cannot observe the maximum vedh; for them there is an absolute minimum vedh which is six ghadis. this starts on 14 March 2025 from 02:59 until the eclipse end. 16-03-2025 Sant Tukaram Beej. 19-03-2025 Rang Panchami, Shree Panchami. 20-03-2025 Sun enters Aries 9:03 Tropical, Vernal Equinox - Spring begins. 25-03-2025 Papmochni Ekadashi. 26-01-2025 Pradosh, Bharat Republic Day. 27-01-2025 Meru Trayodashi - Jain (UK), Shivratri. 28-03-2025 Darsh Amavashya, (Moon set 17:27). 29-03-2025 Amavas until 10:58, Partial Solar Eclipse visible in UK and need to be observed. Solar Eclipse time for UK (Leicester) - Beginning 10:07:14, Greatest 11:04:09 End 2:02:27. Eclipse Vedh - The Solar eclipse occurs in the second prahar of the day hence the maximum vedh starts four prahar before on 28 March 2025 from 21:20 until the eclipse end which is at 12:02 on 29 March 2025. For children, elderly, weak and ill people whi cannot observe the maximum vedh; for them there is an absolute minimum vedh which is six ghadis. this starts on 29 March 2025 from 07:34 until the eclipse end. The clocks go forward 1 hour after midnight - British Summer Time begin (on 30th at 1:00am).
30-03-2025 Shalivahan Shake 1947 begins, Chaitri Navratri begins, Gudi Padvo, V.S. 2082 begins North India, Chandra Darshan (until 21:35), 2 Kshaya Tithi. 31-03-2025 Gauri Treej, Matsya Jayanti, (Mu 10 Shavval, Ramadan Eid - UK). 06-03-2025 Shree Ram Navmi, Abhijit Muhurat 12:41 to 13:34, Leicester (Midday 13:07), Chaitri Navratri ends, Shree Swami Narayan Jayanti, Ravipushya Sunrise to 25:55. 07-04-2025 Dharmaraj Dashmi. 08-04-2025 Kamda Ekadashi, Shree Vallabhacharya Vadhai. 09-04-2025 Vaman-Madan Dwadashi, Vishnudamnotsav, Anang Trayodashi, Pradosh. 10-04-2025 Shree Mahavir Jayanti (Jain). 12-04-2025 Vrat Purnima, Chaitri Purnima, Shree Hanuman Janmotsav. 13-04-2025 Bhagwan Shree Eaklingji Patotsav (Kailaspuri), Vaishakhi - Punjab, Palm Sunday-UK. 14-04-2025 Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti. 18-04-2025 Good Friday. 20-04-2025 Easter Sunday. 23-04-2025 St. George's Day - England 24-04-2025 Varuthini Ekadashi, Shr. Vallabhacharya Charan, Shr. Vallabhabda 548 25-04-2025 Pradosh 26-04-2025 Shivratri 27-04-2025 Darsh Amavas (Moon set 20:32)
29-04-2025 Parsuram Jayanti 30-04-2025 Akshay Trutiya (Mahapunyakarak with Wednesday & Rohini Nakshatra, Tretayugadi.
REFERENCE:
If you would like a copy of the Rushi Panchang VS 2081 - 2024/25. Please call 07976 738671 for further details. or email at Rushi.Panchang@gmail.com
The auspicious times are calculated according to the Leicester, UK co-ordinates Latitude 52N38 and Longitude 1W05.
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LIST OF IMPORTANT HINDU FESTIVALS & VRATS FOR U.K. 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. ___________________________________________________
Lunisolar Almanac:
Lunisolar months are lunar months and based upon the appearance of the moon. Interestingly there are two kinds of lunisolar months too.
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News from Vidyasagar School
We have started the GCSE Gujarati Classes online via Zoom.
For further details please contact -
Sharad Mistry - 07976 738671 (GCSE) (Gujarati Classes are held on ZOOM, every Thursday evening)
(School Email: vidyasagar_school@hotmail.com)
Further details from Rushi Panchang
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