The following letter was sent to all the branches of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan throughout the world, apart from all the top-notch jyotishis, besides all the dharmadcharyas etc. etc. as back as July 2004. However, no response has been received from any quarter yet! AKK ************************************************************************************************* July 17, 2004 Dear Friends, Namaskar! A humble request that we should not mourn on the day of “festival of lights” i.e. we should not celebrate Pitramavasya on the day of actual Dipavali (Gujarati New Year!) on October 13, 04. Every festival has a criterion. We celebrate Independence Day on August 15 every year. Why? Because India gained independence on that day. It is immaterial whether August 15 is a Sunday or a Monday or Shravana or Bhadra. Similarly, for celebrating religious festivals, our shastras have fixed certain criteria. And as we know, fasts and festivals are celebrated for the peace and welfare of ourselves and our kith and kin. Consequently, if we do not adhere to the criteria/tenets fixed by the shastras, those very fasts and festivals will do us more harm than good. Same is the case with Muhurtas . We must therefore know the criteria. E.g. for Vasanti Navaratra, viz. the lunar New Year, the criterion is “ Chaitra Shukla Pratipat ” and for Rama Navmi it is " Chaitra Shukla Navmi ". We must therefore know as to when Chaitra Shukla Paksha starts. This information has to be based on the Vedas, Puranas and other shastras as well as astronomy/geography, both ancient i.e. sidhantic and modern. Let us see these criteria one by one: 1. The Vedas : All the four Vedas, Brahmanas and Upanasihadas etc. state that the year comprises six seasons of two months each. Shishira-ritu viz. winter and the month of Tapah start simultaneously with Uttarayana viz. Winter Solstice i.e. the shortest day of the year. That very month is also known as Magha. It is followed by other months viz. Tapasya (Phalguna) and (Vasanta ritu comprising) Madhu (Chaitra) and Madhav (Vaishakha). Thus solar Chaitra is the third month from the date of Winter Solstice. Therefore, it should start these days three months after December 21 i.e. around February 20. In fact, it started on February 19 in 2004. 2. Vedanga Jyotisha : The earliest recorded work on Vedic astronomy is Vedanga Jyotisha also known as Rik/Yajur Jyotisha by Lagadha. It was compiled around thirteenth century BCE i.e. about 3300 years back, most probably in Kashmir. The fifth and the sixth verses of the same are: swarakramete Somarkau yada sakam savasavav, syat-tadadiyugam maghas-tapah shuklo dinam-tyajah “When the sun and the moon while moving in the sky, come to Vasava (Dhanishtha) star together, then the Yuga, the Magha (month) the Tapas (season), the light half of the month, and the winter solstice (Uttarayana), all commence together” prapadyate shavishshthadav suryachandramsav-udak sarparde dakshinarkastu Magha shravanayoh sada “The sun and the moon turn towards North in the beginning of Dhanishtha and towards South in the middle of Ashlesha. The sun always does this (turn north) in the month of Magha and (turn south) in Shravana respectively” Vedanga Jyotisha has made it clear in its seventh mantra that by Uttaryana it means really the shortest day of the year instead of some imaginary Uttarayana like January 14 of some Panchangakars of these days: dharma vridhir apam prasthah kshapa hras udag-gatav dakshine-tau viparyastav shanmuhurtyaynen tu “During the sun’s northward journey (six months of Uttarayana) the day increases by one Prastha measure of water and the night becomes short. During the southward journey (six months of Dakshinayana), the conditions reverse. The increase (of time) during an ayana is equal to six muhurtas”. (S. B. Dikshit’s translation for all the three mantras) 1 Further, as everybody knows, and as every Panchanga indicates, Vasanta (Spring) starts exactly on the day of Madhu i.e. February 19/20. It is a geographical phenomenon and cannot be wished away or altered. How could then Vasanti Navratra start on March 21, 2004 after one month after the start of the month of Madhu i.e. the real Vasanta (Spring)? Thus there is absolutely no doubt that the Vasanti Navratras which we are celebrating these days are not on the correct days as per either the Vedas or the Vedanga Jyotisha or the phenomenon of seasons. But then why are we celebrating them on wrong days? Because our panchangakars, including the Rashtriya Panchanga do not tell us the correct days! Is it that they do not know the correct criteria/days of these phenomena themselves? Madhava cannot be equal to Chaitra if it is equal to Mesha and Vasanti Navratraas cannot wait for more than a month after the start of Vasanta Ritu! : If you look at any Panchanga, including the Rashtriya Panchanga, in any language, you will find that they have mentioned the start of the month of Madhu and Vasanta Ritu on that date viz. February 19, 2004. Rashtriya Panchanga lists the month starting with February 19 as the Vedic Mina. The first New Moon ( Shukla Pratipat ) after the solar Chaitra i.e. Madhu (Vedic Mina as per the Rashtriya Panchanga) is thus Chaitra Shukla Pratipat . It was on February 21 in 2004. As such, the real Vasanti Navratras started on February 21, 2004. It is known as Navreh in Kashmir, Gudi Padva in Maharashtra and Ugadi in Andhra etc. That would have satisfied the criterion of the Vedas that madhuscha madhavashcha vasantikav ritu (Yajurveda Samhita 4/4/11/1) i.e. Madhu (Chaitra) and Madhava (Vaishakha) are the months of Vasanta i.e. Spring Season. Obviously, Chaitra Shukla Paksha is the start of the first lunar month of Vasanta as per all the Vedas also. Naturally, since as per all the Panchangas, Vasanta Ritu started on February 19, 2004, the solar Chaitra also should have started on that date of Madhu i.e. February 19 but ironically it was made to start on March 14 and the Rashtriya Panchanga starts it (Chaitra) on March 21 every year, when Madhava i.e. Vaishakha is supposed to start as per all the Vedas and Puranas. Surprisingly, Rashtriya Panchanga itself calls this month (March 21) as Vedic Mesha and Madhava! How they can call Mesha and Madhava as Chaitra, they only can say! Accordingly, the Lunar Chaitra was made to start on March 21 (which should have been actually Vaishakha Shukla paksha!) instead of February 21! When Vasanta Ritu started on February 19, 2004, according to all the Panchangas, the first shukla pratipat after that, which was on February 21, 2004, should naturally have been Vasanti Navratra! Thus the solar Chaitra and the Navratras, both, were “postponed” exactly by one month against the injunctions of all the Vedas. Why ? Because either our panchangakars themselves have no knowledge about the criteria of festivals or they are making a fool of us deliberately! Vasanta Panchami in mid-winter: Then again, do you know when we were asked to celebrate Vasanta Panchami by these very panchangakars according to whom Vasanti navratras started on March 21? January 26, 2004! That means Vasanta Panchami was celebrated two months before even their own Vasanta Shukla Pratipat ! Only the insane and dimwitted can celebrate Spring in mid-Winter! Evidently, either our panchangakars are either themselves insane and dimwitted or they treat us like that! Ramanavmi: Goswami Tulsidas says in his immortal Ramacharitamanasa : navmi tithi Madhumas punita, sukalpachha abhijit hariprita “Shri Ram was born on navmi tithi of shukla paksha in the month of Madhu, in Abhijit muhurta”. We have seen that Madhu or Chaitra and Spring (Vasanta) both commence simultaneously around February 19 every year as per the Vedas and Vedanga Jyotisha. In fact they are synonyms of one another. Let us now see other authorities in this regard: 3. Vishnu-dharmortarapurana: As per “Alberuni’s India”, in 11 th century-India all the festivals were decided as per the criteria of Vishnu-dharmotarapurana. It says in 3/9/4-5 …chaitro madhur-iti smritah, vaishakho madhavah proktah, shuchir jyeshthah udahritah shuklah proktastatha ashado nabhah shravan ishyete, praushthapado nabhasyashcha ishashch ashvayujah smritah 2 urjakhyah kartikah prokto margshirshah sahastatha sahasya paush ityukto maghah syat tap eva cha phalgunashcha tapasyakhyo maso… “(i) Chaitra is known as Madhu (or Madhu is known as Chaitra)! (ii) Vaishakha as Madhava; (iii) Jyeshtha as Shuchih; (iv) Ashadha as Shuklah (or Shukrah); (v) Nabhah as Shravana; (vi) Praushthapada (Bhadrapada) as Nabhasya; (vii) Ashvayuja (Ashvina) as Ishah; (viii) Urja as Kartika; (ix) Margashirsha as Saha; (x) Sahasya as Pausha; (xi) Magha as Tapah and (xii) Phalguna as Tapasya.” As we have seen above, Madhu started on February 19 and Chaitra Shukla Pratipad started on Februrary 21 which means Ramanavmi should have been on February 29, 2004. Our panchangakars (including, of course, the Rashtriya Panfhanga!) made us celebrate Ramanavmi on March 30, 2004, whereas Madhu ended on March 20 and the real Chaitra Shuklapaksha on March 7! Why did they compel us to celebrate it on a wrong day—nay, even in a wrong month? Because they know fully well that in spite of claiming to be educated and intelligent people, we are not going to ask any inconvenient questions! But then, are we really intelligent and educated if we do not know anything about the criteria of our festivals? Or is it that our panchangakars also are lacking in education and intelligence and they do not know even ABC of our dharmashastras? Well, they alone can answer that question for themselves! 4. Sidhantas: The earliest “most accurate (?!)” ( spashta-taro savitrah ) astronomical treatise of Indian astronomy is supposed to be the Surya Sidhanta of 5 th century AD.