1
Okdoh/Prathma
2
Doy/Dwitiya
3
Trey/Tritiya
4
Tsoram/Chaturthi
5
Pantsam/Panchami
6
Sheyam/Shashthi
7
Sattam/Saptami
8
A'tham/Ashtami
9
Navam/Navmi
10
Daham/Dashmi
11
Kah/Ekadashi
12
Bah/Dwadashi
13
Truvah/Trayodashi
14Tsodah/Chaturdashi
15
Mavas/Amavasya
Gattapachh Zoonapachh
<--Krishnapaksha Shuklapaksha -->
2 Doy/Dwitiya
3 Trey/Tritiya
4Tsoram/Chaturthi
5 Pantsam/Panchami
6 Sheyam/Shashthi
7 Sattam/Saptami
8 A'tham/Ashtami
9 Navam/Navmi
10 Daham/Dashmi
11 Kah/Ekadashi
12 Bah/Dwadashi
13Truvah/Trayodashi
14 Tsodah/Chaturdashi
15 Punim/Purnima
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Introduction
To begin with,
I must confess that I am no jyotishi, and no expert on religion or calendars.
In fact the only use I myself have for the Kashmiri calendar is to keep
track of birthdays and anniversaries of relatives and friends, and of some
other festivals peculiar to Kashmiris. I am a rationalist and do
not believe in any superstitions, auspicious dates, and so on.
I am just sharing this with the Kashmiri visitors to my website because I happen to be the one in my household who knows how to read the jantri. Though the whole thing is not very complicated, it is generally presented in a manner that scares most modern people. As a result most people have switched over to the Christian calendar for observing the various anniversaries. I have seen people of younger generation depending on letters (by snail mail, mostly) from home for important dates. I feel a bit uncomfortable with this -- let us have some link to our roots :-). Some people may wish to keep track of the atham (ashtami) and mavas (amavasya) as they would like to remain vegetarian on these days.
Basics of the calendar
The calendar traditionally followed by Kashmiri Pandits, and in fact most Hindus, is a lunar calendar, and thus more complicated. The solar calendar counts the period of earth's revolution around the sun as one year, and divides the period into 12 months. The lunar calendar counts the period of moon's revolution around earth as one month, and names each day on the basis of the phase of the moon.Months
The twelve months of the calendar are (Kashmiri names in italics):Chaitra,
Vaisakh, Jyeshtha, Ashadh, Shravan, Bhadra, Ashwin, Kartik, Marg, Paush,
Magh, Falgun
(Tsitter,
Vahek, Zeth, Haar, Shravun, Ba'drepeth, A'shid, Kartik, Monjhor, Poh, Maag,
Fagun)
Fortnights
Each month has two fortnights: Krishna paksha (Gatta pachh) and Shukla paksha (Zoon pachh). The Gatta pachh is the fortnight when the moon vanes. The day after a full moon is the first day of the Gatta pachh. Two weeks later the Gatta Pachh ends on Amavasya (Mavas) when there is no moon. With the new moon, starts the Shukla Paksha (Zoon Pachh), which ends on the full moon day called Purnima (Punim). Half moon days in each paksha are important and are called Ashtami (A'tham)Days of the fortnight
The days of the fortnight are:Prathma, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navmi, Dashmi, Ekadashi, Dwadashi, Trayodashi, Chaturdashi, Amavasya/Purnima
(1 Okdoh, 2 Doy, 3 Trey, 4 Tsoram, 5 Pantsam, 6 Sheyam, 7 Sattam, 8 A'tham, 9 Navam, 10 Daham, 11 Kah, 12 Bah, 13 Truvah, 14 Tsodah, 15 Mavas/Punim)
If you look at the calendars on this site, you will see that in most fortnights some days are missing (raavaan). Days which are repeating are called huraan. At times even a month is repeated, for example the month of Jyeshtha (Zeth) in the 1999-2000 AD (2056 Vikrami). In a normal year, the lunar year falls approximately 10 days short of a solar year, so every fourth year, a month is added to compensate the shortfall.
Navreh
(the new years day) is on Chaitra Shuklapaksha Prathama (Tsitter
Zoonpachh Okdoh), i.e., mid-way through Chaitra.