Tithi – A Lunar Date

According to Indian calendar Tithi is a lunar date, and is one of the five important aspects
of an Indian almanac (Panchang – Panch means five and ang means parts). Most of the
Indian social and religious festivals are celebrated based on tithi. Until they left India and
went overseas, Indians didn’t really need to worry about tithi to celebrate their festivals
since a tithi in India almost invariably falls on the same day for the entire region of India.

Even after migration to overseas countries, Indians living overseas would still celebrate
their festivals on the same dates as Indians in India would. For those who would argue that
behind these festival celebrations, it’s the faith, that is more important than the date of
celebration, I’m hundred percent with them. However, the intention here is provide the
information for those who want to understand the importance behind the tithi on which
Indian festivals are based.

Calendar “date” that we are so familiar with in our daily life is based on solar calendar.
English calendar is a solar calendar. The basis for solar calendar is the rotation of the Earth
around the Sun. It takes earth approximately 365 ¼ days to complete its rotation around the
Sun. The English calendar that most of us use today divides the 365 days of earth’s period
of rotation around the Sun in twelve months. The leap year, which occurs once every four
years, accounts for ¼ day per year.

Similar to solar calendar lunar calendar is also popular and widely used in the Asian
countries such as China, Pacific-rim countries, Middle East countries, and India. Lunar
calendar, which is believed to have originated in India, has been around for a very long
time, even long before the solar calendar.

The lunar calendar is based on the moon’s rotation around the Earth. The lunar month
corresponds to one complete rotation of Moon around the Earth. Since this period of
rotation of moon around the earth varies, the duration of lunar month also varies. On
average, the lunar month has about 29 ½ days. In addition to moon’s rotation around the
earth, the lunar year is based on earth’s rotation around the Sun. In general, the lunar year
has twelve lunar months of approximately 354 days, thus making it shorter by about 11
days than the solar year. However, the lunar calendar accounts for this difference by adding
an extra lunar month about once every 2 ½ years. The extra lunar month is commonly
known as “Adhik Mas” in India (Adhik means extra and the Mas means month). The
concept of this extra month is similar to the “Blue Moon” in the West, which occurs almost
with the same frequency of 2 ½ years.

The Indian lunar year begins on the new moon day that occurs near the beginning of the
Spring season. The twelve lunar months are:

Chaitra
Vaishakh
Jeshta
Ashadh
Shrawan (Sawan)
Bhadrapad (Bhado)
Ashwin
Kartik
Margshirsh
Paush
Magha
Falgoon (Fagan)

As mentioned earlier, to account for the difference between the solar and lunar year an extra
lunar month occurs about every 2 ½ years as “Adhik Mas”.1[1]

According to the Moslem calendar which is widely followed in Middle East and in other
Moslem countries the lunar year is strictly based on twelve lunar months of 354 days per
year. That’s why their holy month of Ramadan occurs by approximately 11 to 12 days
earlier than that in the preceding year.

The solar day (commonly referred as the “the date” in western calendar) has a fixed length
of 24 hours. The change of date occurs at midnight as per local time or standard time of a
given local time zone. Thus, the date changes from midnight to midnight. Similarly the
day (as in weekdays) changes from midnight to midnight as per local or standard time for
that location. In other words, as per western (or English) calendar the length of day and
date is exactly 24 hours, and there is a definite correspondence between the date and the
corresponding day of the week.

A lunar day usually begins at sunrise, and the length of lunar day is determined by the time
elapsed between the successive sunrises. As per Jewish calendar their lunar day begins at
the sunset, and lasts through the next sunset. A lunar day is essentially the same as a
weekday. In India the lunar day is commonly referred as “War”. Just like English calendar
has seven days for a week, Indian calendar has seven wars for a week. Thus,

English calendar weekdays Indian calendar weekdays

Sunday Raviwar
Monday Somwar (Chandrawar)
Tuesday Mangalwar
Wednesday Budhwar
Thursday Guruwar
Friday Shukrawar
Saturday Shaniwar

The lunar date, however, varies approximately between 22 to 26 hours based on the angular
rotation of moon around the earth in its elliptical orbit. In Indian calendar, lunar date is
referred as “Tithi”. The basis for the length of a lunar date is the angular distance between
the sun and the moon as seen from the earth. As the moon rotates around the earth, the
angular distance between the sun and the moon as seen from the earth increases from 0

1
degrees to 360 degrees. It takes one lunar month or about 29 ½ solar days for the angular
distance between the sun and the moon to change from 0 to 360 degrees. When the angular
distance reaches zero, the next lunar month begins. Thus, at the new moon a lunar month
begins, at full moon, the angular distance between the sun and the moon as seen from the
earth becomes exactly 180 degrees.

The lunar cycle begins with crescent moon and the crescent phase lasts till that phase
culminates in the full moon, typically lasting for about 15 days. Then the moon enters in
the waning phase until it disappears from the sky by lining up with the Sun. The waning
phase also lasts for about 15 days. According Indian lunar month, the crescent lunar phase
fortnight is called as “Shudha or Shukla Paksha” and the waning phase of the lunar cycle
fortnight as “Wadya or Krushna Paksha”. Thus, during Shudha (or Shukla) Paksha the
angular distance between the moon and the sun varies from 0 degrees to 180 degrees while
that during the Wadya (or Krushna) Paksha from 180 to 0 degrees. If we divide 180
degrees into 15 equal parts, then each part becomes of 12 degrees in length. Thus, this each
twelve-degree portion of angular distance between the moon and the sun as it appears from
the earth is the lunar date or Tithi. Tithis or lunar dates in Shudha (or Shukla) Paksha begin
with Prathama (first), Dwitiya (second), etc. till we reach the Poornima, the lunar date for
full moon day. Similarly for the waning fortnight lunar cycle or Wadya (or Krushna)
Paksha, tithis begin again with Prathama (first), Dwitiya (second), etc. till we arrive
Amavasya or a day before the new moon. Thus when we refer to Ramnavami (the birthday
of Rama), it’s the Navami (ninth lunar day) of Shudha Paksha of the lunar month Chaitra,
or Chaitra Shudha Navami. Similarly, the Gokulashtmi (also called as Janmashtami, the
birthday of Krisha) occurs on Shrawan Wadya Ashtami (eighth lunar day of Wadya Paksha
of the lunar month Shrawan).

The angular velocity of moon in its elliptical orbit around the earth continuously varies as it
is affected (according to Kepler’s rule) by the relative distance between the earth and the
moon, and also by the earth’s relative distance from the sun. As a result, the daily angular
speed (the speed of the angle between the moon and the sun as seen from the earth) varies
somewhere between 10 to 14 degrees. Since the length of a tithi corresponds to 12 such
degrees, the length of a tithi also varies accordingly. Therefore, a tithi can extend over one
day (24 hour period) or it can get skipped if two tithis occur in one day.

Since the angular distance between the moon and the sun as referred here is always relative
to the entire earth, a lunar day or tithi starts the same time everywhere in the world but not
necessarily on the same day. Thus, when a certain tithi starts at 10:30 PM in India it also
begins in New York at the same time, which is 12 PM (EST) on the same day. Since the
length of a tithi can vary between 20 to 28 hours, its correspondence to a War (a weekday)
becomes little confusing.

As per Indian calendar, the tithi for a given location on the earth depends on the angular
distance between the moon and the sun relative to the earth at the time of sunrise at that
location. Thus, for instance, assume on a November Monday sunrise in New York city
occurs 8:30 AM (EST). Further assume that at 9 AM (EST) on Monday the angular
distance between the sun and moon is exactly 12 degrees just following the new moon of
the Indian lunar month Kartik. Since the length of a tithi is 12 degrees, the tithi, Kartik
Shudha Dwitiya (second day) begins exactly at 9 AM on Monday of that November in New
York. However, at the time of sunrise on that Monday the tithi Dwitiya has not begun.
Therefore, the tithi for that Monday for city of New York is Kartik Shudha Prathama (first
day).

On the same Monday morning the sunrise in Los Angeles occurs well past 9 AM (EST).
Since the tithi Dwitiya occurs everywhere in the world at the same instant, therefore, for
Los Angeles, the tithi for that Monday would be Kartik Shudha Dwitiya.

For the same Monday at 9 AM (EST), it would be 7:30 PM in Mumbai or New Delhi.
Thus, Tithi for that Monday for city of New York, Mumbai, and New Delhi is Kartik
Shudha Prathama (the first day of Indian lunar month Kartik) while for most of the regions
west of Chicago or St. Louis the tithi for that Monday is Dwitiya. In other words, the tithi
Kartik Shudha Prathama for regions west of Chicago or St. Louis should occur on the
preceding day, the Sunday.

Kartik Shudha Prathama (the first day of Indian lunar month Kartik) also happens to be the
first day after Diwali. Most of the Indians celebrate this as their New Year’s day. Indians
living in India, Europe, and eastern part of the United States thus should celebrate their
New Year on that Monday while regions west of Chicago should on the preceding day, the
Sunday.

– Jagdish C. Maheshri
October 12, 2000

[1] Adhik Mas occurs only when two amavasyas (no moon day) occur while Sun remains in the
same sidereal zodiac sign. For more information on sidereal (or fixed) zodiac system refer to book,
“It’s all in Timing”, Jagdish C. Maheshri, Noble House, 1997