Image: BK, 2007. “Croton plant”. Eelam.

Calendars of Tamils

The Gregorian calendar system is the calendar used in most of the world. It is called the “English calendar”, the “Norwegian Calendar” or other based on the people that follow it. Tamils have created two calendar systems based on the Tamil Almanac (பஞ்சாங்கம்; pañcāṅkam), which are according to astrology.

14th April

One starts on 14th April (15th in a leap year), which is called the “Tamil calendar”. The day is celebrated as cittiraip poṅkal (சித்திரைப் பொங்கல்) to mark the entry of the sun into Aries that marks the beginning of spring. The calendar system that starts on 14th April is also used by other ethnicities in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. Some of the terms used in this calendar are from Sanskrit. Therefore, there is a perspective that the calendar is based on Hinduism. However, according to Ampalam (TamilNet, 2008), the terms can always be replaced by Tamil terms. Tamil is a Dravidian language whereas Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan. Both are among the ancient languages of the world, but Tamil is the oldest surviving ancient language in the world.

14th January

The other starts on 14th January (15th in a leap year), which is called the “Valluvar year”, “Thiruvalluvar year” or “Tamil calendar”. The day is celebrated as Taip poṅkal (தைப் பொங்கல்) by Tamils, marking the entry of the sun into Capricorn. It marks the transit of the sun from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere of the earth. Apart from the concept of Tamil new year in this calendar system, the festival of Taip poṅkal (தைப் பொங்கல்) alone is a four-day non-religious harvest festival. It is a Tamil cultural and agricultural festival (தமிழர் திருநாள்; உழவர் திருநாள்) to honour the sun, cattle and crops.

This calendar is known as Valluvar year, Thiruvalluvar year or Tamil calendar because it is calculated on the basis of the supposed year of birth of the Tamil poet-philosopher Valluvar from the Sangam period. Compared to the Gregorian calendar, the Thiruvalluvar year will have an additional 31 years. On 14th January 2022, the Thiruvalluvar year is 2053. The calendar is used by Tamils around the world regardless of religion for cultural and agricultural events.

Both calendar systems are used accordingly and as required for cultural, religious and agricultural events of Tamils in South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and around the world where Tamils live. At the same time, the Gregorian calendar is largely used for official purposes. Tamil organisations, businesses and temples in the Tamil diaspora produce the Tamil calendar reckoned by the European time. The Tamil equivalents to the months in the Gregorian calendar are mentioned above.

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Reference:

Ampalam. (2008, April 13). “Tamil New Year”. TamilNet. Retrieved from https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?artid=25298&catid=99.

Ampalam. (2008, April 14). “Liberate Calendar”. TamilNet. Retrieved from https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=99&artid=25309.

Britannica. (n.a.). “Ancient and religious calendar systems”. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/Ancient-and-religious-calendar-systems#ref313439.

C. J. Fuller. (1980). “The Calendrical System in Tamilnadu (South India)”. Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/calendrical-system-in-tamilnadu-south-india/186A457C57BF7E62B0BD8D63D54F43C2.

Satyendra, N. (n.a.). “Festivals of The Tamil people: Tamil New Year Day – First of Thai”. Tamilnation.org. Retrieved from https://tamilnation.org/culture/festivals/tamil_new_year.htm.

TamilNet. (2011, August 23). “Tamil Nadu Assembly restores April New Year”. TamilNet. Retrieved from https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=34342.

Wikipedia. (n.a). “Tamil calendar”. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_calendar.

Wikipedia. (n.a). “Valluvar year”. Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valluvar_year.

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