Calendars and Eras of India: Saka, Vikram, Hijri

The correct answer is B, the Saka era. The national calendar counts its years in the Saka reckoning, which began in 78 CE, so a Saka year is found roughly by subtracting 78 from the Christian year; it is printed in the Gazette of India and read out in the news bulletins of All India Radio. Option A, Vikram Samvat, began in 57 BCE and is the era of most traditional almanacs of northern India and the official calendar of Nepal, but it was not chosen for the national calendar. Option C, the Hijri era, began in 622 CE and is purely lunar, which makes it unsuitable for civil use in which dates must keep step with the seasons. Option D, the Gupta era, began about 319 CE and is of interest only to historians dating inscriptions.

The correct answer is C, 22 March 1957. That day was 1 Chaitra 1879 of the Saka era, and the calendar came into use on the recommendation of the Calendar Reform Committee, which had reported in 1955. Option A, 15 August 1947, is the date of independence and has nothing to do with the calendar question, though candidates reach for it whenever a national decision is asked about. Option B, 26 January 1950, is the day the Constitution came into force and the State Emblem was adopted, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer here. Option D, 1 April 1960, is simply a plausible looking date; note that 1 April is the start of the Indian financial year, which is a separate fact and a separate question. Remember the pairing: Saka era, 22 March 1957.

The correct answer is A, Chaitra. The national calendar begins on 1 Chaitra, which corresponds to 22 March in an ordinary year and to 21 March in a leap year, so that the year opens near the spring equinox. Chaitra has 30 days, or 31 in a leap year. Option B, Vaishakha, is the second month and has 31 days, like the four months that follow it up to Bhadra. Option C, Magha, is the eleventh month and is familiar to students because of Magha Purnima and the Magh Mela, which is why it is placed here. Option D, Kartika, is the eighth month of the national calendar, but in Gujarat the Vikram Samvat year begins in Kartika, the day after Diwali, and that genuine exception is what makes this option a trap.

The correct answer is B, 78 CE. The Saka reckoning is most often linked with the Kushana ruler Kanishka, and it is the era on which the Indian National Calendar is built, so the Saka year is about 78 less than the Christian year. Option A, 57 BCE, is the starting point of Vikram Samvat, traditionally connected with King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, and because 57 and 78 are the two numbers every candidate half remembers, they are placed together in almost every question of this kind. Option C, 319 CE, is the start of the Gupta era, founded by Chandragupta I and used to date Gupta inscriptions. Option D, 622 CE, is the start of the Hijri era, counted from the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.

The correct answer is A, 57 years. Vikram Samvat began in 57 BCE, so the Vikrami year is obtained by adding 57 to the Christian year; this is the era printed on wedding invitations and traditional almanacs in northern India and is the official calendar of Nepal. Option B, 78 years, is the difference for the Saka era, which runs behind the Christian year rather than ahead of it, and the examiner counts on candidates confusing the direction as well as the number. Option C, 135 years, is the sum of 57 and 78 and is offered to catch a candidate who adds the two figures by mistake. Option D, 622 years, is the starting year of the Hijri era, not a difference at all; note also that Hijri years cannot be converted by simple subtraction because that calendar is lunar.

The correct answer is B, the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina. That journey of 622 CE is called the Hijrat, and the era takes its name from it; the first month of the Hijri year is Muharram. Option A is wrong because the birth of the Prophet, kept as Id-e-Milad, is an occasion of the calendar and not its starting point. Option C is wrong because the first revelation, remembered in the month of Ramzan on Shab-e-Qadr, again falls inside the calendar rather than beginning it. Option D is wrong because the conquest of Mecca came later, in the eighth year of the Hijri reckoning, and so cannot be its own starting point. Keep two further facts with this one: the Hijri year has twelve lunar months and about 354 days, so it is roughly eleven days shorter than the solar year.

The correct answer is B, purely lunar. Its months follow the phases of the moon and no month is ever added to bring the year back into line with the seasons, so twelve lunar months give about 354 days and the Hijri year slips about eleven days earlier against the Gregorian year; that is why Ramzan can fall in winter in one part of a lifetime and in summer in another. Option A is wrong because a purely solar calendar, such as the Gregorian, is tied to the earth's journey round the sun. Option C is wrong because a lunisolar calendar, which is what the Hindu calendars are, counts months by the moon but inserts an extra month, the Adhik Maas, about every thirty-two and a half months. Option D names a reckoning by the fixed stars, which is used in astronomy, not for this calendar.

The correct answer is C, 319 CE. The Gupta era, dated to 319 or 320 CE, is taken to begin with the accession of Chandragupta I, the first great ruler of the dynasty, and most Gupta inscriptions are dated in it. Option A, 78 CE, is the Saka era, which is linked with Kanishka and is the basis of the Indian National Calendar. Option B, 248 CE, is the Kalachuri or Chedi era, used in western and central India and found in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris; it is the least known of the four and therefore a useful distractor. Option D, 606 CE, is the Harsha era, counted from the accession of Harshavardhana of Kannauj, whose court the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang visited. Learning these four together with their rulers clears most era questions in history papers.

The correct answer is A, Meghnad Saha. The astrophysicist, known for the Saha ionisation equation that explains the spectra of stars, headed the committee set up under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1952; it reported in 1955 and the calendar it recommended came into use on 22 March 1957. Option B, C. V. Raman, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for the scattering effect that carries his name, but he had no part in this committee. Option C, Homi Bhabha, is the father of the Indian nuclear programme and the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, a different field altogether. Option D, S. N. Bose, is remembered for Bose-Einstein statistics and for the particles called bosons. All four are famous Indian physicists, which is precisely why the question is set this way.

The correct answer is B, Pope Gregory XIII. The Julian calendar then in use counted the year slightly too long, and by the sixteenth century the error had grown to ten days; the Pope's reform of 1582 dropped those days and changed the leap year rule, so that a century year is a leap year only when it is also divisible by 400. Option A, Julius Caesar, introduced the earlier Julian calendar in 46 BCE, which is the reform the Gregorian one corrected, and that is why he is the leading distractor. Option C, Augustus Caesar, is remembered in the name of the month August and for adjusting the length of the months, but not for a new calendar. Option D, Pope Urban II, called the First Crusade in 1095 and has no connection with calendars. Britain and its Indian territories adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

The correct answer is C, five. The word panchang is made of panch, meaning five, and anga, meaning limb, and the five limbs recorded for every day are the tithi or lunar day, the vara or weekday, the nakshatra or lunar mansion, the yoga and the karana. Options A, B and D are wrong simply because the count is fixed at five and the name itself carries the number, so a candidate who knows the meaning of the word can never lose this mark. It is worth adding two related facts that are asked beside this one: a lunar month ends at the full moon in the Purnimanta system followed in northern India and at the new moon in the Amanta system followed in the south and west, and an extra month called Adhik Maas is inserted about every thirty-two and a half months.

The correct answer is A, the new moon. Amanta is formed from ama, the new moon, and anta, the end, so the month closes on the new moon day and the next month opens with the bright fortnight; Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat follow it. Option B, the full moon, is the end of the month in the Purnimanta system followed in most of northern India, which is the other half of the pair and the reason the same festival can carry two different month names in the two regions. Option C, the first quarter, is a phase of the moon but marks no month ending in either system. Option D, Ekadashi, is the eleventh day of a fortnight and is observed as a fast; it is a day within the month, never its end.