This news article from The Kathmandu Post reports recent effort by some astrologers to reform the prevalent Bikram Era calendar to fix the dates of festivals that have altered in the past two thousand years due to precession of equinoxes. The news article is not, however, totally right. Don’t believe a word said in the first paragraph.
Calendars behind by 23 days
BY PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, June 22 – Are your getting married? Are you observing your father’s or mother’s death anniversary? Be careful, the astrologers’ advice on auspicious dates for conducting such rituals are all wrong, if a report presented by the Festival Reforms National Taskforce (FRNT) to the government Friday means anything.According to the report, the earth’s rotation around its axis at an inclination of 23.5 degrees has resulted in a gain of one day every 72 years. There has been no adjustment for this in calendars since the past 1,656 years. This means that the calendars are behind by 23 days.
Conducting rituals on auspicious dates and at auspicious hours is a widespread tradition in Nepal. Since the calendar our astrologers use to suggest such days and hours is flawed, we have been celebrating even our important festivals on the wrong days, claimed astrologers in the report presented to Minister of Culture,Tourism and Civil Aviation Prithvi Subba Gurung.
FRNT, a 19-member committee, was formed by the ministry on December 12 last year following a controversy over the accuracy of calendars in use. The taskforce, headed by Jal Krishna Shrestha, joint secretary at the ministry, comprises astrologers and religious figures, among others.
