Vikram Samvat and Bestu Varas

The Arithmetic First

Vikram Samvat (વિક્રમ સંવત) begins in what the Common Era counts as 57 BCE. So:

Vikram Samvat ≈ Common Era + 57

The Gregorian year 2026 therefore corresponds to Vikram Samvat 2082 for most of its length. The word "most" is doing real work in that sentence, and the reason is the next section.

You will also see Shake (Shalivahana Shaka) in a full panchang, which runs the other way: Shake ≈ Common Era − 78, making 2026 into Shake 1947-48. Shake is India's national civil era, used on government calendars. Vikram Samvat is the one used in day-to-day Gujarati religious and commercial life.

Bestu Varas: Gujarat's New Year

Here is where Gujarat parts company with much of North India.

In Gujarat, the Vikram Samvat year turns on Kartak sud ekam — the first tithi of the bright fortnight of Kartak, which is the morning after Diwali. This is Bestu Varas (બેસતું વર્ષ), also called Nutan Varsh. Across most of the rest of the Vikram Samvat region, the year instead turns on Chaitra sud ekam, around March or April, the day known elsewhere as Gudi Padwa or Ugadi.

The practical effect is that between roughly Chaitra and Kartak, a Gujarati calendar and a North Indian one can be showing different Samvat numbers for the same day. Both are internally consistent. They simply place the year boundary in different places.

Where the Era Comes From

The era is traditionally attributed to King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, said to have established it to mark a victory over the Shakas. That attribution is traditional rather than firmly documented: historians have debated the identity of Vikramaditya and the origin of the era for well over a century, and the earliest inscriptions using the count by that name are considerably later than 57 BCE.

What is not in doubt is the era's continuity. Whatever its origin, the count has run without interruption for more than two thousand years, and remains the working religious calendar across Gujarat, Rajasthan and much of North India, as well as the official calendar of Nepal.

The Sixty-Year Cycle

Alongside the Samvat number, a panchang names each year from a repeating cycle of sixty, the Jovian or samvatsara cycle — Prabhava, Vibhava, Shukla, Pramoduta and so on through to Kshaya. The cycle is loosely tied to Jupiter's roughly twelve-year orbit, five of which make sixty years.

You will see the name printed in the daily panchang next to the Samvat number. It is a traditional label rather than something that affects any calculation.

Ayana and Rutu

Two more year-level markers appear on every panchang page:

• Ayana — the half-year defined by the Sun's apparent direction of travel. Uttarayan is the northward half, dakshinayan the southward. The transition into uttarayan is marked in Gujarat by Makar Sankranti, the kite festival, which falls around 14 January.
• Rutu — the season, of which the traditional Indian year has six rather than four: Vasant (spring), Grishma (summer), Varsha (monsoon), Sharad (autumn), Hemant (early winter) and Shishir (late winter). Each spans about two lunar months.

Makar Sankranti is worth a moment because it is one of the very few Hindu festivals that stays put on the Gregorian calendar. That is because it is a solar event — the Sun entering Makar rashi — rather than a lunar one. Every festival tied to a tithi moves; the ones tied to a sankranti barely do.

Reading the Year Line

A full panchang header might read: Vikram Samvat 2082, Shake 1947, dakshinayan, hemant rutu, Posh maas. Unpacked:

• Vikram Samvat 2082 — the year in the era used across Gujarat
• Shake 1947 — the same year in the national civil era
• Dakshinayan — the Sun is in its southward half-year
• Hemant rutu — early winter
• Posh maas — the third lunar month of the Gujarati year

For how the months themselves are organised, and what happens in a thirteen-month year, see how the Gujarati calendar works.

Frequently Asked Questions