World Calendars
Indian national calendar date today
After studying about thirty calendars in use across India, a committee led by Meghnad Saha designed this solar calendar, adopted in 1957. Each month starts on the same Gregorian date every year.
20 Kartika 1948 Śaka
20 कार्तिक 1948 शक
- In the Gregorian calendar
- Wednesday 11 November 2026
- This day began
- At midnight, as Wednesday 11 November 2026 begins
- This day ends
- At midnight, as Thursday 12 November 2026 begins
- Year 1948 Śaka began
- Sunday 22 March 2026
- Next new year
- Monday 22 March 2027 (in 131 days)
- This year has
- 365 days in 12 months
- Year 1 began
- 22 March AD 79 (Gregorian calendar counted backwards)
- Who uses it
- The Government of India, the Gazette of India and All India Radio news
- New year
- 22 March, or 21 March in leap years
- Years count from
- 78 CE, so years run 78 behind the Gregorian count
- Unusual detail
- The 31-day months come first, when the sun appears to move slower
Next holidays in this calendar
131 days
Indian national new year 1 Chaitra 1949 Śaka
22 March 2027 · Indian national (Śaka)
How the Indian national calendar works
The year has 12 months. Chaitra, the first, has 30 days, or 31 in a leap year. The next five months have 31 days and the last six have 30. The longer months come in the first half of the year to match the sun's slower apparent movement at that time. The year begins on 22 March, or on 21 March in a Gregorian leap year.
| No. | Month | Days | Starts on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chaitra | 30 or 31 | 22 March (21 March in leap years) |
| 2 | Vaisakha | 31 | 21 April |
| 3 | Jyaishtha | 31 | 22 May |
| 4 | Asadha (Ashadha) | 31 | 22 June |
| 5 | Sravana | 31 | 23 July |
| 6 | Bhadra | 31 | 23 August |
| 7 | Asvina | 30 | 23 September |
| 8 | Kartika | 30 | 23 October |
| 9 | Agrahayana (Margasirsha) | 30 | 22 November |
| 10 | Pausa (Pausha) | 30 | 22 December |
| 11 | Magha | 30 | 21 January |
| 12 | Phalguna | 30 | 20 February |
To find a leap year, add 78 to the Śaka year. If the result is a Gregorian leap year, the Śaka year is one too. Year 0 of the Śaka era corresponds to 78 CE, so the Śaka year is 78 behind the Gregorian year, and 79 behind from January until Chaitra begins in March. The weekdays are named after the seven classical planets, and the government calendar counts Sunday as the first day of the week.
Variants and the method used here
The national calendar has one fixed rule, and this site follows it exactly, using the open-source @internationalized/date library. The month start dates it produces match the table above. Dates before 22 March 1957 are calculated backwards with the same rule, for years when the calendar did not yet exist.
The month names come from the older Hindu lunisolar calendar, so spellings vary and the national calendar is easily confused with the traditional ones. Hindu and Buddhist calendars use the sidereal zodiac, while the national calendar's months follow the tropical zodiac. Other calendars counted in the Śaka era are still in use, which adds to the confusion. A date in a religious almanac (panchang) is a separate system and is not shown here.
A short history
The astrophysicist Meghnad Saha pressed for a reform, and in 1952 the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research set up a Calendar Reform Committee under him. It studied about thirty calendars in use across India. In 1954 it recommended a fixed tropical solar calendar for civil use, which was adopted. Its proposed lunisolar calendar for religious purposes was not accepted. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the preface to the committee's report, published in 1955.
Official use began on 1 Chaitra 1879 Śaka, 22 March 1957. The Gazette of India, All India Radio news broadcasts, and calendars and communications from the Government of India use it alongside the Gregorian calendar. Panchang makers and the public never widely took it up, and its use is now largely limited to government offices.
Sources
How this site calculates the date: Indian national calendar (1957 reform), solar, years of the Śaka era.