[The Government of Nepal adopted the Vikram era as the
official calendar of Nepal only in 1903 AD. Least emphasis has been given
to other calendars. Even the Nepal Samvat, despite its 1132 years long
history, has become obscure in the country and unknown to the people of Nepal.
It all happened within a century or lesser than that as the state came forward
typifying itself how it could alter the culture and traditions of a
country when it desired to do so. It is a common practice to name an era
after a king, a popular individual or a religion throughout the history, but in
case of the Nepal Samvat,
it is named after the country itself. In this regard, it is a
unique example. However, following the Government's introduction of
'one language and one culture' policy, the Nepal era has lost
in status despite its exclusive history. This clearly indicates the
disrespect to the culture and tradition of the country by the then
Governments. They went as far as importing a foreign calendar to replace
already widely used era in the country.]
By Bal Gopal Shrestha PhD
Oxford University, UK
It is notable that
the people of Nepal celebrate New Year’s Day several times in a year. The
Government of Nepal celebrates its New Year’s Day during the change of the
Vikram calendar on the first day of Vaisakh in mid-April. The people of
Tibeto-Burman and Mongol origin in Nepal, such as the Gurung, the Tamang and
the Sherpa celebrate their New Year festivals Tola or Tamu Lhosar
(December/January), Sonam Lhosar (January/February) and Gyaplo Lhosar
(February/March), respectively in three different times of a year.
Similarly, people in Tarai celebrate their New Year at different times of
a year. Most recently Rai and Limbu people of Nepal also have begun to
celebrate New Year of the Kirata or Yela Samvat. Nowadays a small
minority in Nepal also celebrate New Year on the first day of January with
the change of the Gregorian calendar. However, only the Vikram Samvat is
used for official purposes in Nepal while all other calendars do not receive
any such recognition. In October 2011 during the celebration of New Year
1132, Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai declared Nepal Samvat to be used as an official calendar of Nepal and formed a committee under the chairmanship of Padma Ratna Tuladhar, the ardent campaigner of Nepal
Samvat. In the following year, during the celebration of the New Year
1133 in November 2012, the same Prime Minister, Dr. Bhattarai promised
implementing the report that Padma Ratna Tuladhar submitted to his
Government. He clearly stated the need of removing Vikram Samvat from
official use (Bhattarai 2012). However, before taking any action towards
this direction his opponents succeeded at dethroning him from his chair.
This means the objective of replacing of the Vikarm Samvat with a national
calendar will continue to remain in limbo.
Since past several decades, people across Nepal, especially
the Newar people have began nationwide campaigns demanding the recognition
of the Nepal Samvat as the country's national calendar. Due to the fact that
the Vikram era had its origin in ancient India while the Nepal Era was
originated in Nepal, and named after the country ‘Nepal’ itself, the pressure
for the recognition started to grow after the restoration of democracy in 1990.
In 1999, the then Government led by the Nepali Congress Party under the
premiership of the late Krishna Prasad Bhattarai recognized Samkhadar
Sakhva, the person believed to be founder of the Nepal era as a national
hero of Nepal. During the Nepal Era 1128 New Year celebration the then
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala 'proclaimed' that he would use the
epoch dates in his letter pads and would direct the Government
administration to follow the suit, but that never happened. On 24th
October 2008, the Maoists led cabinet meeting of the Government of the
Republic of Nepal unanimously declared that the Nepal Samvat as a National
era of Nepal. Politicians such as Dirgha Raj Prasain believes “Vikram
Samvat is a glory of Nepalese nationalism” and thinks, “Nepal Sambat is becoming like the begging bowl for
all party’s Bahun leaders” (Prasain 2010).
Despite disbeliefs and doubts, Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai
proclaimed he would recognize Nepal Samvat as the official calendar
of Nepal during the celebration of New Year 1132 Nepal Samvat on 25
October 2011. He even read out his speech in ‘Nepal Bhasa’ ( Newar
language) during the celebration, which was unprecedented as no
Nepalese Prime Minister had made his speech other than in Khas–Nepali ever
before.
The Government of Nepal adopted the
Vikram era as the official calendar of Nepal only in 1903 AD. Least
emphasis has been given to other calendars. Even the Nepal Samvat, despite
its 1132 years long history, has become obscure in the country and unknown to the
people of Nepal. It all happened within a century or lesser than that as the
state came forward typifying itself how it could alter the culture and
traditions of a country when it desired to do so. It is a common practice to
name an era after a king, a popular individual or a religion throughout
the history, but in case of the Nepal Samvat, it is named
after the country itself. In this regard, it is a
unique example. However, following the Government's introduction of
'one language and one culture' policy, the Nepal era has lost
in status despite its exclusive history. This clearly indicates the
disrespect to the culture and tradition of the country by the then
Governments. They went as far as importing a foreign calendar to replace
already widely used era in the country.
Facts about the Vikram Era
A most widely believed myth is that the king named
Vikramaditya of Ujjain in India initiated the Vikram Samvat. However, many
scholars consider Vikramaditya was a legendary ruler, while others stress
him as a historical figure and founder of the Vikram Era (Pandey 1951).
However, in his book D.C. Sircar states, it was only in the 8th century
that the reckoning began to attach with the name of the king Vikramaditya,
before that the era was associated with the Malavas of Rajasthan.
He further states, the era was at first known as the Krita era and
prevalent in Rajasthan among the Malava, hence also began to be known as
the Malava era. He asserts the epoch era began to be called the ‘era of
Vikram’ ‘the era known as Vikram’ or ‘Vikramaditya’ and ‘the era founded
by Vikramaditya’ only in the medieval period. He dismisses the claim that
king Vikramaditya of Ujjayani ever defeated the Sakas and founded the
Vikram era (Sircar 1996:251-58). Another scholar Basham (1975:495) states
‘the only king who both took the title Vikramaditya and drove the Sakas
from Ujjyini was Candra Gupta II, who lived over 400 years later than
the beginning of the Vikram era’. Similarly, Kane (1994:653) maintains
that the Vikramera is found mentioned not earlier than 8th or 9th century AD.
At its inception, the change of the year in the Vikram era
used to be in the month of Kartika, but by the medieval period (twelfth to
eighteenth century AD), it had become Caitradi or the ending in the month
of Caitra. At many parts of India, still people use it as a lunar
calendar. Till the medieval times the years of the epoch counted as
beginning from Kartika Sukla 1. Nowadays, in North India, the Vikram era
New Year begins on Chaitra Sukla 1 but in the South India from Kartika Sukla 1, in
a difference of seven months. In the North, it is counted as Purnamantaka while
in the South it is counted as Amanta. In some parts of Rajasthan and
Gujarati speaking areas, the beginning of the year is counted from Amanta
Asadha while in Udaipur region of Rajasthan it is counted from
Purnamantaka. Therefore, depending upon the beginning of the year, the
Vikram era is known as Karttikadi, Caitradi, Asadhadi and Sravanadi in
India (Sircar 1996:258). In Nepal, it is used as a solar calendar
for official purpose. In Nepal, every year on 13 or on 14 April the New
Year’s Day of the Vikram era is celebrated.
Some legends also relate Vikramaditya of Ujjayan with Nepal
for his mysterious deeds (Paudyal 1963:58-75). Daniel Wright edited History
of Nepal tells that during the reign of Amsuvarma, Vikramajit, a
powerful monarch of Hindustan who founded a new Era came to Nepal to
introduce his era and spent rest of his life (Wright 1972:131-32). The
supporters of Vikram Era also claim the bronze head kept at the temple of
Vajrayogini temple in Sankhu as the head of Vikramaditya,
which iconographically identified as a head of the Buddha (Sharma 1970:3).
However, only rare use of the Vikram era is to be found in Nepal to
substantiate its authenticity. The oldest inscription found in Nepal with
the Vikram era at Patan Sundhara is dated 1404 AD. This inscription
mentions the Vikram era 1461 but together with the Kaligata era 4505, the
Saka era 1326 and the Nepal era 524 (Pradhan 1998:66). Only in 1903
AD that the Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shamser introduced the Vikram era
in Nepal for the Government administration. By replacing the lunar based
Saka calendar with the solar calendar the shrewd Rana Prime Minister
tricked the Government staff and reduced the burden of paying salaries for
thirteenth months every two years (Pradhan 2000:6).
Jaggannatha and Vaijanath Sendhain’s versified panegyrics
written in praise of Chandra Shamsher explains his motives for adopting
Vikram Samvat and tells how the State benefits from such a measure and how
Chandra’s calendar reform of “tithi into miti” had finally rid the country
of the confusions of lunar tithi, 13-month year and dark half and bright
half of a lunar month (Sendhain 1913:84). However, the solar based Vikram
era has no cultural value in Nepal because the Nepalese people use lunar
calendar for observing all religious festivals, life cycle and death
rituals, birthdays and determining auspicious moment (sait) for any
religiously important activities, as well as observing holidays.
Many people also like to relate the celebration of the
Bisket festival with the New Year of the Vikram era because this festival falls
around the first day (samkranti or salhu) of Vaisakha month. However, analysing
a number of inscriptions and historical documents, Nepal’s prominent
epigraphist and historian Shyam Sundar Rajvamsi has revealed that Nepal Samvat
was used not only as a lunar calendar but also as a solar calendar. He affirms,
inscriptions, copper plates and historical documents dated from Licchavi and Malla
periods provide names of various important ‘samkranti’ or ‘salhu’, the first
day of solar months while there existed no traces of the Vikram era. He asserts
that the Nepal Samvat and the older form of the Nepal Samvat served the purpose
of both lunar and solar calendars. He confirms the solar calendar of the Nepal
Era also consists 365 days, as it is the case with the Vikram Era (Rajvamsi
2012:39). In fact, the Bisket festival carries a distinct history and myths
that are entirely different from the celebration of the Vikram era New Year
(Prajapati 2006). For the Newars, the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu
Valley, the first day of the month of Vaisakh was known only as ‘Khai Salhu’
until recently. However, because of the official status of the Vikram era, its
New Year began to receive national attention and gradually people across the
country started celebrating its New Year. Hitherto, except at the Government
level, hardly general people were aware of its New Year.
In India, the central Government has adopted the Saka era
as the national and official era together with the Gregorian calendar
since 1957. To give uniformity to a national calendar, the Calendar Reform
Committee of India submitted this recommendation despite the fact that
people belonging to diverse religions, cultures and nationalities in India
practised more than thirty epoch calendars before 1957. Since 1957, India
celebrates 1 Caitra (22 March) as the New Year’s Day according to the Saka
era and observes it as a national holiday, but in different provinces,
regional New Year Day are observed according to their own tradition. The
publication dates of the Gazette of India, dates in diaries and
correspondences of the Government, and newspapers include the National
Calendar in addition to the Gregorian date in India. Similarly, early
morning broadcasts of All India Radio in various languages
announce National Calendar dates (Bandyopadhyay 1981).
Limitation of the Vikram Era
In fact, the use of the solar-based Vikram calendar in
Nepal has its limitation. Even though the Vikram era was introduced in
Nepal the Nepal Era, as a lunar-based calendar, remained and continued to
be a part of Nepalese culture, especially in the Kathmandu Valley.
Astrologers used it for writing horoscopes and determining the dates of
all the religious festivals and cultural rituals of Nepal. From the beginning
of their publications, the Nepal Almanac Deciding Committee (Nepal
Pamcanga Nirnayaka Samiti), previously Royal Almanac Deciding Committee (Nepal
Rajakiya Pamcanga Nirnayaka Samiti), a body composed of astrologers,
authorized to publish the solar-based Vikram era calendar have been
including the Nepal Samvat identifying it as ‘the era of the country
Nepal’ (Nepaldesiya Samvat) or ‘the Nepal era created by Samkhadhara’ (Sri
Samkhadharakrita Nepaliya Samvat), etc. The Government of Nepal has been
using the Christian era for all its official dealings with foreign
countries but without pronouncing its official status. Especially, since
the 1950s the Christian era has become more prevalent in Nepal.
The Government as well as non-governmental organizations, and the private
sectors use the Christian calendar very commonly, especially when they
deal with their international counterparts. As a solar-based calendar, the
Christian era is globally accepted one at present. Governments and general
people, not only in American and European countries but also in almost all
Asian countries that include India, Japan, China, Korea, Sri Lanka have
long been using the Christian calendar. This is the reason why many people
in Nepal think the best for Nepal is to replace the Vikram era with the
Christian era for the administration of the Government. Recent news
is that the Government is taking necessary steps towards this direction.
However, people involved in the Nepal Samvat movement oppose such a move,
and urge the Government to replace the Vikram calendar with the Nepal
Samvat (Shakya 2008:12). Historians such as Professor Tri Ratna Manandhar
opine it will be a blunder to replace the Vikram era with the Christian
era. He recommends to introduce the Nepal era as an official calendar with
necessary arrangement making it simple to use since it has been declared a
national era of Nepal. He considers it is all matter of practice, once the
Government starts using it people will be accustomed to it (Manandhar
2008:7).
Conclusion
In fact, there is no rational behind the use of the Vikram
era as an official calendar of Nepal when we already have a calendar that
carries name of the country (Nepal era), which is associated with the
religious, cultural and social activities of Nepal. Historically too there
is no connection between Nepal and the Vikram era except that the Shah
dynasty began to use ‘Vikram’ as one of their titles. There is no logic
behind keeping up the Vikram era calendar for official use in Nepal.
Some practical problems are there in using a lunar
calendar, as it is an official calendar. However, ritual calendar as such
is in practice all over the world including India, China and in all
Islamic countries. The findings of historian Shyam Sundar Rajvamsi has
made it clear that even if the Government of Nepal needs to use
Nepal Samvat as a solar calendar, there should not be any problem. The
declaration of the Nepal Era as a national era will be meaningful only
when the Government recognizes it in practice. Besides the traditional
calendars (Patro/Pamcanga) the two Government dailies: the Gorkhapatra and
The Rising Nepal, and many privately run newspapers such as República and
Annapurna Post dailies, have been mentioning the Nepal Era together with
the Vikram and Christian eras. Other newspapers and electronic media might
follow the suit.
The Vikram era was never used for official purposes in
India where it had originated. Therefore, it is an insult for a sovereign
country Nepal to retain a borrowed calendar from a foreign land when we
have a calendar of our own. At a time when the Nepalese people have
abandoned their own king and kingship it is totally absurd to keep up
using a calendar named after an emperor that lacks historical facts.
Nepalese people who feel proud of Nepal will be more than happy to
abandon the Vikram Samvat, which has been a symbol of repression of native
culture and
tradition. From the viewpoint of Nepal’s distinct national
identity too it is very important that the Government of Nepal uses the
Nepal Samvat in all her national activities, and makes it mandatory in
formal dealings with foreign countries alongside the Christian era. The
use of the Nepal Samvat together with the Christian era will
leave no space for any confusion. In addition, it will also
help enhancing pride of Nepal and Nepalese people among international
communities.
References:
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