Photo by Mohnish Landge on Unsplash

 

This blog page is an attempt to understand Marathi words like Chaturthi, Ekadashi, Jayanti, etc and and calendars like Gregorian, Lunar, Solar, Lunisolar, Hindu, Civil, Hijri, Islamic, etc.

 

All of us celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi, whether we are believers or not. I used to take darshan of the famous GSB Ganesh idol at Kings Circle, Matunga (East). In reality, I used to go have the bhajos (bhajiyas/fritters) and other GSB delicacies at the various stalls. Thanks to my dear mom, I even had their famous javan (jevan, meals, langar) once. 

 

When I was learning (I still am) Marathi at the Mumbai University, the non-teaching staff had Ganesh Pooja in the Office. My teacher joined the Pooja and invited me too. I joined even though I am not really a believer in such rituals. I was blessed. In a related story, my daughter was gifted a Dagdu Sheth Ganapati idol by my sister-in-law. So from that day, we have had some kind of a God sanctum sanctorum at home. Our house and we have been blessed by Sukhakarta (one who showers happiness) and Vignaharta (one who removes all obstacles) ever since.

 

Disambiguation: चतुर्थी also refers to the Fourth Case in Marathi. Dative case. 

 

When we say गणेश चतुर्थी we mean: the birthday of Lord Ganesh. He was born on Bhadrapad Shuddh Chaturthi / भाद्रपद शुद्ध चतुर्थी. 

 

Bhadrapad / भाद्रपद refers to the sixth month in the Hindu Calendar, and comes in August-September.

 

Months in the Hindu Calendar are: 

 

चैत्र - Caitra - Feb - March -  

वैशाख - Vaisakha - March - April - season of crop harvesting (remember Baisakhi)

ज्येष्ठ  - Jyaistha - April - May - 

आषाढ - Ashada - June-July  - Ashad Ekadashi 

श्रावण - Sravana - July- Aug -  

भद्रपद - Bhadrapad - August-September - Ganesh Chaturthi

आश्विन - Ashvina - September-Oct  - 

कार्तिक - Kartika - October-Nov  - 

आग्रहायण - Agrahayana - November-Dec - 

पौष - Paush - December- Jan - 

माघ - Magha - January-February - Maghi Ganesh Jayanti

फाल्गुन - Phalguna - February - March -  

 

In Marathi calendar, we have

मार्गशीर्ष – Margashirshya – December to January  -  Shree Dutta Jayanti

 

When we say Shudh Paksh we mean the bright fortnight of the month. 

 

Paksh refers to a fortnight.

 

चतुर्थी  is the fourth lunar day.

 

So Bhadrapad Shuddh Chaturthi refers to fourth lunar day (चतुर्थी ), bright fortnight of the month (Shuddh Paksh), of the sixth month (Bhadrapad) of the Hindu Calendar.

 

अंगारकी, अंगारी, these days we mostly see अंगरिका.  Is a tithi or a lunar day. A fourth day of the waning moon on a Tuesday. 

 

Tithi / तिथी  is the day of the month according to the lunar calendar.  

 

Angarika Chaturthi is a Sankashti Chaturthi falling on Tuesday and is considered highly auspicious among all Sankashti Chaturthis. 

 

जयंती refers to the birthday. जयंती refers to the day or anniversary when Hindu dieties (Gods) assumed incarnation मच्छ-कूर्म-वराह-नरसिंह-वामन-परशुराम-राम-कृष्ण-बौद्ध-कल्की-जयंती.

 

Gandhi Jayanti is the most famous. Every year on October 2 we pay homage to the Father of the Nation. 

 

We have Magha/Maghi Ganesh Jayanti which this year  (2021) was on February 15! Celebrating Maghi Ganesh Jayanti has caught on in Mumbai and almost every locality has this celebration. It is akin to the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations...but not on such a grand scale. 

 

Maghi Ganpati is celebrated on the fourth day of the bright half of the moon’s cycle in the Magh month which falls in January/February

 

Ekadashi / एकादशी / Fasting

Ekadashi refers to the 11th and 22nd day of the lunar month. Many fast on these days. There is a concept of "fasting foods" (also losely and confusingly called "fast foods"). Most Maharastrian restuarants have Ekadashi special like Sabudana Khichdi, Batate bhaji, varicha bhaat, danyachi (peanuts) amti, danyache (peanut) taak, shengdana (peanut) ladoos, rajgira (amaranth grain) puris, sabudana thalipeet, varicha bhaat (bhagar, vrat ke chawal/ varai / vari = samo rice), dudhi halwa, khajoor halwa, ratale (sweet potato) Kis (grated), variche thalipeeth, batatyacha sheera (aloo ka halwa), dudhichi kheer (lauki/dudhi halwa), sabudana appe, shrikhand, amrakhand, rajgira sheera, sabudana kheer, mango/sitaphal (custard apple) basundi, upwas dhirde (dosa/pancake), upwas puran poli, keliche shikaran (bananas with milk and sugar).   

 

Danyache is a short form of Shengdanyache. Referring to groundnuts or peanuts. 

 

So don't you feel like fasting. I would love to fast. Afterall, as the Maharastrians say, "Ekadashi, dupat kashi". On Ekadashi (you fast), but eat twice as much.

 

Nilam Deshmukh has a nice site for Maharastrian Recipes. Above list is a compilation from her site.

 

 

https://www.maharashtrianrecipes.com/ekadasi-upvas-farali-recipes/

 

 

Vrat refers to a penance or observance. We have Ekadashi Vrat, which means we fast on this day. 

 

What most of us use and are extremely familiar are the Gregorian or Civil Calendar. 12 familiar months from January to December.  A Gregorian calendar is a purely solar calendar. It is useful for Civil societies as days are based on 365 days, so any event always falls on the same day.  US cleverly celebrates some events on a particular Sunday of the month! This ensures that it is a holiday and everyone is around to celebrate it. 

 

I learnt this from an interesting article in the New York Times.

 

What Lunar New Year Reveals about the World's Calendars

 

A solar year — the time it takes Earth to orbit the sun — lasts around 365 days.

 

A lunar year, or 12 full cycles of the Moon, is roughly 354 days.

Islamic or Hijri calendar is a purely lunar calendar and does correspond with the seasons. So Islam's Holy Month of Ramadan may fall in Summer one year and in Winter a few years later. 

 

To overcome this problem, Chinese, Hindu, Jewish calendars are lunisolar. A month is still defined by the moon, but an extra month is added periodically to stay close to the solar year.