The traditional Hindu calendar popular in north India is a purnimanta calendar. Purnimanta system reckons month end/month start from full moon to full moon. Telugu calendar & Gujarati calendar are examples of amanta calendar. On the amanta calendar, one month ends and the next begins with amavasya tithi. Hindu calendar either follows amanta system or purnimanta system to identify the end of a lunar month. Malayalam calendar, Bengali calendar and Tamil calendar are examples of Indian solar calendars.

Each month begins with sankranti (entry of sun into zodiac). In a solar calendar the months are aligned with rashi or zodiac. Leap months ( adhik maasa) and occasionally, skipped months ( kshaya maasa) are introduced to achieve this. Interestingly, lunisolar calendar is basically a lunar calendar which has some intercalation rules to synchronize it with the solar year. Lunar calendar months strictly follow the lunar cycle of two lunar fortnights (Shukla paksha & Krishna paksha). Since ancient time, both lunisolar as well as solar calendar is in use in India.

The Hindu calendar distinctly indicates the 5 elements ( pancha - anga) of time division - vara, tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana. The Hindu Calendar - also called Panchang or Panchanga, is used to determine the time and dates of Hindu festivals, religious ceremonies, muhurat timing etc, making it an inseparable piece of Indian culture. Hindu Calendar is the traditional astrology calendar of India which has been in use since ancient times.

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