Panjika

The panjika (Bengali পঞ্জিকা ponjika) is the Hindu astrological almanac, published in Assamese, Bengali and Oriya. In colloquial language it is called a ‘panji’. In other parts of India it is called a panchangam. It is amongst the most popular annual books published in India and is a handy reference for observant Hindus to determine the most auspicious times for their rituals, festivals, celebrations, and pursuits of various sorts including marriage, undertaking travels, etc. It is a sort of a ready-reckoner, or the first source, before one approaches a priest or an astrologer to decide on the details. Even “non-believers” amongst Hindus and those who are not Hindus often consult a panjika for much of the practical information it publishes. It also records Muslim, Christian and other festivals, dates of birth and death of many leading personalities and carries informative articles on astrology.

Oriya and Assamese panjikas

In Orissa, there are the Jagannath Mandira Panji and the Gaudiya Vishnava Panjika In Assam there is the Kalpurush Panjika.

Two schools of Bengali panjika-makers

There are two schools of panjika-makers in Bengal - Driksiddhanta (Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika) and Odriksiddhanta (Gupta Press, PM Bagchi, etc). They dictate the days on which festivals are to be held. Sometimes, they lay down different dates for particular festivals. For the Durga Puja in 2005, two different sets of dates came through. Some community pujas followed the Gupta Press Panjika, because of its popularity. It was with deference to convention, confirmed Pandit Nitai Chakraborty, president of Vaidik Pandit O Purohit Mahamilan Kendra. Belur Math adhered to Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika. It was Swami Vijnanananda (who became Math president in 1937-38), an astrologer, who decided that Ramakrishna Mission would follow this almanac as it was more scientific.

The difference occurs because the two schools follow different calendars of luni-solar movement on which tithis are based. While Gupta Press Panjika follows 16th century Raghunandan’s work Ashtabingshatitatwa based on the 1,500-year-old astronomical treatise, Suryasiddhanta. Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika is based on an 1890 amendment of the planetary positions given in Suryasiddhanta.

Scientific reform

The earliest Indian almanacs date back to around 1,000 BC. It did analyse time but the calculations were not always very accurate. It was greatly improved around the 4th and 5th centuries AD when finer methods of calculations were adopted. Some of the people who played a leading role in this were Aryabhata, Varahamihira, and Brahmagupta. They based the calculation of time on astrology and added the position of stars and planets, their movements, auspicious/inauspicious times, lunar days etc to the almanac. Suryasiddhanta, produced in that era, was the forerunner of all later day panjikas. Scholars used to copy almanacs on palm leaves and carry them to rural areas. Times for worship and other religious and social festivities were fixed on the basis of such information.

The Bengali panjika has a long history, with the earliest perhaps being the Navadvip Panjika, edited by the renowned Smriti scholar Raghunandan. Others who prepared the panjika include Ramrudra Vidyanidhi (18th century) and Biswambhar Jyotisharnabha. In the later part of the 18th century, panjika calculations ceased but during British rule, Biswambhar again began the work of publishing the panjika, in handwritten book form. The printed version came in 1869. Bishudhasiddhanta Panjika was first published in 1890. Gupta Press follows Suryasiddhanta with the original format while the version with “corrected” scripture is called Visuddhasiddhanta.

The Bishudhasiddhanta Panjika came into being because an astronomer Madhab Chandra Chattopadhyay, on studying the panjikas then in vogue found differences in the actual and astrological position of the planets and stars. He revised the panjika as per scientific readings. There were other people in different parts of India who also supported the approach for scientific revision of the panjika. It included such people as Mahamahopadhyay Chandrasekhar Singha Samanta in Orissa and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Pune.

In 1952, a major revision of the panjika was undertaken under the aegis of the Indian government. With the scientist Meghnad Saha as chairman, a Calendar Reform Committee was set up which reviewed the existing almanacs and recommended certain reforms. At its recommendation, the publication of the panjika was brought under the purview of the government.

The transformation

Gupta Press, one of the of the Bengali panjikas, has come out in 2007 with a CD-version packed with interactive features like 'know your day', 'daily horoscope' and 'koshthi bichar' (horoscope). Transformation has been staple food for the panjika. With the passage of time it has added information, like tourist attractions, pilgrim destinations, telephone codes and general information that common people seek, to make it more attractive. The format has also been made more flexible to cater to the needs of varied groups. The variants like 'directory panjika' (magnum opus) 'full panjika' (thinner version) and 'half panjika' (abridged version) and 'pocket panjika' have different price tags. The pocket panjika is a hawkers' delight on local trains.

Madan Gupter Full Panjika, which came out in the 1930s, has not changed much externally. The cover is still the same, on thick pink paper, but the inside is very different. The pages have changed from coarse newsprint to smooth white paper, the letter press has made way for offset printing, wooden blocks have been replaced by sharp photographs. The biggest difference is in the ad-editorial ratio. Previously the ads formed the bulk of the printed matter — and were pure delight. “When there was no TV and not so many newspapers, the panjika was the place to advertise for many products. Many people bought panjikas for the ads,” says the owner Mahendra Kumar Gupta, “They would offer solutions to many ‘incurable’ diseases.” The 1938 edition started off with a full-page ad on an “Electric Solution”, which promised to revive dead men. Now they publish Durga Puja timings in London, Washington and New York, based on the sunset and sunrise there.

According to Arijit Roychowdhury, managing director of Gupta Press, panjika sales plunged after partition of India, as the market was lost in the eastern part of the former state. However, with innovative transformation of format and content, sales have been picking up and the overall annual market in 2007 is 2 million copies. The figure includes sales in the US and the UK.

Panjikas have found their way into modern day shopping malls also. A senior official of the RPG group, Mani Shankar Mukherjee, himself a reputed author, said, "Our Spencer's store in Gurgaon has sold a record number of panjikas." Bengali panjikas follow the Bengali calendar and are normally out in the month of Choitro, so that people can buy it well before Pohela Baishakh.

References

Bisuddha Siddhanta Panjika

http://www.bisuddhasiddhantapanjika.com

bn:পঞ্জিকা