Gujarati calendar — ગુજરાતી પંચાંગ

The Gujarati calendar is a lunar calendar of the amanta kind: each month begins the day after a new moon and ends on the next new moon (Amas). Its months carry the same names as the rest of India, said the Gujarati way — Kartak, Magshar, Posh, Maha, Fagan, Chaitra, Vaishakh, Jeth, Ashadh, Shravan, Bhadarvo and Aso.

The year is counted in Vikram Samvat, but it begins in autumn, not spring: on Kartak Sud 1, the day after Diwali, called Bestu Varas (the new year). From Chaitra to Aso the Gujarati year number is therefore one less than the Vikram year used in north India; from Kartak to Fagan the two agree.

Each month has a bright half, Sud (shukla paksha), and a dark half, Vad (krishna paksha). Days are named by the tithi at sunrise: Kartak Sud 5 is Labh Pancham, Aso Vad 14 is Kali Chaudas, and the last day of the dark half is Amas. When a tithi begins and ends between two sunrises it is skipped in the count (kshaya); when it covers two sunrises the number repeats.

Because the months are amanta, a festival in the dark half carries an earlier month name than in north Indian calendars: Janmashtami is Shravan Vad 8 in Gujarat and Bhadrapada Krishna 8 in the north — the same day. Our dates are computed for Ahmedabad's sunrise; elsewhere in Gujarat a tithi near sunrise can rarely shift a day.