We all are aware of the English calendar months that start from January and ends in December. However, there is a Hindu calendar that has a different beginning and end. These months are also twelve in number. The Hindu calendar months are used to celebrate all the major festivals. We also have a separate post which lists the important Indian festival dates in 2013, 2014, 2015. We will also be updating this list with more festivals and dates soon.

Hindu Calendar Months

Since these days most people, especially the younger generation are more used to using the western calendar we have given an equivalent of both calenders in terms of dates

The English calendar is universally accepted as a standard this is exactly why it is used for other purposes. We will now tell you about the Hindu calendar months. When they start and end and we will also give the dates of the remaining main festivals of 2013 that you can follow as per the Hindu calendar months.

We are in the kali yug. The twelve months of the Hindu year are:

1. Chaitra – this starts on 22nd March and it ends on 21st April

2. Visakha – This stars from 21^st April and ends on 22^nd may

3. Jyaishtha – This is the third month of the year starts on 22^nd May and ends on 21^st June

4. Asada – This begins on the 21^st June and ends on 22^nd July

5. Shravana – it starts on 23^rd July and ends on 23^rd August

6. Bhadra – This month starts on the 23^rd August and ends on 23^rd September

7. Ashvina – This month generally starts 23^rd September to 23^rd October

8. Kartika- This month starts on 23^rd October to 22^nd November

9. Agrahayana- This month starts on 22^nd November to 22^nd December

10. Pausa- This month starts on 22^nd December and ends on 21^st January

11. Magha- This month starts on the 21^st January and ends on 20^th February

12. Phalguna- last month starts on 20^th February and ends on 21^st March

The Difference of Dates

We must mention here one thing that the dates of the Hindu calendar months may change by one day here and there meaning that they may start on 22^nd April instead of 21^st April at times. The date that we have mentioned above is for the year 2013 to 2014. This is one reason why none of the Hindu festivals fall on the same date every year.

This is this lack of uniformity in the Hindu calendar months that do not make them so popular. Most of the Hindu festival dates are decided as per this calendar. It is also used to decide the auspicious dates to start something new and also for the weddings.

Actually what is perceived as lack of uniformity is only with respect to the western calendar otherwise the Hindu calendar months follow a pattern which is explained very briefly towards the end to avoid complications for normal users who are mostly interested in knowing dates rather than how they are arrived at.

Festival Dates 2013 – 2014 in Hindu Calendar

We are done with almost half of the Hindu calendar year in 2013 so far. However, the major festivals are yet to come. The list of those important festivals for the last part of the year is enclosed below:

Vinayak Chaturthi – 9^th Spetember 2013
Ananta Chaturthi – 18^th September 2013
Onam – 16^th September 2013
Vishwakarma Puja – 17^th September 2013
Navratri starts – 5^th October 2013
Durga Puja starts – 11^th October 2013
Navratri ends – 13^th October 2013
Dashami – 14^th October 2013
Lakshmi puja – 18^th October 2013
Karwa chauth – 22^nd October 2013
Dhanteras – 1^st November 2013
Choti Diwali – 2^nd November 2013
Diwali – 3^rd November 2013
Kali puja – 3^rd November 2013
Govardhan Puja – 4^th November 2013
Gujarati New year – 4^th November 2013
Bhai Dooj – 5^th November 2013
Chhat puja – 8^th November 2013
Tulvi Vivah – 13^th November 2013
Guru nanak Jayanti – 17^th November 2013
Kartik Poornima – 17^th November 2013
Gita Jayanti – 13^th December 2013
Lohri – 13^th January 2014
Makarsankranti or Uttarayan – 14^th January 2014
Pongal – 14^th January 2014
Saraswati puja or Vasant panchami – 4^th February 2014
Mahashivratri – 27^th February 2014
Holi – 17^th March 2014

These are some of the most popular festivals that are remaining in this Hindu calendar year. There are more festivals that we could not cover as they are more regional and not very popular as these mentioned here.

How it Works?

Actually the Hindu calendar and the months therein correspond to the positions of the moon. It will require a very detailed explanation of whats going on in the process but a video below might give you a basic idea. We plan to upload a detailed article on this later on at our website so if you do not understand this dont worry at all.

Play the video given below to see how the movement of the moon and the sun relative to the earth is divided into these 12 months described above.

 [hdwplayer id=1]

We hope this will help you to plan your festivities in this year. We in out articles will slowly give more details on each and every festival that we have listed above so that you can understand our festivals and their essence even better. Hindu calendar months are interesting and a deep knowledge is needed to understand them. There are special Shastris who specialize in preparing these calendars on a yearly basis.