Bhaskarabda

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – Bhaskarabda to be added to official calendar of Assam

Concept –

Bhaskarabda, an era counted from the date of the ascension of a seventh century local ruler, will be added to Saka and Gregorian eras in the official calendar of the Assam Government.
Bhaskarabda began when Bhaskaravarman was crowned ruler of the Kamrupa kingdom. He was a contemporary and political ally of northern Indian ruler Harshavardhana.
Unlike Gregorian, where a day starts at midnight, the Assamese calendar begins and ends at sunrise over 24 hours. While the Gregorian goes by the solar cycle, the Saka and Bhaskarabda eras use a lunisolar system based on both the phases of the moon and the solar year.
The gap between Bhaskarabda and Gregorian is 593 years.
The New Year in the Assamese calendar is known as Bohag Bihu.
The Assamese Calendar incorporates the seven-day week as used by many other calendars. The names of the days of the week in the Assamese Calendar are based on the Navagraha