तेलुगु कैलेंडर (पंचांगम्) 2026–2027

The Telugu calendar is a lunisolar reckoning system whose annual cycle is anchored to the Salivahana Shaka era, an epoch that began in 78 CE. The scholarly consensus is that the era’s true historical origin most likely lies in the ascension of Indo-Scythian king Chashtana in 78 CE, documented in coin inscriptions found in Kutch. The popular tradition, however, attributes the era to the legendary South Indian emperor Salivahana, who is said to have defeated the invading Shakas — historian Dineshchandra Sircar notes that the “Shalivahana era” attribution appears to be derived from the victory of the Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni over certain Shaka kings. Either way, the Telugu Panchangam and every traditional liturgical document in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana counts years from this 78 CE epoch. The Government of India adopted the same Shaka era as the basis of the official Indian National Calendar in 1957.

The Telugu calendar uses chandramana (lunar reckoning), in which months are defined by lunations rather than solar transits. Month boundaries follow the amanta convention, ending on the new moon (amavasya) — the convention shared with Maharashtra, Karnataka and the broader Deccan. This contrasts with the souramana (solar) calendars of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where year-beginnings such as Puthandu fall in mid-April. Because chandramana months drift against the solar year, an intercalary month (Adhika Masa) is inserted approximately every 32–33 months to restore alignment, following the rules codified in the Surya Siddhanta.

The Telugu New Year — Ugadi — falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first lunar day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra. In 2026, Ugadi corresponds to 19 March 2026, opening the Parabhava Nama Samvatsara.

Layered on top of the Shaka year-count is the 60-year Jovian cycle (Brihaspati cycle), known as the Prabhavadi cycle because it begins with the year named Prabhava. The cycle corresponds roughly to the least common multiple of Jupiter and Saturn’s orbital periods (~12 and ~30 solar years); every sixty years, both planets return nearly to their starting sidereal coordinates. The 60 samvatsaras are divided into three groups of twenty, traditionally assigned to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Telugu tradition uses the same name-list as the Kannada tradition (Prabhava → Vibhava → Shukla → Pramodutha … Akshaya), with Telugu-script orthographic variants such as Sobhakritu (శోభకృతు), Krodhi (క్రోధి), Visvavasu (విశ్వావసు) and Parabhava (పరాభవ).

This three-layered structure — Shaka year + 60-year samvatsara name + chandramana month/tithi — is what gives every Telugu Panchangam its formal title, e.g. Sri Parabhava Nama Samvatsara Panchangam, Shaka 1948 for the year inaugurated at Ugadi 2026.

The Telugu Panchangam tradition is unusually well-documented because it has been continuously produced by major temples and astrological houses for centuries. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) publishes one of the most widely circulated Telugu Panchangams; the TTD edition is formally read at the Ugadi Asthanam ceremony at the Sri Venkateswara temple.

The Telugu calendar has been shaped by individual siddhantis — astrologer-mathematicians who carry forward the Surya Siddhanta tradition. The Pidaparthi lineage of Pidaparthi Vari Gantala Panchangam publishes annually and is one of the longest-running family-published Telugu almanacs. Other widely consulted modern editions include the Mulugu Panchangam (compiled by the Mulugu Siddhanti family).

The South Indian Jyotisha tradition that feeds the Telugu Panchangam draws on regional astronomers including Bhaskara I (c. 600–680 CE), whose school of mathematicians was probably based in Asmaka — most likely the Nizamabad district of present-day Telangana. His two principal works, the Mahabhaskariya and Laghubhaskariya, are astronomical treatises in verse that remain part of the canonical reading list for traditional South Indian Jyotisha training, and his prose commentary on the Aryabhatiya (the Aryabhatiyabhashya of 629 CE) is one of the earliest surviving treatments of Aryabhata’s astronomy.

पंचांगम् श्रवणम् उगादि के दिन होने वाले सबसे महत्वपूर्ण अनुष्ठानों में से एक है। "श्रवणम्" का अर्थ है "सुनना" — इस समारोह में पुजारी या विद्वान नए वर्ष के पंचांग को जनसमक्ष पढ़ते हैं। इस पाठ में वर्ष के नव नायक (नौ शासक) शामिल होते हैं: राजा (राज्य प्रभु), मन्त्री, सेनाधिपति, सस्याधिपति (फसलों का स्वामी), धान्याधिपति, अर्घाधिपति (मूल्यों का स्वामी), मेघाधिपति (वर्षा का स्वामी) और रसाधिपति। इन ग्रह शासकों के आधार पर पण्डित वर्ष की कृषि, वर्षा, राजनीतिक स्थिरता और सामान्य समृद्धि के बारे में भविष्यवाणियां करते हैं। मन्दिरों, सामुदायिक भवनों और दूरदर्शन प्रसारणों में पंचांगम् श्रवणम् होता है।

तेलुगु पंचांगम् वैदिक काल से निरन्तर उपयोग में रहने वाली सबसे प्राचीन पंचांग परम्पराओं में से एक है। आन्ध्र प्रदेश और तेलंगाना में "सिद्धान्ती" कहे जाने वाले पारम्परिक खगोलविद् पीढ़ियों से पंचांग की गणना और प्रकाशन करते आ रहे हैं। ये सिद्धान्ती सूर्य सिद्धान्त और अन्य प्राचीन खगोलीय ग्रन्थों पर आधारित जटिल गणित का उपयोग करते हैं।

तेलुगु पंचांगम् की अनूठी विशेषताओं में से एक इसकी अमान्त प्रणाली है — मास अमावस्या पर समाप्त होते हैं, जो कर्नाटक और महाराष्ट्र पंचांगों के समान है लेकिन उत्तर भारतीय पूर्णिमान्त प्रणाली से भिन्न है। इसके कारण कुछ त्योहार उत्तर भारत में भिन्न मास नाम से आते हैं — उदाहरणार्थ, तेलुगु पंचांगम् में कार्तिक अमावस्या (दीपावली) उत्तर भारत में "आश्विन अमावस्या" कहलाती है।

आधुनिक काल में भी, तेलुगु पंचांगम् लाखों परिवारों के लिए अत्यन्त महत्वपूर्ण है। प्रतिवर्ष उगादि पर नया पंचांग खरीदना एक अनिवार्य परम्परा है। आज डिजिटल पंचांग अनुप्रयोग और वेबसाइटें यह जानकारी विश्वभर के तेलुगु प्रवासियों को उपलब्ध करा रहे हैं, फिर भी मुद्रित पंचांग का अधिकार और पारम्परिक महत्व कम नहीं हुआ है।