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The Malayalam calendar, known as Kollavarsham (Kolla Era), is a solar sidereal calendar used exclusively in Kerala by approximately 40 million Malayalam speakers. Like the Tamil calendar, months are defined by the Sun's transit through the twelve Rashis — making Malayalam month dates nearly fixed relative to the Gregorian calendar. The Kolla Era is believed to have begun in 825 CE, making 2026 CE correspond to year 1201–1202 ME (Malayalam Era). The calendar governs the agricultural and festival cycle of Kerala, from the grand Onam harvest festival to the monsoon-season Karkidakam Ramayana reading tradition.
Malayalam months begin when the Sun enters each new Rashi (zodiac sign). The order starts from Chingam (Simha/Leo) rather than Mesha, as the Kerala agricultural year traditionally begins with the post-monsoon harvest season. Month lengths vary from 29 to 32 days depending on the Sun's speed through each sign.
| # | నెల | Malayalam | రాశి | గ్రెగోరియన్ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chingam | ചിങ്ങം | Simha (Leo) | Aug 17 – Sep 16 |
| 2 | Kanni | കന്നി | Kanya (Virgo) | Sep 17 – Oct 17 |
| 3 | Thulam | തുലാം | Tula (Libra) | Oct 18 – Nov 15 |
| 4 | Vrischikam | വൃശ്ചികം | Vrischika (Scorpio) | Nov 16 – Dec 15 |
| 5 | Dhanu | ധനു | Dhanus (Sagittarius) | Dec 16 – Jan 13 |
| 6 | Makaram | മകരം | Makara (Capricorn) | Jan 14 – Feb 12 |
| 7 | Kumbham | കുംഭം | Kumbha (Aquarius) | Feb 13 – Mar 13 |
| 8 | Meenam | മീനം | Meena (Pisces) | Mar 14 – Apr 13 |
| 9 | Medam | മേടം | Mesha (Aries) | Apr 14 – May 14 |
| 10 | Edavam | ഇടവം | Vrishabha (Taurus) | May 15 – Jun 14 |
| 11 | Midhunam | മിഥുനം | Mithuna (Gemini) | Jun 15 – Jul 15 |
| 12 | Karkidakam | കർക്കടകം | Kataka (Cancer) | Jul 16 – Aug 16 |
Onam (10-day harvest festival — Atham to Thiruvonam; Pookalam, Sadya, Vallam Kali snake boat races)
Vishu (Malayalam New Year, Medam 1 — Vishukkani, Vishukkaineettam, feast)
Thrissur Pooram (Vrischikam — the largest temple festival in Kerala, featuring caparisoned elephants and fireworks at Vadakkunnathan temple)
Thiruvathira (Dhanu — women's festival honouring Shiva and Parvati; Thiruvathira Kali dance performed overnight)
Shivaratri (Kumbham — all-night vigil at Shiva temples across Kerala)
Karkidaka Ramayana (entire month — daily recitation of Adhyatma Ramayana at homes and temples; considered spiritually protective during the difficult monsoon month)
Vishu falls on Medam 1 (the Sun's entry into Mesha/Aries), typically April 14–15 — the same astronomical event as Tamil Puthandu and Sinhala/Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka. The defining tradition is the "Vishukkani" — an auspicious arrangement viewed first thing upon waking. The Kani (auspicious sight) is prepared the night before: a large brass bell-metal uruli (vessel) is filled with Kani Konna flowers (golden shower blossoms of Cassia fistula), raw rice, betel leaves, lemon, cucumber, a jackfruit section, a coconut, golden-coloured cloth, coins, a lit lamp, a mirror, and a Vishnu idol. On waking, elders cover their eyes and are led to view the Kani first — the belief being that what you see first on Vishu determines your fortune for the year. "Vishukkaineettam" (gift-giving of money, especially coins and new notes from elders to children) follows, and the day includes fireworks, new clothes (Puthukodi), and a grand feast (Sadya).
Onam is the most celebrated festival in Kerala, occurring in Chingam (August–September) during the Thiruvonam nakshatra. Lasting 10 days (Atham to Thiruvonam), it commemorates the mythical return of the benevolent Asura king Mahabali from the netherworld to visit his beloved subjects. The festival is celebrated with the Pookalam (flower carpet arranged in intricate concentric patterns using fresh flowers), the Onam Sadya (a vegetarian feast of 26 dishes served on banana leaves — including Avial, Sambar, Rasam, Parippu Curry, Olan, Erissery, Kaalan, Pachadi, Pickles, Payasam, and more), Vallam Kali (snake boat races on rivers and backwaters — the Nehru Trophy Boat Race is the most famous), Pulikali (tiger dance procession), and Thiruvathira Kali dance. Onam is a secular festival celebrated by Keralites of all religions.
The Kollavarsham is purely solar — months track the Sun's zodiacal transit, not the Moon. This means no intercalary months are needed (unlike the lunisolar North Indian system), and dates remain consistent year to year. However, the Malayalam calendar does incorporate lunar elements (Tithi, Nakshatra) for determining religious festival timings, making it a hybrid in practice. The calendar year begins in Chingam (Leo) rather than Mesha (Aries), which distinguishes it from the Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada new years. Karkidakam (Cancer, mid-July to mid-August) is considered an inauspicious month — the peak monsoon period when illness is common, weddings are avoided, and the tradition of reading the Ramayana (Karkidaka Ramayana) at home and in temples is observed throughout the month.
The Malayalam calendar — known as the Kollavarsham or Kollam Era (Kollam Andu) — is one of the few South Asian calendars whose origin point can be dated to a single recorded historical year: 825 CE. The era celebrated the foundation by Maruwan Sapir Iso, leader of Persian Christian settlers and trading guilds, following the liberation of Venad from Chola rule. A great convention was convened in the port city of Kollam by King Kulashekharan in 825 CE.
Kollam Andu vs Saka Andu in Kerala. Kerala’s traditional almanacs operate in two parallel eras. The civic year is the Kollam Era (Malayalam Era, ME), a sidereal solar calendar: the year begins on Chingam 1 (mid-August), the day the Sun enters sidereal Leo. The festival/temple year is computed against the Saka Era. For 2026 CE, the Kollam Era equivalence is ME 1201 → ME 1202, with the changeover at Chingam 1 (17 August 2026).
Why solar Kollam Andu while Tamil tradition is lunar — the divergence. Kerala’s astronomers — heirs to the Kerala School of Mathematics — refined sidereal solar computation to a level of precision sufficient to anchor major festivals to solar markers, while Tamil Nadu’s panchanga tradition preserved the lunar tithi as primary for ritual selection. The result is that Onam (Chingam Tiruvonam) falls on a fixed solar date roughly each year, while comparable Tamil festivals slide with the lunar cycle.
Kerala’s month names are zodiacal: Chingam (Leo), Kanni (Virgo), Thulam (Libra), Vrischikam (Scorpio), Dhanu (Sagittarius), Makaram (Capricorn), Kumbham (Aquarius), Meenam (Pisces), Medam (Aries), Edavam (Taurus), Mithunam (Gemini), Karkidakam (Cancer).
Onam is Kerala’s grand harvest festival, celebrated over ten days in the Malayalam month of Chingam (August–September). The ten days are each named after the nakshatra (asterism) that anchors them: Atham → Chithira → Chodhi → Vishakam → Anizham → Thriketa → Moolam → Pooradam → Uthradam → Thiruvonam.
The festival opens with the first Pookalam (Atha-poo) — a small circular flower arrangement at the entrance of the household, traditionally using only yellow flowers in a single concentric ring. Households visit the Thrikkakara temple (the principal Onam shrine, where Vamana is enshrined). Local fairs (Athachamayam) at Thripunithura include caparisoned elephants and pulikali (tiger dance) performers.
Each day adds rings and colour palette to the pookalam. The famous Aranmula Vallamkali (snake-boat race) on the Pamba River is traditionally held on Uthrattathi, with elimination heats on Anizham. The snake boats (chundan vallam) and ritual songs (vanchipattu) trace back to Aranmula Parthasarathy temple tradition. Athapoo competitions are held — the largest community pookalams now reach 20+ feet in diameter.
Mahabali arrives. The pookalam reaches its full magnificence with figurines of Vamana and Mahabali at the centre. The Onam Sadya is served on a plantain leaf at noon. Traditional accounts cite 24–26 dishes, served in a strict order: pickles (mango, lime, inji-puli) and pappadam on the upper-left; rice in the centre; parippu (lentil curry) followed by sambar, then aviyal, olan, kaalan, thoran, erissery, pachadi, kichadi; and finally three or four payasams (palada, ada-pradhaman, paal-pradhaman).
The Mahabali legend. Mahabali was a benevolent Asura king under whose rule Kerala flourished — no caste, no inequality, no hunger. The Devas, threatened by Mahabali’s prestige, requested Vishnu’s intervention. Vishnu took the form of Vamana, a young Brahmin dwarf, and approached Mahabali. Asked what he desired, Vamana requested “three paces of land.” Vamana expanded to cosmic stature: with one stride he covered all the earth, with the second the heavens. He asked where to place the third. Mahabali offered his own head; Vamana pressed him down to the netherworld (Patala). Recognising Mahabali’s devotion, Vishnu granted him an annual return to visit his people — that homecoming is Onam.
Vishu is the astronomical and agricultural new year of Kerala, observed on Medam 1 (Mesha Sankranti), 14 or 15 April. The word “Vishu” derives from Sanskrit meaning “equal,” historically connected to spring equinox celebrations.
Why is Vishu the agricultural new year while Kollam Andu marks the civic year? The Kollam Era begins in Chingam (August) — civically a moment of harvest gratitude, after the southwest monsoon. Vishu begins in Medam (April) — agriculturally the start of the planting cycle. Kerala’s farming calendar is built on Vishu, while its land registers and government year are built on Kollam Era.
Vishu Kani arrangement. The defining ritual is the Kani (“that which is seen first”) — a tray of auspicious items arranged the night before in the puja room, to be viewed at dawn as the very first sight of the new year. Items: Uri filled with raw rice, Konna flowers (Cassia fistula, golden shower tree blossoms), golden cucumber and golden lemon, a coconut cut open, jackfruit, betel leaves, arecanut, and gold coins, an Aranmula kannadi (polished bronze mirror), and a Krishna or Vishnu idol at the centre.
Konna flower significance. The Cassia fistula (Indian laburnum, Malayalam: konna) blooms in cascading yellow clusters precisely during Medam, and is the floral signifier of Vishu. Konna is considered the favourite flower of Krishna. A Vishu Kani without konna is considered incomplete.
Kerala’s calendar tradition is inseparable from the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics — a school that, between the 14th and 19th centuries, produced some of the most sophisticated mathematical and astronomical work anywhere in the world.
Founded the school at Tirur in modern Malappuram district. He is credited with discovering infinite-series expansions for trigonometric functions — sine, cosine, and arctangent — and an infinite series for π. These results predate Newton, Leibniz and Gregory by 250–300 years.
A student of Madhava’s lineage, observed eclipses and refined Bhaskara II’s astronomical parameters. He authored Drigganita, a treatise that established a Kerala-school observational standard. Parameshvara is regarded by Kerala-tradition pandits as the source of the Drik tradition in panchanga computation.
Author of the Tantrasangraha (c. 1500) — the most influential single Kerala astronomer. Nilakantha proposed a partially heliocentric model: the inner planets Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun, while the Sun orbits the Earth. This is roughly the Tychonic model — proposed by Tycho Brahe 80 years later.
Completed Sadratnamala in 1819, the last great treatise of the Kerala school. Varman computed the value of π to 17 decimal places. The British civil servant C.M. Whish met Varman in Travancore and introduced his work to Western mathematics through his 1832 paper to the Royal Asiatic Society.
Modern Devaswom Board Panchanga. The Kerala Devaswom Boards — five autonomous statutory bodies (Travancore, Cochin, Malabar, Guruvayur, Koodalmanikyam) — manage nearly 3,000 temples between them. Each board issues a temple festival calendar in consultation with hereditary tantris.
| Kollam Era (ME) | Gregorian Span | Chingam 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1201 ME | 17 Aug 2025 – 16 Aug 2026 | 17 Aug 2025 |
| 1202 ME | 17 Aug 2026 – 16 Aug 2027 | 17 Aug 2026 |
| 1203 ME | 17 Aug 2027 – 16 Aug 2028 | 17 Aug 2027 |
| 1204 ME | 17 Aug 2028 – 16 Aug 2029 | 17 Aug 2028 |
| 1205 ME | 17 Aug 2029 – 16 Aug 2030 | 17 Aug 2029 |
| 1206 ME | 17 Aug 2030 – 16 Aug 2031 | 17 Aug 2030 |