How we work these out

Our canonical reckoning

Smukti uses Drik / Thirukanitha reckoningbecause it is the reckoning most international readers will recognise when they compare a date with Drik Panchang or a local diaspora temple calendar. We do not mix reckoning systems on one page.

Our default reader tradition is universal. When a festival genuinely differs by tradition, the date will be labelled rather than silently choosing one.

Two calendars, one sky

The Tamil year begins in mid-April, when the sidereal Sun enters Mesha and the solar month Chithirai begins. Tamil Nadu preserves a solar calendar that fell out of common use across most of India. It is a different method, not a claim that one tradition is older or more authentic than another.

A tithi measures the changing angle between the Moon and Sun, so a constant sidereal offset cancels out. A nakshatra measures the Moon's absolute position among twenty-seven divisions of the sky, so it does require Lahiri ayanamsa. We assign both by the value running at the same reference sunrise.

That is why Ekadashi depends on a lunar phase while Avani Avittam depends on Shravana nakshatra in the solar month Avani. One sky can therefore produce two useful naming systems. When a day has a northern counterpart, the calendar shows both names in the same row rather than hiding either behind a mode switch.

Three kinds of time

1. Global instants. A tithi boundary or eclipse contact is one moment worldwide. We store it as UTC and format it for your city.
2. Local sky events. Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset depend on coordinates. They are calculated when the page is prepared.
3. Derived windows. A window such as Pradosham is a rule anchored to sunset, not a time copied into a table.

What we publish—and what we do not

Recurring lunar observances are calculated from the tropical longitudes of the Sun and Moon with Astronomy Engine. We assign the lunar day at sunrise in Ujjain and retain each boundary as a UTC instant. The angular difference does not require a sidereal correction.

Major festivals are not inferred from that simple rule. Their tradition-specific tie-breaks are entered only after two independent published sources have been recorded, and long-range dates remain provisional until reviewed.

We will not display a time in Indian Standard Time. A local clock time is either formatted from a UTC instant or derived from local sunrise, sunset, or moonrise.

Lunar months and moon names

Each generated lunar date carries an Amanta lunar month, in which a month begins at the new moon, and a paksha: Shukla for the waxing fortnight or Krishna for the waning fortnight. We derive the month from the Sun's tropical sign at the new moon that began it. This adds context without changing the stored tithi boundaries or the underlying Pournami and Amavasya observances. When two successive new moons begin a month with the same solar sign, the first is labelled Adhika (extra month).

Familiar names such as Guru Purnima, Buddha Purnima, Sharad Purnima, Kartik Purnima, and Magha Purnima are reviewed month-based display names. They are aliases on the Pournami row, not separate calculated events or new calendar URLs. Amavasya names follow the same rule.

Wolf Moon, Snow Moon, and similar names are shown only as approximate North American / European folk-tradition labels. They come from the Gregorian month containing the published full moon, not from Vedic astronomy. In a Gregorian month with two full moons, both can therefore receive the same folk label.

Written for someone starting alone

We lead with familiar language, explain each traditional word on first use, and include a simple practice that needs no altar, temple, or family precedent. The free calendar remains crawlable and readable for everyone.