Vikram Samvant

Vikram Samvat (Nepali: विक्रम सम्वत्) (abbreviated as V.S. (or VS) or B.S. (or BS));  Listen ) is the historical and official Hindu calendar of Nepal. It uses lunar months and solar sidereal year (see: Vedic time keeping).

The Vikram Samvat has two alternative systems, one in Nepal, and the other in western and south India. It started in 56 BCE in southern (purnimanta) and 56/57 BCE in Nepal (amanta) systems of Hindu calendar. The Shukla Paksha in both systems coincides, most festivals occur in the Shukla Paksha. The era is named after King Vikramaditya of India.

The lunisolar Vikram Samvat calendar is 56.7 years ahead (in count) of the solar Gregorian calendar. For example, the year 2074 BS began in 2017 CE and will end in 2018 CE.

The Rana rulers of Nepal made Bikram Samvat the official Hindu calendar in 1901 AD, which started as Sambat 1958. In Nepal, the new year begins with the first day of the month of Baishākh, which usually falls within the months of April–May in the Gregorian calendar. The first day of the new year is passionately celebrated in a historical carnival that takes place every year in Bhaktapur, called Bisket Jatra.

In India, the reformulated Saka Calendar is officially used (although not for computing the dates of the traditional festivals), although in the Hindi version of the Preamble of the Constitution of India, the date of adoption of the constitution, 26 November 1949, is presented in Vikram Samvat (Margsheersh Shukla Saptami Samvat 2006). There have been calls for the Vikram Samvat to replace Saka as India's official calendar.

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