Vikram Samvat

Vikram Samvat (Hindi: विक्रम सम्वत्) (abbreviated as V.S. (or VS) or B.S. (or BS));  Listen ) is a Hindu calendar used in Nepal and some Indian States. In Nepal, it has been adopted as the official calendar. Like most Hindu calendars, it is a lunisideral calendar and uses lunar months and sidereal years for timekeeping.

The Vikram Samvat calendar is 56.7 years ahead (in count) of the solar Gregorian calendar. For example, the year 2073 BS began in 2016 AD and will end in 2017 AD.

The new year begins with the first day of month Baishakh, which usually falls in 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.

The Vikram Samvat is said to have been founded by the legendary Indian King Vikramaditya, variously considered to be a partly historical figure or a purely mythical character. The Rana rulers of Nepal made it their official calendar. In India, the reformulated Saka Calendar is officially used, 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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