1.
14th century
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was the century lasting from January 1,1301, to December 31,1400. Political and natural disasters ravaged Europe, as well as the four khanates of the Mongol Empire and this period is considered the height of chivalry and marks the beginning of strong separate identities for both England and France. The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age, beginning of the Ottoman Empire, early expansion into the Balkans. Early 14th century, Attributed to Kao Ninga Monk Sewing is made and it is now kept at The Cleveland Museum of Art. 1309, King Jayanegara succeeds Kertarajasa Jayawardhana as ruler of Majapahit, the Avignon papacy transfers the seat of the Popes from Italy to France The Great Famine of 1315-1317 kills millions of people in Europe. 1318, an Italian Franciscan monk, Mattiussi visited Sumatra, Java, in his record he described Majapahit kingdom. 1323, Malietoafaiga ordered cannibalism to be abolished in Tutuila, now known as American Samoa,1325, Forced out of previous locations, the Mexica found the city of Tenochtitlan 1328, Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi succeeds Jayanegara as ruler of Majapahit. Beginning of the Renaissance in Italy The death of the Ilkhan Abu Said in 1335, the Vijayanagara Empire is founded in South India by Harihara in 1336 The Hundred Years War begins when Edward III of England lays claim to the French throne. The French recruit troops and ships in Genoa, Monaco, Black Death kills around a third of the population of Europe. 1347, Adityawarman moved the capital of Dharmasraya and established the kingdom of Malayupura in Pagarruyung,1350, Hayam Wuruk, styled Sri Rajasanagara, succeeds Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi as ruler of Majapahit, his reign is considered the empires Golden Age. Under its military commander Gajah Mada, Majapahit stretches over much of modern-day Indonesia,1357, In the Battle of Bubat, the Sundanese royal family were massacred by the Majapahit army under the order of Gajah Mada. The death toll including Sundanese King Lingga Buana and the princess Dyah Pitaloka Citraresmi that committed suicide,1365, The Old Javanese text Nagarakertagama is written. The end of Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty The Lollardy movement rises in England 1377, palembangs prince, Parameswara flees, eventually finding his way to Malacca and establishing it as a major international port. The Great Schism of the West begins in 1378, eventually leading to 3 simultaneous popes, singapore emerges for the first time as a fortified city and trading centre of some importance. Reunification of Poland under Władysław I of Poland Ciompi Revolt in Florence Peasants Revolt in England Islam reaches Terengganu, the Hausa found several city-states in the south of modern Niger. The Mali Empire expands westward and conquers Tekrur, the Scots win the Scottish Wars of Independence. 1392, Taejo of Joseon established Joseon Dynasty The Kalmar Union is established in 1397, uniting Norway, Sweden, iwan vault, Jamé Mosque of Isfahan, Isfahan, Persia, is built. Work begins on the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe, built of un-cemented, dressed stone, the citys population is now between 10,000 and 40,000
2.
16th century
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The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1500 and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600. It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred, during the 16th century, Spain and Portugal explored the worlds seas and opened worldwide oceanic trade routes. In Europe, the Protestant Reformation gave a blow to the authority of the papacy. European politics became dominated by conflicts, with the groundwork for the epochal Thirty Years War being laid towards the end of the century. In Italy, Luca Pacioli published the first work ever on accounting, in United Kingdom, the Italian Alberico Gentili wrote the first book on public international law and divided secularism from canon law and Roman Catholic theology. In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, with the Sultan taking the title of Caliph, China evacuated the coastal areas, because of Japanese piracy. Japan was suffering a civil war at the time. Mughal Emperor Akbar extended the power of the Mughal Empire to cover most of the South Asian sub continent and his rule significantly influenced arts, and culture in the region. These events directly challenged the notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle. Polybius The Histories translated into Italian, English, German and French, medallion rug, variant Star Ushak style, Anatolia, is made. It is now kept at The Saint Louis Art Museum,1500, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain was born. 1500, Guru Nanak the beginning and spreading of the 5th largest Religion in the World Sikhism,1500, Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón encounters Brazil but is prevented from claiming it by the Treaty of Tordesillas. 1500, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal,1500, The Ottoman fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians at the Second Battle of Lepanto. 1501, Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David,1501, Safavid dynasty reunified Iran and ruled over it until 1736. Safavids adopt a Shia branch of Islam,1502, First reported African slaves in The New World 1503, Foundation of the Sultanate of Sennar by Amara Dunqas, in what is modern Sudan 1503, Spain defeats France at the Battle of Cerignola. Considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms,1503, Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa and completes it three years later. 1503, Nostradamus was born on either December 14, or December 21,1504, A period of drought, with famine in all of Spain. 1504, Death of Isabella I of Castile, Joanna of Castille became the Queen,1505, Zhengde Emperor ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty
3.
Berber calendar
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The Berber calendar is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers. It is also known as the fellaḥi, the calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works. It is used in lieu of the Islamic calendar, a calendar considered ill-adapted for agriculture because it does not relate to seasonal cycles. The current Berber calendar is a legacy of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis, the latter calendar was used in Europe before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, with month names derived from Latin. Berber populations previously used various indigenous calendars, such as that of the Guanche autochthones of the Canary Islands, however, relatively little is known of these ancient calendrical systems. Not much is known about the division of time among the ancient Berbers, some elements of a pre-Islamic, and almost certainly a pre-Roman calendar, emerge from some medieval writings, analyzed by Nico van den Boogert. Some correspondences with the traditional Tuareg calendar suggest that in antiquity there existed, with degree of diffusion. According to a 17th-century manuscript by Tomás Marín de Cubas, they computed their year, called Acano and it began in summer, when the sun enters in Cancer, on June 21, at the first conjunction they celebrated nine festival days for the crop. The name of one month is known in the native language. It seems it was the month of the year, corresponding to August. Such a name, in case it was made up by something like *wen that of + smet, may correspond, in the list of medieval Berber month names, with the ninth and tenth months, but data are too scarce for this hypothesis to be deepened. The agricultural Berber calendar still in use is almost certainly derived from the Julian calendar, the only slight discrepancy lies in that the extra day in leap years is not usually added at the end of February, but at the end of the year. Jean Servier has doubted that the calendar descends directly from the Julian calendar of the Latin era, there are standard forms for the names of the Amazigh calendar. The table below provides the forms used in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In some areas they may be different due to communication and manipulation by the government. Moreover, pronunciation differs according to the region, the coldest period is made up by 20 white nights, from 12 to 31 dujamber, and 20 black nights, beginning on the first day of yennayer, corresponding to the Gregorian 14 January. The first day of the year is celebrated in various ways in the different parts of North Africa, a widespread tradition is a meal with particular foods, which vary from region to region, but in many zones it is provided by the sacrifice of an animal. In Algeria, such a holiday is celebrated even by people who dont use the Berber calendar in daily life
4.
Henry IV of England
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Henry IV, also known as Henry of Bolingbroke, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399 to 1413, and asserted the claim of his grandfather, Edward III, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, one of Henrys elder sisters, Philippa of Lancaster, married John I of Portugal, and the other, Elizabeth, was the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter. His younger half-sister Catherine, the daughter of his fathers second wife and he also had four half-siblings by Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters governess, then his fathers longstanding mistress, and later his third wife. These four children were given the surname Beaufort after a castle their father held in Champagne, Henrys relationship with his stepmother, Katherine Swynford, was a positive one, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In youth he seems to have close to all of them. His brother-in-law Ralph Neville remained one of his strongest supporters, and so did his eldest half-brother John Beaufort, Thomas Swynford, a son from Katherines first marriage to Sir Hugh Swynford, was another loyal companion. Thomas was Constable of Pontefract Castle, where King Richard II is said to have died, Henrys half-sister Joan Beaufort through his fathers relationship with Katherine Swynford was the grandmother of Edward IV and Richard III. Joan had married Ralph Neville, the 1st Earl of Westmorland, when their daughter Cecily married Richard Plantagenet, the 3rd Duke of York, and had several offspring, including Edward IV and Richard III, Joan became the grandmother of two York kings of England. Henry experienced a rather more inconsistent relationship with King Richard II than his father had, first cousins and childhood playmates, they were admitted together to the Order of the Garter in 1377, but Henry participated in the Lords Appellants rebellion against the king in 1387. After regaining power, Richard did not punish Henry, although he did execute or exile many of the rebellious barons. In fact, Richard elevated Henry from Earl of Derby to Duke of Hereford, Henry spent the full year of 1390 supporting the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius by Teutonic Knights with his 300 fellow knights. During this campaign he bought 300 captured Lithuanian princes and then took them back to England. Henrys second expedition to Lithuania in 1392 illustrates the benefits to the Order of these guest crusaders. His small army consisted of over 100 men, including longbow archers and six minstrels, despite the efforts of Henry and his English crusaders, two years of attacks on Vilnius proved fruitless. In 1392–93 Henry undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he made offerings at the Holy Sepulchre, later he vowed to lead a crusade to free Jerusalem from the infidel, but he died before this could be accomplished. The relationship between Henry Bolingbroke and the king met with a second crisis, in 1398, a remark by Bolingbroke regarding Richard IIs rule was interpreted as treason by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The two dukes agreed to undergo a duel of honour at Gosford Green near Caludon Castle, Mowbrays home in Coventry, yet before the duel could take place, Richard II decided to banish Henry from the kingdom to avoid further bloodshed. Mowbray himself was exiled for life, John of Gaunt died in 1399
5.
Hebrew calendar
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The Hebrew or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits. The present Hebrew calendar is the product of evolution, including a Babylonian influence, when to add it was based on observation of natural agriculture-related events in Israel. Through the Amoraic period and into the Geonic period, this system was displaced by the mathematical rules used today. The principles and rules were codified by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah in the 12th century. Maimonides work also replaced counting years since the destruction of the Temple with the modern creation-era Anno Mundi, the era used since the Middle Ages is the Anno Mundi epoch. As with Anno Domini, the words or abbreviation for Anno Mundi for the era should properly precede the date rather than follow it, AM5777 began at sunset on 2 October 2016 and will end at sunset on 20 September 2017. The Jewish day is of no fixed length, the Jewish day is modeled on the reference to. there was evening and there was morning. In the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis, based on the classic rabbinic interpretation of this text, a day in the rabbinic Hebrew calendar runs from sunset to the next sunset. In most populated parts of the world this is always approximately 24 standard hours, halachically, a day ends and a new one starts when three stars are visible in the sky. The time between sunset and the time when the three stars are visible is known as bein hashmashot, and there are differences of opinion as to which day it falls into for some uses. This may be relevant, for example, in determining the date of birth of a child born during that gap, there is no clock in the Jewish scheme, so that the local civil clock is used. The civil clock is used only as a reference point – in expressions such as, Shabbat starts at. In Judaism, an hour is defined as 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, so, during the winter, an hour can be less than 60 minutes. This proportional hour is known as a shaah zmanit, a Jewish hour is divided into 1080 halakim or parts. A part is 3⅓ seconds or 1/18 minute, the ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small Babylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself equal to 1/72 of a Babylonian time degree. These measures are not generally used for everyday purposes, instead of the international date line convention, there are varying opinions as to where the day changes. One opinion uses the antimeridian of Jerusalem, the weekdays start with Sunday and proceed to Saturday, Shabbat
6.
15th century
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The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian years 1400 to 1500. In Europe, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period. Many technological, social and cultural developments of the 15th century can in retrospect be seen as heralding the European miracle of the following centuries, in religious history, the Roman Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades, until the Council of Constance. The division of the Catholic Church and the unrest associated with the Hussite movement would become factors in the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the following century. The event forced Western Europeans to find a new route, adding further momentum to what was the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Explorations by the Spanish and Portuguese led to European sightings of the Americas and these expeditions ushered in the era of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires. The fall of Constantinople led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy and these two events played key roles in the development of the Renaissance. The Spanish Reconquista leads to the fall of the Emirate of Granada by the end of the century, ending over seven centuries of Muslim rule. The Hundred Years War end with a decisive French victory over the English in the Battle of Castillon, financial troubles in England following the conflict results in the Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. The conflicts ends with the defeat of Richard III by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field, establishing the Tudor dynasty in the later part of the century. In Asia, under the rule of the Yongle Emperor, who built the Forbidden City and commanded Zheng He to explore the world overseas, tamerlane established a major empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, in order to revive the Mongol Empire. In Africa, the spread of Islam leads to the destruction of the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, the formerly vast Mali Empire teeters on the brink of collapse, under pressure from the rising Songhai Empire. In the Americas, both the Inca Empire and the Aztec Empire reach the peak of their influence, 1400s 1401, Dilawar Khan establishes the Malwa Sultanate in present-day central India 1402, Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timurs capture of Bayezid I. 1402, Sultanate of Malacca founded by Parameshwara,1403, The Yongle Emperor moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing. 1403, The settlement of the Canary Islands signals the beginning of the Spanish Empire, 1405–1433, Zheng He of China sails through the Indian Ocean to India, Arabia, and East Africa to spread Chinas influence and sovereignty. 1405, Paregreg war, Majapahit civil war of succession between Wikramawardhana against Wirabhumi, 1405–1407, The first voyage of Zheng He, a massive Ming dynasty naval expedition visited Java, Palembang, Malacca, Aru, Samudera and Lambri. 1410s 1410, The Battle of Grunwald is the battle of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War leading to the downfall of the Teutonic Knights. 1410–1413, Foundation of St Andrews University in Scotland,1414, Khizr Khan, deputised by Timur to be the governor of Multan, takes over Delhi founding the Sayyid dynasty
7.
Islamic calendar
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The Islamic, Muslim, or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries and it is also used by Muslims to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Islamic calendar employs the Hijri era whose epoch was retrospectively established as the Islamic New Year of AD622, during that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib and established the first Muslim community, an event commemorated as the Hijra. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH in parallel with the Christian, in Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form. In English, years prior to the Hijra are reckoned as BH, the current Islamic year is 1438 AH. In the Gregorian calendar,1438 AH runs from approximately 3 October 2016 to 21 September 2017, four of the twelve Hijri months are considered sacred, Rajab, and the three consecutive months of Dhū al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Ḥijjah and Muḥarram. As the lunar calendar lags behind the solar calendar by about ten days every gregorian year, the cycle repeats every 33 lunar years. Each month of the Islamic calendar commences on the birth of the new lunar cycle, traditionally this is based on actual observation of the crescent marking the end of the previous lunar cycle and hence the previous month, thereby beginning the new month. Consequently, each month can have 29 or 30 days depending on the visibility of the moon, astronomical positioning of the earth and weather conditions. However, certain sects and groups, most notably Dawoodi Bohra Muslims and Shia Ismaili Muslims, use a tabular Islamic calendar in which odd-numbered months have thirty days, in Arabic, the first day of the week corresponds with Sunday of the planetary week. The Islamic weekdays, like those in the Hebrew and Baháí calendars, the Christian liturgical day, kept in monasteries, begins with vespers, which is evening, in line with the other Abrahamic traditions. Christian and planetary weekdays begin at the following midnight, Muslims gather for worship at a mosque at noon on gathering day which corresponds with Friday. Thus gathering day is regarded as the weekly day of rest. A few others have adopted the Saturday-Sunday weekend while making Friday a working day with a midday break to allow time off for worship. Inscriptions of the ancient South Arabian calendars reveal the use of a number of local calendars, at least some of these calendars followed the lunisolar system. For Central Arabia, especially Mecca, there is a lack of epigraphical evidence, both al-Biruni and al-Masudi suggest that the Ancient Arabs used the same month names as the Muslims, though they also record other month names used by the pre-Islamic Arabs. Nevertheless, the Islamic position equating Nisan with Dhū al-Ḥijja has prevailed, for a comparison between the Islamic and pre-Islamic months, see Islamic and Jahili months. The Islamic tradition is unanimous in stating that Arabs of Tihamah, Hejaz, the forbidden months were four months during which fighting is forbidden, listed as Rajab and the three months around the pilgrimage season, Dhu al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, and Muharram
8.
Japanese calendar
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Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor, the lunisolar Chinese calendar was introduced to Japan via Korea in the middle of the sixth century. After that, Japan calculated its calendar using various Chinese calendar procedures, but in 1873, as part of Japans Meiji period modernization, a calendar based on the solar Gregorian calendar was introduced. In Japan today, the old Chinese calendar is virtually ignored, celebrations of the Lunar New Year are thus limited to Chinese, Japan has had more than one system for designating years. Including The Chinese sexagenary cycle was introduced into Japan. It was often used together with era names, as in the 1729 Ise calendar shown above, now, though, the cycle is seldom used except around New Years. The era name system was introduced from China, and has been in continuous use since AD701. Each Emperors reign begins a new era, before 1868 era names were also declared for other reasons. Nengō are the means of dating years in Japan. It is also in use in private and personal business. The Japanese imperial year or kigen 紀元 is based on the date of the founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC. It was first used in the calendar in 1873. However, it never replaced era names, and since World War II has been abandoned, the Western Common Era system has gradually come into common use since the Meiji period. Now, most people know it, as well as era names, the official dating system known as nengō 年号, strictly speaking, gengō 元号, has been in use since the late 7th century. Years are numbered within eras, which are named by the reigning Emperor, the nengō system remains in wide use, especially on official documents and government forms. The imperial year system was used from 1872 to the Second World War, Imperial year 1 was the year when the legendary Emperor Jimmu founded Japan –660 BC according to the Gregorian Calendar. Usage of kōki dating can be a nationalist signal, pointing out that the history of Japans imperial family is longer than that of Christianity, kōki 2600 was a special year. The 1940 Summer Olympics and Tokyo Expo were planned as anniversary events, the Japanese naval Zero Fighter was named after this year
9.
Anno 1404
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Anno 1404, known as Dawn of Discovery in North America, is a city-building and economic simulation game with real-time strategy elements, part of the Anno series. Released in 2009, it was developed by Related Designs, produced by Blue Byte, Anno 1404 is the sequel to Anno 1701 and is followed by the futuristic sequel Anno 2070. An expansion, titled Anno 1404, Venice, which adds multiplayer and other features, was released on February 26,2010, as with other Anno games, the player, at the will of their unnamed country of origin creates and manages their fief aside AI players. One of the focuses of the game in the city building setting sense centers on the construction of monuments, namely a Gothic cathedral. The construction phases of these monuments are dependent on certain preconditions which have to be met in order to continue building, the player also needs to stockpile building material in order to commence such a project. The process of the construction of the cathedral resembles very closely the castle/palace feature that was displayed in 1404s predecessor, trade is an essential element of forward progress. Occidental populations can not grow past a certain level of success without Spice, and later Quartz, Although populations generate taxable income, it is difficult to generate enough gold to make meaningful capital investments without extensive trading. This is simplified by an automatic trading process that allows an island to make available to visiting merchant ships. As players progress through the game, they gain access to vessels and troops which allow them to invade. Anno 1404 features an interface, bigger islands and worlds to explore. Anno 1404 has several new features that distinguish it from its three predecessors, Anno 1503, Anno 1602, and Anno 1701 and these features include, Occident and Orient As was the case in Anno 1701, the game world is divided into two culturally distinct zones. Despite the addition of player-managed oriental settlements, the Occident remains the focus of the game. The Orient acts more of a partner in order for Occidental people to advance in class. In order for this to occur, Oriental goods such as spice, indigo, housing levels There are a total of six levels of housing including both occidental and oriental settlements. The four occidental levels are peasants, citizens, patricians and noblemen, the two oriental levels are nomads and envoys. In the Occident, the player starts by building peasant housing, and in the orient and these conditions include the acquisition of goods as mentioned above, as well as the construction of specific buildings, such as a debtors prison, bath house or a cathedral. Civilization class ratios In Anno 1701, every residential structure could be advanced to the uppermost class, in Anno 1404, a number of peasants are required to support a moderate amount of citizens who in turn support a number patricians and noblemen. There are several factors that can impact the ratio of lower class to upper class
10.
Hindu calendar
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Hindu calendar is a collective term for the various lunisolar calendars traditionally used in Hinduism. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping, but differ in their emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle, the names of months. A Hindu calendar is referred to as Panchanga. The ancient Hindu calendar is similar in design to the Jewish calendar. Early Buddhist communities of India adopted the ancient Indian calendar, later Vikrami calendar, Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system. The Buddhist calendar and the traditional calendars of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka. Similarly, the ancient Jainism traditions have followed the lunisolar system as the Hindu calendar for festivals, texts. However, the Buddhist and Jaina timekeeping systems have attempted to use the Buddha, the Hindu calendar is also important to the practice of Hindu astrology and zodiac system, most of which it adopted from Greece, in centuries after the arrival of Alexander the Great. The Indian national calendar or Saka calendar was introduced in 1952 based on the traditional Hindu calendars and this study was one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. The ancient Indian culture developed a time keeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals. David Pingree has proposed that the field of timekeeping in Jyotisha may have derived from Mesopotamia during the Achaemenid period. Ohashi states that this Vedanga field developed from actual astronomical studies in ancient India, timekeeping as well as the nature of solar and moon movements are mentioned in Vedic texts. For example, Kaushitaki Brahmana chapter 19.3 mentions the shift in the location of the sun towards north for 6 months. The Vikrami calendar is named after king Vikramaditya and starts in 57 BCE, Hindu scholars attempted to keep time by observing and calculating the cycles of sun, moon and the planets. These texts present Surya and various planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion, other texts such as Surya Siddhanta dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies. The manuscripts of texts exist in slightly different versions, present Surya- and planets-based calculation. These vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and they tracked the solar year by observing the entrance and departure of surya in the constellation formed by stars in the sky, which they divided into 12 intervals of 30 degrees each. Like other ancient human cultures, Hindus innovated a number of systems of which intercalary months became most used, as their calendar keeping and astronomical observations became more sophisticated, the Hindu calendar became more sophisticated with complex rules and greater accuracy
11.
Kali Yuga
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Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Sanskrit scriptures, within the present Mahayuga. The other ages are called Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Kali Yuga is associated with the demon Kali. The Kali of Kali Yuga means strife, discord, quarrel or contention, according to Puranic sources, Krishnas departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE. According to the Surya Siddhanta, Kali Yuga began at midnight on 18 February 3102 BCE and this is also considered the date on which Lord Krishna left the earth to return to his heavenly abode. This information is placed at the temple of Bhalka, the place of this incident, according to the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhatta the Kali Yuga started in 3102 BCE. He finished his book “Aryabhattiya” in 499 CE, in which he gives the year of the beginning of Kali Yuga. He writes that he wrote the book in the year 3600 of the Kali Age at the age of 23. As it was the 3600th year of the Kali Age when he was 23 years old, and given that Aryabhatta was born in 476 CE, according to KD Abhyankar, the starting point of Kaliyuga is an extremely rare planetary alignment, which is depicted in the Mohenjo-Daro seals. Going by this alignment the year 3102 BCE is slightly off, the actual date for this alignment is February 7 of 3104 BCE. There is also sufficient proof to believe that Vrdhha Garga knew of precession at least by 500 BCE, Garga had calculated the rate of precession to within 30% of what the modern scholars estimate. The Kali Yuga is thought by some authors to last 6480 years although other durations have been proposed, hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga, which is referred to as the Dark Age because in it people are as far away as possible from God. Hinduism often symbolically represents morality as an indian bull, in Satya Yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, but in each age morality is reduced by one quarter. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the golden age, the Mahabharata War and the decimation of Kauravas thus happened at the Yuga-Sandhi, the point of transition from one yuga to another. A discourse by Markandeya in the Mahabharata identifies some of the attributes of Kali Yuga, in relation to rulers, it lists, Rulers will become unreasonable, they will levy taxes unfairly. Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects, people will start migrating, seeking countries where wheat and barley form the staple food source. (Srimad-Bhagavatam With regard to relationships, Markandeyas discourse says, Avarice. Humans will openly display animosity towards each other, people will have thoughts of murder with no justification and will see nothing wrong in that. Lust will be viewed as acceptable and sexual intercourse will be seen as the central requirement of life
