1.
16th century
–
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
2.
17th century
–
The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1,1601, to December 31,1700, in the Gregorian calendar. The greatest military conflicts were the Thirty Years War, the Great Turkish War, in the Islamic world, the Ottoman, Safavid Persian and Mughal empires grew in strength. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo period at the beginning of the century, European politics were dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded and it was during this century that English monarch became a symbolic figurehead and Parliament was the dominant force in government – a contrast to most of Europe, in particular France. It was also a period of development of culture in general,1600, On February 17 Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake by the Inquisition. 1600, Michael the Brave unifies the three Romanian countries, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599. 1601, Battle of Kinsale, England defeats Irish and Spanish forces at the town of Kinsale, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system. 1601, Michael the Brave, voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Câmpia Turzii, 1601–1603, The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills perhaps one-third of Russia. 1601, Panembahan Senopati, first king of Mataram, dies and passes rule to his son Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak 1601,1602, Matteo Ricci produces the Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, a world map that will be used throughout East Asia for centuries. 1602, The Portuguese send an expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control. 1602, The Dutch East India Company is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies and its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age. 1602, Two emissaries from the Aceh Sultanate visit the Dutch Republic,1603, Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu takes the title of Shogun, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate and this begins the Edo period, which will last until 1869. 1603–1623, After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans,1603, First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java. First successful VOC privateering raid on a Portuguese ship,1604, A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. 1605, Gunpowder Plot failed in England,1605, The fortresses of Veszprém and Visegrad are retaken by the Ottomans. 1605, February, The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon,1605, Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak of Mataram establishes control over Demak, former center of the Demak Sultanate. 1606, Treaty of Vienna ends anti-Habsburg uprising in Royal Hungary,1606, Assassination of Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania
3.
Berber calendar
–
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.
William III of England
–
It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
5.
Hebrew calendar
–
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.
18th century
–
The 18th century lasted from January 1,1701 to December 31,1800 in the Gregorian calendar. During the 18th century, the Enlightenment culminated in the French, philosophy and science increased in prominence. Philosophers dreamed of a brighter age and this dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution of 1789-, though later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror under Maximilien Robespierre. At first, many monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but with the French Revolution they feared losing their power, the Ottoman Empire experienced an unprecedented period of peace and economic expansion, taking part in no European wars from 1740 to 1768. The 18th century also marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state, the once-powerful and vast kingdom, which had once conquered Moscow and defeated great Ottoman armies, collapsed under numerous invasions. European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as the Age of Sail continued. Great Britain became a major power worldwide with the defeat of France in North America in the 1760s, however, Britain lost many of its North American colonies after the American Revolution, which resulted in the formation of the newly independent United States of America. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain in the 1770s with the production of the steam engine. Despite its modest beginnings in the 18th century, steam-powered machinery would radically change human society, western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, 1700-1721, Great Northern War between Tsarist Russia and the Swedish Empire. 1701, Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I,1701, Ashanti Empire is formed under Osei Kofi Tutu I. 1701–1714, The War of the Spanish Succession is fought, involving most of continental Europe, 1701–1702, The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post become the first daily newspapers in England. 1702, Forty-seven Ronin attack Kira Yoshinaka and then commit seppuku in Japan,1703, Saint Petersburg is founded by Peter the Great, it is the Russian capital until 1918. 1703–1711, The Rákóczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy,1704, End of Japans Genroku period. 1704, First Javanese War of Succession,1705, George Frideric Handels first opera, Almira, premieres. 1706, War of the Spanish Succession, French troops defeated at the Battles of Ramilies,1706, The first English-language edition of the Arabian Nights is published. 1707, The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments,1707, After Aurangzebs death, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and the Maratha Empire slowly replaces it. 1707, Mount Fuji erupts in Japan for the first time since 1700,1707, War of 27 Years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India
7.
1690s in architecture
–
1690 - The Sindone Chapel in Turin, Piedmont, designed by Guarino Guarini is completed. 1690 - The Barrage Vauban, designed by Vauban and built by Jacques Tarade in Strasbourg, France, is completed 1692 St. Kazimierz Church, Warsaw, Poland, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is completed. Theatine Church, Munich, Bavaria, designed by Agostino Barelli in 1662, is completed to the design of Enrico Zuccalli. 1694 The Potala Palace in Lhasa is completed by construction of the Potrang Marpo, the Radziejowski Palace in Nieborów, Poland, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is built. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin, begun by Amedeo di Castellamonte in 1668, is completed to the design of Guarino Guarini,1695 - Wren Library, the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, designed by Christopher Wren, is completed. 1696 Main façades of Chatsworth House completed to designs of William Talman in a pioneering English Baroque style, Library of The Queens College, Oxford, designed locally, is completed. 1699 - Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, 1690-1700 - Two Baroque palaces in Vilnius, Sapieha Palace and Slushko Palace, designed by Pietro Perti, are erected. 1691-1697 - Branicki Palace, Białystok, Poland, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is built, 1695-1699 - Craigiehall, near Edinburgh, Scotland, designed by Sir William Bruce. 1696 - Construction of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna to the design of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach begins,1696 - Window tax is introduced in England. 1697, May 7 - The 13th century royal Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm burns to the ground, the plan for the replacement Stockholm Palace by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger is presented a few weeks later
8.
Islamic calendar
–
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
9.
Japanese calendar
–
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
10.
Genroku
–
Genroku was a Japanese era name after Jōkyō and before Hōei. This period spanned the years from ninth month of 1688 through third month of 1704, the years of Genroku are generally considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability, there were unanticipated consequences when the shogunate debased the quality of coins as a strategy for financing the appearance of continuing Genroku affluence. This strategic miscalculation caused abrupt inflation, then, in an effort to solve the ensuing crisis, the bakufu introduced what were called the Kyōhō Reforms. Genroku gannen,1688, The new era name was created to mark the beginning of the reign of Higashiyama, the previous era ended and the new one commenced in Jōkyō5, on the 30th day of the 9th month. A sense of optimism is suggested in the era name choice of Genroku,1688, Ihara Saikaku publishes Japans Eternal Treasury. 1688, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu assumes the office of Soba Yōnin,1688, The Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for funerals, which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well. 1689, Foreign settlements in Nagasaki become possible, september 16,1689, German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima. 1690, The Abandoned Child Ban was officially proclaimed,1692, Building of temples in Edo banned. 1693, Arai Hakuseki becomes tutor to the daimyō of Kōfu-han,1693, The code of conduct for funerals is revised again. 1695, Land survey performed of territory under the control of the bakufu in Kantō. 1695, Minting begun of Genroku coinage, the shogunate placed the Japanese character gen on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the yuan. There is no connection between those uses, however,1695, First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo. This Genroku map was corrected in Kyōhō4 by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro, using high mountain peaks as points of reference, five-storied Pagoda 1698, Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of Kanei-ji,1700, Exchange rate of silver coins established. 1703, Akō Domain incident involving the 47 rōnin,1703, First performance of Chikamatsu Monzaemons play The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. December 31,1703, The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo, the following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city. Parts of Honshūs coast were battered by tsunami, and 200,000 people were killed or injured
11.
Hindu calendar
–
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
12.
Kali Yuga
–
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
.jpg)