Dr Pankaj Mittal releases Hindu Calendar

By Haryananewswire

CHANDIGARH, APRIL 12

A ‘Hindu Calendar’ published by the Centre for Indic and Asian Studies (CIAS) of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya was released by the Vice Chancellor Dr. Pankaj Mittal in the varsity at Sonipat.

          Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor Dr. Pankaj Mittal said that ‘Hindu Calendar’ is a vital part of the lives of Hindus, for it is indispensable in calculating the dates of festivals, and auspicious times and days for performing various rituals. It is not just a calendar rather it is an Index of Cultural and Historical Importance of Bharata, she added. Dr. Pankaj Mittal said that the effort to bring out the Index of Cultural and Historical Heritage of India along with the Lunar months and important dates is the first attempt by the Centre for Indic and Asian Stud in the country. Dr. Pankaj Mittal congratulated to Prof. Kapil Kapoor (Director, CIAS), Dr. Ravi Bhushan, Dr. Daizy and Dr. Pramba Yogmaya for published this unique Hindu Calendar.

          Dr. Paramba Yogmaya threw light on the uniqueness of this calendar. She said that the birth and death anniversaries of great personalities of our country, the important ‘Tithis’ in each lunar month and the dates of cultural importance are given in the column of “Vishista Tithiyan” and are coloured maroon in the main Calender. In this calendar, the first page of the Manuscript of Rgveda showing the padapatha with Vedic accent marks; the Akshara Brahma and the Pravartakas of Dharma (Mahavir Jain, Bhagavan Buddha and Guru Nanak Dev Ji); the great Acharyas (Panini, Patanjali, Hemachandracharya and Adi Shankaracharya); the four temples in four directions of our country showing national integrity in general and religious, cultural and architectural beauty in particular; the defenders of Dharma (Maharana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji, Krishna Dev Ray and Guru Govind Singh Ji);  the freedom fighters who all became Shahids (Bhagat Singh, Mangal Pandey, Jatin Das and Subhas Chandra Bose); the temple complexes of different parts of our country (the Parasnath Jain Temple Complex Kolkata, the Shatrunjaya Hill Temple Complex Paltant Gujurat, the Chamunda Temple Complex of Mysore and the Kamakhya temple Complex of Guwahati); the modern thinkers (Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Mahatama Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak); the great forts of our country (the Chitorgarh, Meherangarh, Lohagarh and Jaiselmergarh forts of Rajasthan); the Baudha Stupas (Shanti Stup of Dhauli Odisha, Bodhgaya of Bihar, the Dhammek Stup of Sarnath, Varanasi and the Sanchi Stup of Madhya Pradesh) show our Buddhist culture of non-violence and tolerance. Again there is the picture of great Gurudwaras of our country (the Golden Temple Amritsar, the Anandpur Sahib Rupnagar Panjab, the Fatehgarh Sahib Fatehgarh Panjab and the interior view of the Shishganj Sahib Delhi) and the first page of the Ashtadhyayi text (the Sanskrit Grammar text by which all the Indian Languages are systematized) by Maharshi Panini where 14 Maheshwara Sutras (aphorisms) are in view.

          The last page of the calendar shows the glimpse of two International Conferences i.e. “International Conference on India-Korea Relations: Past and Present” in July 18-19, 2012 and “International Conference on South - East-East Asia and India: Historical Interconnections in Art, Architecture and Culture of Laos, Thiland, Cambodia and Vietnam” organized by the Centre for Indic - Asian Studies. The website of the Center www.sthaneshwaranidhi.ac.in , a site for Indic Knowledge is in view in the last page.

          Prof. S.P. Thyagarajan (Former VC, Madras University), Pro-VC Dr. Balbir Kaur, Registrar Prof. Asha Kadyan, Prof. KPS Unny (Former Registrar, JNU) and Dr. Paramba Yogmaya were also present on the occasion.