Mesha Sankranti / Baisakhi / Vishu / Puthandu
The Sun enters sidereal Aries — the solar new year across India, and the founding of the Khalsa.
Where it is kept Punjab as Baisakhi, Kerala as Vishu, Tamil Nadu as Puthandu, Bengal as Pohela Boishakh, Assam as Bohag Bihu, Odisha as Pana Sankranti.
When it falls
Fixed by the Sun, not the Moon: the day the Sun crosses into the sidereal sign, computed on the Lahiri ayanamsa.
Overview
The second great solar hinge of the year: the Sun's entry into sidereal Mesha, Aries, which begins the year in every solar calendar of India. It falls on 13, 14 or 15 April and is the new year for Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Nepal at once.
The forms differ completely. Vishu in Kerala turns on the vishukkani — an arrangement of rice, gold, a mirror, the konna flower and a lamp, set up the night before and made the first thing seen on opening the eyes. Puthandu in Tamil Nadu has its own kani and the reading of the year's panchangam. Pohela Boishakh in Bengal opens the trading year with the halkhata. Bohag Bihu in Assam runs seven days.
Where it comes from
For Sikhs the date carries a specific and dated event: on Baisakhi 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa, initiating the Panj Pyare and instituting the amrit ceremony. It is among the best-documented dates in the Sikh calendar and it is the reason Baisakhi is a religious observance and not only a harvest one.
It is also the date of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre — 13 April 1919, when a crowd gathered at Amritsar on Baisakhi was fired on by troops under Brigadier-General Dyer. The day is kept in Punjab with that in it as well.
Why it matters
It is the harvest of the rabi crop in the north and the start of the working year in the solar-calendar states — an economic new year as much as a ritual one.
The convergence of a harvest festival, six regional new years and the founding of the Khalsa on one solar entry makes it the most densely observed single date in the Indian calendar after Diwali.
How to celebrate
- Set up the vishukkani the night before if you keep the Kerala formIt is meant to be the first thing seen on waking; that requires preparing it in advance.
- Hear the year's panchangam readPuthandu and Vishu both keep the almanac reading as the day's central act.
- Open the new account bookHalkhata in Bengal and its equivalents elsewhere.
- Attend the nagar kirtan or the gurdwara if you keep BaisakhiThe Khalsa founding is the day's Sikh observance.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not confuse this with the equinoxLike Makar Sankranti, this is the sidereal entry, not the tropical one; the two are about three weeks apart and separating.
- Do not treat Baisakhi as only a harvest festivalFor Sikhs it is the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, and it is also the anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh.
- Do not look at anything before the kani if you have set one upThe whole point of the arrangement is that it is first.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- The date is computed here from the Sun's sidereal longitude on the Lahiri ayanamsa.
- Sikh tradition and contemporary records of the founding of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, Baisakhi 1699.
- The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Amritsar, 13 April 1919 — the Hunter Committee report and the Indian National Congress inquiry.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page