Celebrating Nepal New Year

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On October 18, 2009, Nepalis are proudly going to celebrate the New Year 1130 following the national calendar called Nepal Sambat. Some Nepalis erroneously think that it is the calendar of only one community but it is not so it is the cultural heritage of all Nepalis no matter where you live in. So, let us celebrate the Nepal New year jubilantly and preserve our cultural heritage.

If you take a look at all the calendars prevailing in the world you will find that all the calendars are run in the name of one person or another. However, Nepal Sambat is in the name of a country not in the name of a person.

Nepal has the history of rulers of Gopala and Mahispala, Kirats, Licchavis, Mallas and Shahs. We do not know much about what sorts of calendars have used before Gopala rulers but we do know that Gopala and Mahispala have used an imported calendar.

Gopala and Mahispala have used Saka Sambat that began in 78 of the Gregorian calendar. It is called Saka because of the Saka rulers has introduced in one of the then kingdoms of the current India. Probably, Kirat rulers have simply followed the Saka calendar. However, Licchavi King Amsuvarman introduced the Manadev Sambat in 604. It was the Nepalese national calendar.

Then, Licchavi kings have started losing the power and they have been on the way to termination. A transitional period between the end of the Licchavi rule and the beginning of the Malla has been breeding ground for corruption and an authoritarian rule. However, during this transitional period the rulers have been very weak because of their discretionary rule rather than the rule of law. People have been heavily indebted to the state and to the moneylenders.

Taking the advantage of the shaky rule of the then ruler Raghavadeva, one of the commoners called Sankhadhara Skhva must have led the indebted people to force the ruler to liquidate the state debt in 800 and set up a new calendar called Nepal Sambat. Skhva did not credit the ruler naming the calendar in his honor, as the people’s uprising has forced him to do so. It must be one of the Nepali people’s movements against the ruler for liquidating the state debt, and setting up a new calendar called Nepal Sambat. Thus, Nepal Sambat symbolizes the people’s supremacy over the then ruler.

You will find a fascinating story about how Skhva tricked the porters collecting the sand from Lakhu Tirtha River to his ground floor and turned the sands into gold after four days. Then, he used the gold to pay the debts of the people for introducing a new calendar, as a new calendar could be introduced only after making all citizens free of debts. It must be a story made to save the face of the then Ruler Raghavadeva, as he has surrendered his authority to introduced a new calendar to Skhva.

Since 800, the Nepal Sambat Calendar has been in use in Nepal until despotic ruler Chandra Shumsher replaced the Nepal Sambat with the Vikram Sambat imported from one of the States of the current India in 1920s. He did so to cut down the state expenditure. Following the Nepal Sambat he needed to pay the salaries to the state employees for thirteen months every three years, as Nepal Sambat follows the lunar movement and creates one more month every three years. Following the solar Vikram calendar, he could save the one-month salaries of the whole state employees that he has been paying every three year, and could pocket all the state savings for his private luxurious life.

After the people’s movement of 2006 and the demise of the monarchy, the Interim Government has declared Sankhadhara Skhva a national dignity and the Nepal Sambat a national calendar. The state has issued a postal stamp honoring Sankhadhara Skhva. His statue has been set up in Bhaktapur.

Nepalis have been using the Nepal Sambat for celebrating festivals, and for holding life rituals in other words for religious and social purposes and the Vikram Calendar for official records and work even today.

For practical purposes, the Government of Nepal needs to switch on to the Gregorian calendar from the Vikram calendar to cope with the globalization. Nepalis have been feeling inconvenient to use both the Vikram calendar for the domestic business and the Gregorian calendar for the international business. So, for all practical purposes and for making life of everybody easy, we need to follow the Gregorian calendar immediately.

In addition, the government needs to stop using two years for a single fiscal year. For example, the government writes the current fiscal year 2066/67 (2009/2010) following the Vikram calendar. It is confusing to most of the people. So, the government needs to write the current fiscal year 2009 (2066) following the Gregorian calendar. It has started after three months of the Vikram calendar 2066 (2009) and ends after three months of the Vikram calendar year 2067 (2010).

October 17, 2009.