Well done Mr.Santosh Kumar Dash!

[Guest guest]

It is very much pity we born Hindus lack mythological knowledge to fix / verify

the correctness of our ritual days.

 

 Refer THE Hindu English [online edition of India's National News paper]  dated

22nd November 2008.

 

Confusion over publication of panjikas

 

 

 

 

 

Satyasundar Barik

 

BHUBANESWAR: How are government holidays marking festivals of Hindu

community fixed in the State ? No department in the State government

has the satisfactory answer.

An inquisitiveness to know the basis of deciding the date of

holidays relating to different festivals and social occasions has led a

Hindu priest to nowhere.

Santosh Kumar Dash, the priest, had knocked doors of different

departments with Right To Information applications. But every

department failed to give him a satisfactory answer.

People in the State basically follow different panjikas (Ephemeris)

to know the day of their festivals. However, many occasions come when

one festival falls on two different dates. There lies the problem and

it leads to confusion.

Mr. Dash’s question was simple as to which Panjika is followed by

the State government. First, the priest went to Law Department that

expressed its inability to provide the information.

Law Department had earlier forwarded the RTI application to the

Tourism and Culture Department that encashes State’s tourism potential

by highlighting different festivals and customs. The Culture Department

also had no idea on the subject.

Subsequently, Mr. Dash asked the same question to Commissioner of

Endowment that regulates as many as 16,277 temples of the State.

To the query, the commission said, “although we manage temples and

mutts of the State, we don’t know which panjika is being followed in

those institutions.”

Finally, Jagannath Temple Administration, which is in charge of

affairs of temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri, came out of with an

answer. “The rituals associated with festivals of Lord Jagannath are

fixed by two Panjika such as Kohenoor and Radharaman Press.

If any discrepancy crops up a committee sits and sorts out the date,” it said.

Revenue and Disaster Management Department, however, listed out five

panjikas, on the basis of which holidays were declared. It, however,

did not satisfy the information seeker. “When panjikas have already

given two different dates for a single festival before, the reply of

following five ephemeris has added to the confusion only,” he said.

Why is so much of emphasis on Panjikas? In an attempt to clear all

doubts, the Union Government had once come out with a National

Ephemeris (Rastriya Panchang). It was published by New Delhi-based the General of Meteorology.

“Thousands of marriages are fixed on auspicious dates and times

given by these panjikas As they differ on many occasions, it has led to

social tensions such as interruption in marriages and other social

events,” Mr. Dash said.

He charged that many publishers had used names and photographs of

Mahatma Gandhi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other senior leaders

to add credibility to their astrology and astronomy.

These panjikas had even gone to the extent of forecasting cyclones and floods,

Mr. Dash pointed out.