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Showing posts from November, 2025

Rituals and Festivals: Logic Behind Indian Festival Dates

The  Logic Behind Indian Festival Dates   Vrat and Utsav India’s rituals (Vrat), individual and collective, as well as festivals (utsav), follow a mix of calendrical systems, regional customs, and religious rules. The words "Vrat" and "Utsav" are used in Vedic texts. Many scholars have written treatises to explain the evolution of these words.  It is difficult to draw a strict line between vrat and utsav. What are called utsav also have an element of religious rites, and conversely, many vrat have some component of being a festival/ utsav. Dharmasindhu describes Vrat as a kind of religious rite/ pooja, with a resolve or a Sankalp. Utsav is more of a collective observance of Vrat. These vrat connect the practitioner to the divine through discipline and help in spiritual and physical purification.  Annual change of dates of these festivals, with respect to the Gregorian calendar, creates confusion and gives an impression that there is something m...