History
During the time of the Yarlung Dynasty the Tibetan years were named after the 12 animals common for the Chinese zodiac. The month were named according to the four seasons of a year and the year started in summer.
The translation of the Buddhist Kalachakratantra in the second half of the 11th century AD marked the beginning of a complete change for the calendar in Tibet. The first chapter of this book contains among others a description of an Indian astronomical calendar and descriptions of the calculations to determine the length of the five planets and the sun and moon eclipses.
According to the Buddhist tradition, the original teachings of the Kalacakra were taught by Buddha himself. Nevertheless it took more than two hundred years until the Kalacakra calendar was officially introduced as the official Tibetan calendar by the ruler Chos-rgyal 'Phags-pa in the second half of the 13th century. Although this calendar was changed many times during the subsequent centuries, it kept its original character as a luni-solar calendar of Indian origin.
Read more about this topic: Tibetan Calendar
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