Bengali Calendar - Revised Bengali Calendar

Revised Bengali Calendar

The Bengali calendar in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was modified by a committee headed by Muhammad Shahidullah under the auspices of the Bangla Academy on 17 February 1966.

The length of a year in the Bengali calendar, as in the Gregorian calendar, is counted as 365 days. However, the actual time taken by the earth in its revolution around the sun is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 47 seconds. To make up this discrepancy, the Gregorian calendar adds an extra day, to make a leap year, to the month of February every fourth year (except in years divisible by 100 but not by 400). The Bengali calendar, which was based on astronomical calculations, did not make this extra leap year adjustment. Bengali months, too, were of different lengths. To counter this discrepancy, and to make the Bengali calendar more precise, the following recommendations of the Bangla Academy are followed:

• The first five months of the year from Boishakh to Bhadro will consist of 31 days each.
• The remaining seven months of the year from Ashshin to Choitro will consist of 30 days each.
• In every leap year of the Gregorian calendar, an additional day will be added in the month of Falgun, which is just 14 days after 29 February. (Modified without material change).

The revised calendar was officially adopted in Bangladesh in 1987. However, it is not followed in the neighbouring state of West Bengal, India, where the traditional calendar continues to be followed due to the deep bond of Hindu culture with the Bengali calendar. Hindu religious festivals are celebrated based on a particular lunar day and Bengali calendar combination.