Scientific Reform
The earliest Indian almanacs date back to around 1000 BC. It did analyse time but the calculations were not always very accurate. Suryasiddhanta, produced in that era, was the forerunner of all later day panjikas.
During British rule, Biswambhar again began the work of publishing the panjika, in handwritten book form. The printed version came in 1869. Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika was first published in 1890. Gupta Press follows Suryasiddhanta with the original format while the version with “corrected” scripture is called Visuddhasiddhanta.
The Bisuddhasiddhanta Panjika came into being because an astronomer Madhab Chandra Chattopadhyay, on studying the panjikas then in vogue found differences in the actual and astrological position of the planets and stars. He revised the panjika as per scientific readings. There were other people in different parts of India who also supported the approach for scientific revision of the panjika. It included such people as Mahamahopadhyay Chandrasekhar Singha Samanta in Odisha and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Pune.
In 1952, a major revision of the panjika was undertaken under the aegis of the Indian government.
Read more about this topic: Panjika
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