Staff Correspondent daily-bangladesh.com

 Published: 11:24 AM, 17 October 2019   Updated: 01:37 PM, 17 October 2019

The Bengali calendar has changed. For the first time, the Ashshin month is completed in 31-day. In this view, the first day of Kartik is counted on Thursday. The Bangla Academy has reformed this. 

According to the new Bengali calendar, the six months — Bôishakh, Jyôishţhô, Ashaŗh, Shrabôn, Bhadrô, Ashshin — will count as 31-day, said the Bangla Academy.

The five months — Kartik, Ôgrôhayôn, Poush, Magh, Chôitrô — will count as 30-day. Only Falgun will count as 29-day. However, the year that will be Gregorian calendar leap year — that year will be counted as 30-day.  

The Bangla Academy has been researching for a long time to reform the Bengali calendar. Originally, the reforms were introduced in the Bengali calendar to coordinate the glorious days of the Nation’s history on the same date in the Bengali and Gregorian calendar. For example – February 21, 1952, was in  Falgun 8, but usually, February 21 was Falgun 9. 

Due to this modification of the calendar, the Bengali date of International Mother Language Day Ekushey February will be Falgun 8. The date of Independence Day of March 26 will be Chôitrô 12. 

And Rabindra’s birth anniversary of May 8 will be Bôishakh 25. Nazrul’s birth anniversary of May 25 will be Jyôishţhô 11, Victory day of December 16 will be Poush 1 (Pahela Poush – the first day of Poush month). 

In 2015, the Bengali Calendar Reform Committee was formed convening the Director-General of the Bangla Academy. The committee coordinates the Bengali and Gregorian calendar. 

According to the official Gregorian calendar 2019, the committee recommends adjusting the new date of 1425-1426 Bengali year. So, Ashshin 31 was yesterday (October 16) according to government calender.  

The calendar that has been in force in the country since Bengali year 1402 was Sanskrit new testament ‘Shahidullah Barshapanji’ of Mohammad Tokiyullah.  

According to this calendar, every Bôishakh to Bhadrô was 31-day and every Ashshin to Chôitrô was 30-day. In a leap year of 366 days, Falgun was 31-day. If the Bangla year is divided by 4, then the remaining 2 is considered as Bangla leap year.

DailyBangladesh/Adnan

Source: https://daily-bangladesh.com/english/Bengali-cccccalendar-changes/30081