DU to distribute 10,000 copies of newly launched 'Panchang' to academic community across India

NEW DELHI: Delhi University will distribute 10,000 copies of its newly launched Panchang -- an ancient Indian knowledge system-based almanac -- to the academic community across the country, the varsity officials said on Saturday.

The university on Friday launched its Panchang, also known as the Hindu calendar, and distributed more than 1,000 copies of it. A university official said the Panchang is the annual compilation of planetary movements. "More than 1,000 Panchang were distributed on Friday, and 9,000 more will be distributed across the society and academic community in the country, all free of cost, in coming days," a university official told PTI. The Panchang is more advanced than the Western calendar and will help in the "dissemination of ancient Indian knowledge," the varsity officials said.

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Detailed information about all festivals, eclipses, dates etc. has been given in this Panchang. DU's value addition courses committee chairman Prof Niranjan Kumar has said besides the importance of only the date and day of the Western-style calendar, the Indian almanac has Tithi, Vaar, Karan, Nakshatra and Yoga as well as all festivals and important dates. In simple terms, "panchānga" means the day, nakshatra (star), tithi, yoga and karana every day, the official said.

The Panchang will be a useful first step in introducing students to the rich corpus of Indian knowledge tradition, the officials said. During the launch, Vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh said the almanac will "awaken self-respect" among Indians. "Now is the time to awaken Indian self-respect by connecting with Indian knowledge and tradition. This Panchang of DU is an example of this," the statement quoted Singh as saying.

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"Detailed information about all festivals, eclipses, dates etc. has been given in this Panchang," he said, adding that the National Education Policy 2020 too, is based on Indian knowledge tradition only.