Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti, also known as Paush Sankranti in Bangladesh, here Sam(n)kranti means ‘transfer’, this day is considered to be the day of Sun’s transition into Capricorn.
Number of native festivals are held throughout India. It is celebrated annualy on the occasion when the Sun enters Capricorn which corresponds to the month of January according to the Gregorian calendar. It (remarks) the (first day of the Sun’s transit in Makara )(Capricorn).
Due to the adding of one day in a leap year, the date of Makar Sankranti can vary slightly. In leap years it falls on 15 January, otherwise it falls on 14 January. There are 365.24 days in a year but we are able to use only 365 days. Then we add one day to the leap year. By the time of leap years, the year calendar is trailing the Sun by almost a day, making Makar Sankranti on January 15. When the correction is done Makar Sankranti falls on January 14.
The festivities associated with Makar Sankranti are known by various names like Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi in Punjab, Maghi Saji in Himachal Pradesh, Maghi Sangrand or Uttarayan (Uttarayan) in Jammu, Sakrat in Haryana, Socrates in Central India, Pongal in Tamil Nadu. . Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi across India on Makar Sankranti as Magha Sankranti (Nepal), Songkran (Thailand), Thingyan (Myanmar), Mohan Songkran (Cambodia), and Shishur Senkrath (Kashmir) as Sankranti in the state and Telangana God is worshipped.
Indologist Diana L. According to one, represesnts in the Hindu poem Mahabharata. according to this occasion, people pray to the Sun and take a bath at the Prayag confluence of the Ganges River and the Yamuna River, a tradition attributed to Adi Shankara.
Makar Sankranti is determined by the solar cycle and the exact time of the Sun’s entry into Capricorn corresponds to the astronomical event and is observed on a day that usually falls on January 14 of the Gregorian calendar, but on January 15 as a leap year. In. The date and time of Makar Sankranti corresponds to the sidereal time of the zodiac of Makar Rashi (when the Sun enters).
We only have 365 days in a year, so the calendar lags by 1 day in 4 years’ time, so we need to adjust this to leap day, February 29. But Makar Sankranti comes before the leap day correction so every fourth year it falls on 15th January. Due to the leap year, the sidereal time of Capricorn also changes by one day. Similarly, the timing of the equinoxes also changes by one day every 4 years.
For example, the September equinox does not fall on the same date every year and neither does the winter solstice. Any event related to one revolution of the Earth around the Sun will shift this date within a 4-year cycle. Similar changes can be observed at the exact timing of the solstices and equinoxes.
We can see that the time difference between two consecutive winter solstices is about 5 hours 49 minutes 59 seconds, with respect to the time of the winter solstice, and the time difference between two consecutive Mankar solstice is about 6 hours and 10 minutes. . At the end of the 21st century, there will be more occurrences of Makar Sankranti on January 15th in a four-year cycle. And Makar Sankranti (the constellation time of Capricorn) will happen on January 16 for the first time in the year 2102 because 2100 will not be a leap year.
Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan
Uttarayan begins when the circular longitude of the Sun becomes 270° from the vernal equinox, meaning it is a tropical measurement. While both relate to the measurement of 270°, their starting points are different. Hence Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan fall on different days. Makar Sankranti falls on January 14/15 on the Gregorian calendar; Uttarayan is starting from 21st December.
Most Hindu calendars ignore this distinction and also represent Makar Sankranti as the beginning of Uttarayan. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the tropical zodiac (ie all equinoxes and solstices) shifts by about 1° in 72 years. December Sankranti (Uttarayan) and Makar Sankranti must have occurred at some time in the distant past. The last time such a coincidence happened 1700 years ago was in 291 AD.
Importance
This significance of the sun is found in Vedic texts, especially the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn of Hinduism, in its own text called the Rigveda.
It is believed that taking a bath leads to virtuous or destruction of past sins. They also pray to Surya and give thanks for his successes and prosperity. For more people of India, this period is a part of the rabi harvest and the early stages of the agricultural cycle, where the crop has been sown and the labor in the fields is mostly gone.