Vikram Samvat and Saka era: the Indian calendar eras
Vikram Samvat and Saka Samvat are two Indian calendar eras. The Vikram era is used in the north and the Saka era is the basis of the Indian national calendar.
What it is
The Vikram era is counted from a date traditionally placed about 57 years before the Common Era, and the Saka era from 78 CE. The Saka era is the one used by the Indian national calendar.
How it is worked out or read
The year number is the era count, so a date in one era can be converted to the other by a fixed offset. The months and tithis are not converted by the offset alone, because the year starts at different points.
Where it appears on this site
The panchang shows the Gregorian date and the tithi. Era years are not shown on the site yet; the lunar month article explains the month names.
Two eras
Vikram Samvat and Saka Samvat are two Indian calendar eras, each giving a year count from a fixed starting point. The Vikram era is widely used in northern India and in some traditional almanacs, while the Saka era is the basis of the Indian national calendar.
Their starting points
The Vikram era is traditionally dated from about 57 years before the Common Era, and the Saka era from 78 CE. Because the starting points are fixed, a year in one era can be converted to the other by a fixed offset, although the months and tithis do not convert by the offset alone.
Reading a dated almanac
A reader who finds a year in one era on an almanac should check which era is meant, and whether the year begins in the same month as the civil year. The start of the year differs between traditions, so the era year and the civil year may not match exactly.
Which era a calendar uses
A calendar printed in northern India may show the Vikram year, while an Indian government document uses the Saka year. A reader who wants to know which era applies should look at the calendar's title, its introduction or its notes. Where the information is missing, the safe course is to ask the publisher rather than guess, since a year count that is off by fifty-seven or seventy-eight years is easy to mistake.
For a family that keeps dates in both eras, a simple conversion table written once and checked against a published source saves repeated effort and keeps the records consistent.
Why the eras matter for historical dates
Historians and genealogists meet these eras in inscriptions and manuscripts, where the year is often given in one era without a label. Knowing the starting points, and the usual month at which each year begins, allows a careful reader to place the date correctly on the civil calendar. The Jyotish calendar itself is based on the lunar and solar cycles, so the era is a separate matter of counting years rather than of computing the sky.