Which panchangam to follow

Those shortcuts used to get updated time to time to remove any inaccuracies which creeps in such methods with time. The calculated positions of stars by Vakyam and Surya Siddhantic methods were exact enough to match with observatory positions of the stars without much effort.

These old methods have not been updated since centuries and star positions calculated by these methods are erroneous. The difference between calculated and observatory positions might vary up to 12 hours. Hence the positions of star calculated by old algorithms like Vakya Siddhanta or Surya Siddhanta are not precise. Followers of these old schools are well aware of these discrepancies but still use erroneous methods.

However they don't mind stealing eclipse information from Drik Panchangam or Thiru-Ganita Panchangam. The other group of Panchangam makers, like DrikPanchang. In computer era number crunching calculations are not a problem. Drik Ganita Panchangam makers use modern algorithms to get precise position of stars and use those positions in Panchangam.

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Our Popular Services. We also provide. Contact Us Contact our Support for all your queries. These mnemonic devices, written in the form of simple sentences with easy-to-remember words Vakya , were extremely accurate in describing the motions of heavenly bodies at the time of composition.

But the author knew that they would only be accurate for a very short amount of time, so he wrote that these Vakyas should be regularly updated by observing the actual positions of the heavenly bodies using the human eye and then modifying the Vakyas to match the latest motions of those bodies. And accordingly future generations kept rewriting the Vakyas, but unfortunately the last person to make an update was the Indian astronomer Bhaskaracharya nearly a thousand years ago.

So practitioners of the Vakya Panchangam are relying on astronomical calculations that are incredibly out of date. That is why people often use Drik Ganitha Panchangam, AKA Thiruganitha Panchgam, where you don't rely on the Vakyas at all, and instead rely on the actual positions of the the heavenly bodies. Drik comes from the Sankrit word "drishti" meaning sight, because it originally relied on naked-eye observations, but Drik-Panchangam websites today rely upon methods that are even more precise than the naked eye, like sophisticated modern astronomical calculation techniques, as well as Ephemeris data from NASA.

Yet there are lots of people that still rely on Vakya Panchangam. Well, it's tradition to use the Vakyas, as the Surya Siddhanta is considered divine. But the extent to which the Surya Siddhanta is out of date was demonstrated by the solar and lunar eclipses, where the Vakya Panchangams published dates and times for the eclipses that were dramatically different from what actually occurred.

From that time onwards even the publishers of Vakya Panchagams have started using certain astronomical data, like eclipse times taken from Drik Panchangam publications. So if you want the most accurate information out there, it's advisable to use modern Drik Panchangams found on the Internet, but there is the downside that you're not keeping with the old traditions. What would be ideal is if someone today were to write updated Vakyas.

People up to the time of Bhaskara were willing to do that, but in the modern day people are too scared to make changes to the Sanskrit words of the illustrious writers of the past.

But that concern may be unfounded; we have excellent Sanskrit writers living today, like Rambhadracharya whose work has been compared favorably to that of Kalidasa. I think someone like that may be qualified to rewrite the Vakyas of the Surya Siddhanta, if they only have the courage to do so. And to answer your other question, this site says "Maharishi Vashistha and Varahamihira have said to make the panchangam as per Druka ganita.

Many leading astrolers are also following vakya only. Vakya is basically a mathematical theory for calculations. Does not account for actual observations. Drik is based on actual observation but needs constant updation based on observation. Nasa data is based on actual observation because they have to land a craft in mars. Nasa revises it ephemeris every few years. However for most calendrical calculations Vakya is more than satisfactory provided the mathematical theories are rewritten taking into account certain corrections which are obtained from actual observations.

As on date my honest opinion is all Jyotish related calculations are not updated and do not follow the writings of the Rishis. This is the effect of Kali when the Vedas are not quite well understood.