section_path: Months/Lunar months/Amānta and Purnimānta systems
section_name: Amānta and Purnimānta systems
paragraph_text: Amānta and Purnimānta systems
  
  Two traditions have been followed in the Indian subcontinent with respect to lunar months: the amānta tradition, which ends the lunar month on new moon day (similar to the Islamic calendar) and the purnimānta tradition, which ends it on full moon day. As a consequence, in the amanta tradition, Shukla paksha precedes Krishna paksha in every lunar month, whereas in the purnimānta tradition, Krishna paksha precedes Shukla paksha in every lunar month. As a result, a Shukla paksha will always belong to the same month in both traditions, whereas a Krishna paksha will always be associated with different (but succeeding) months in each tradition.
  
  The amanta (also known as Amāvasyānta or Mukhyamana) tradition is followed by most Indian states that have a peninsular coastline (except Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which use their own solar calendars). These states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Nepal and most Indian states north of the Vindhya mountains follow the poornimānta (or Gaunamana) tradition.
  
  The poornimānta tradition was being followed in the Vedic era. It was replaced with the amanta tradition as the Hindu calendar system prior to the 1st century BCE, but the Poornimanta tradition was restored in 57 BCE by king Vikramaditya, who wanted to return to the Vedic roots. The presence of this system is one of the factors considered in dating ancient Indian manuscripts and epigraphical evidence that have survived into the modern era.
  
  The two traditions of Amanta and Purnimanta systems have led to alternate ways of dating any festival or event that occurs in a Krishna paksha in the historic Hindu, Buddhist or Jain literature, and contemporary regional literature or festival calendars. For example, the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri falls on the fourteenth lunar day of Magha's Krishna paksha in the Amanta system, while the same exact day is expressed as the fourteenth lunar day of Phalguna's Krishna paksha in the Purnimanta system. Both lunisolar calendar systems are equivalent ways of referring to the same date, and they continue to be in use in different regions, though the Purnimanta system is now typically assumed as implied in modern Indology literature if not otherwise specified.