Makara (month) month of Kumbha. The start of this month is almost always January 14, the day of the Makara Sankranti festival, and periodically the Kumbh Mela. The Makara month is called "Tai" in the Tamil Hindu calendar. The ancient and medieval era Sanskrit texts of India vary in their calculations about the duration of Makara, just like they do with other months. For example, the "Surya Siddhanta" calculates the duration of Vrschika to be 29 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes and 12 seconds. In contrast, the "Arya Siddhanta" calculates the duration of the Vrschika month to be 29 days, 10 hours,
Lunar month has been observed among cultures in the Middle East, India, and China in the following way: they divided the sky into 27 or 28 lunar mansions, one for each day of the month, identified by the prominent star(s) in them. The synodic month (, "synodikós", meaning "pertaining to a synod, i.e., a meeting"; in this case, of the Sun and the Moon) is the average period of the Moon's orbit with respect to the line joining the Sun and Earth. This is the period of the lunar phases, because the Moon's appearance depends on the position of the Moon with