213–228) as well as for the "processes of universalization and parochialization" that McKim Marriott has found to be "generally operative in Indian civilization" (1955, p. 218). Although these theories were initially expressed with careful qualifications, later scholars have sometimes cited them in an almost mechanical manner: The relationship between the "great" and "little" traditions has been reduced to the nineteenth-century pseudohistorical understanding of an irreconcilable dichotomy between Brahmanic religion and the so-called autochthonous tribal, Dravidian (or even pre-Vedic) ones.
With the structural studies of myths and rituals, a renewed interest has grown for the study of Hindu symbolism and, as an outcome, for the study of the Indian calendrical system. When one observes the popular use of intricate almanacs (pañcāṅga), one cannot but ascertain the all-inclusive character of the Hindu conception of time in relation to efficient activity and hence to religious celebrations.
The Hindu Conception of Time
The year is the main unit of time in so far as it is equivalent to a day of the gods. From this unit, time computation expands in two ways. The small units, that is, from the year downward, depend on astronomical considerations and directly concern humans in this world. The great units given by the Puranic cosmogonies are on the scale of the gods and have nothing to do with astronomy.
This is a free page. This page contains 200 words. This
article contains 4,487 words (approx. 15 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Hindu Religious Year Access Pass.
