Wedding cards, festival notices and family records in India often give dates in the Vikram Samvat calendar: “Kartik Sud 5, VS 2083”. If you live by the English calendar, that date can be hard to place. This guide explains how Vikram Samvat works and how to convert a date reliably.
The quickest way is our free Vikram Samvat to English date converter. Read on to understand what it is doing.
What Vikram Samvat is
Vikram Samvat is a lunisolar calendar: its months follow the phases of the Moon, and its years are kept in step with the Sun. It is widely used across India for religious and family occasions and is the official calendar of Nepal.
Its year number runs about 57 years ahead of the English (Gregorian) year. The exact difference depends on the time of year and on which new year your region follows.
The parts of a Vikram Samvat date
A date like Kartik Sud 5, VS 2083 has four parts.
1. The month
There are 12 months. With their common Gujarati names:
| Month | Gujarati name | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Chaitra | Chaitra | March–April |
| Vaishakha | Vaishakh | April–May |
| Jyeshtha | Jeth | May–June |
| Ashadha | Ashadh | June–July |
| Shravana | Shravan | July–August |
| Bhadrapada | Bhadarvo | August–September |
| Ashvin | Aso | September–October |
| Kartik | Kartak | October–November |
| Margashirsha | Magshar | November–December |
| Pausha | Posh | December–January |
| Magha | Maha | January–February |
| Phalguna | Fagan | February–March |
2. The paksha (half-month)
Each month has two halves. Sud (Shukla) is the bright half, as the Moon waxes from new to full. Vad (Krishna) is the dark half, as it wanes back to new.
3. The tithi (lunar day)
Each half has 15 tithis. The 15th tithi of Sud is Purnima (full moon); the 15th of Vad is Amavasya (new moon). A tithi is the time the Moon takes to gain 12° on the Sun, which varies between roughly 19 and 26 hours, so tithis and days do not line up neatly. By convention, the tithi in force at sunrise names the day.
4. The year
The year number, such as VS 2083.
Two regional differences that matter
When the month starts: Amanta or Purnimanta
- Amanta (Gujarat, Maharashtra and South India): months run from new moon to new moon.
- Purnimanta (most of North India): months run from full moon to full moon.
The bright halves line up in both systems. The dark half does not: what Gujarat calls “Ashvin Vad”, North India calls “Kartik Vad”. That is why Diwali, on the new moon, is in Ashvin in Gujarat and in Kartik in the North, on the same day.
When the year starts
- Gujarati calendar: the new year starts the day after Diwali, on Kartik Sud 1 (Bestu Varas).
- North Indian calendar: the new year starts on Chaitra Sud 1, in spring.
So between spring and Diwali, the two calendars show different year numbers.
Leap months and skipped days
To keep lunar months in step with the seasons, a month is repeated about every three years. This extra month, Adhik maas, occurs when a lunar month passes without the Sun entering a new zodiac sign. 2026 has an Adhik Jyeshtha, from mid-May to mid-June, which is why Diwali 2026 (November 8) comes almost three weeks later than Diwali 2025 (October 20).
Occasionally a tithi starts after one sunrise and ends before the next. It never “owns” a sunrise, so it is called kshaya (lost), and it is observed on the day it falls within. Chaitra Sud 1 in VS 2082 is an example: it fell entirely within March 19, 2026.
Converting by hand, roughly
To place a date approximately:
- Find the month in the table above.
- Sud dates fall in the two weeks after that month’s new moon; Vad dates in the two weeks after its full moon.
- Use a moon-phase calendar to find the new or full moon, then count forward.
This gets you within a day or two. For an exact date you need the Moon’s precise position at sunrise, which is what a converter calculates.
Converting exactly
Our converter calculates the positions of the Sun and Moon, finds the tithi at sunrise in Ujjain, the traditional reference city, and handles Adhik months and kshaya tithis. Choose your month system (Amanta or Purnimanta) and new year (Gujarati or North Indian) so the result matches the card in your hand.
For religious timings, such as a muhurat, always confirm with the family’s panchang or priest; local calculations can differ by a day when a tithi ends close to sunrise.
Examples
- Kartik Sud 1, VS 2083 (Gujarati New Year): Tuesday, November 10, 2026.
- Ashvin Sud 1, VS 2082 (Sharad Navratri begins): Sunday, October 11, 2026.
- Chaitra Sud 1, VS 2082 (Gudi Padwa): Thursday, March 19, 2026, a kshaya tithi.
Let the app do it
If the date is on an invitation, you do not need to convert it at all. Invited reads the card, in Gujarati, Hindi or 80+ other languages, understands Vikram Samvat and 8 other calendar systems, and turns each date into a reminder in your calendar.
