Samvatsara · संवत्सरः
The 60-Year Samvatsara Cycle
Samvatsara is the Sanskrit word for a Jovian year — the time Brihaspati (Jupiter) takes to move through one sign of the zodiac, about 361 days. Sixty such years, grouped into three sets of twenty (dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), make one complete cycle before the names repeat.
How the cycle is calculated
Prabhava, the first name, corresponds to Vikram Samvat 2044 (1987–88 CE) by published Panchang convention. Every subsequent Vikram Samvat year simply advances one position in the 60-name list; after Kshaya (position 60), the cycle restarts at Prabhava.
A note on precision
This is a solar-year approximation aligned to Vikram Samvat, which begins around Chaitra (March/April). In classical Siddhanta astronomy, roughly once every 85 years a Samvatsara name is technically "expunged" to keep the 60-year Jovian cycle synchronised with real time — a refinement most modern Panchangs and this page do not apply, so treat the exact year boundary as accurate to within a year in rare edge cases.
Not the same as an "era"
Samvatsara is a repeating 60-name cycle, not a running year count. For the actual year-counting systems, see Vikram Samvat (the traditional era) and Shaka Samvat (India's official National Calendar era) — both run alongside this cycle.