The many cultures that make up this country teach us many things, including how different communities understand and measure time.
Amartya Sen, who has written extensively on India’s many calendars, reminds us that time itself is plural.
This becomes especially clear every mid-April, when ethnic Indian communities in Malaysia celebrate their new year – but not on the same day. Different communities follow different calendars, and therefore mark the new year on different dates.
In 2026, both Vaisakhi (Punjab) and Puthandu (Tamil Nadu) fall on 14 April, and Vishu (Kerala) on 15 April.
Each festival marks the Sun’s entry into Mesha (Aries), yet each community follows a distinct astronomical tradition. The reason for these differing dates is explained below.
Why mid-April is new year
Time, when left unmeasured, overwhelms human life. Early civilisations learnt that time would slip beyond human control unless it was organised into cyclical, predictable patterns such as the rhythms of the seasons – the arrival of rains, planting, harvesting and rituals.
Calendars emerged as humanity’s way of domesticating time, making the cosmos legible, and aligning society’s agricultural, religious, and cultural life.
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN), Maybank a/c 507246118995 or CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a regular pledge or periodic auto-donation to Aliran
- Become an Aliran member
Three broad systems emerged across the world: solar calendars, based on the Earth’s revolution around the sun; lunar calendars, based on the moon’s phases; and lunisolar calendars, which combine lunar months with solar corrections.
In Malaysia, the mid-April Indian new years – Vaisakhi, Puthandu and Vishu – are solar. They mark the sun’s entry into Mesha (Aries), which traditionally signals the agricultural and ritual new year.
Why the dates differ
All these festivals are rooted in the same idea: the sun entering Mesha (Aries) in mid-April.
However, the sun’s transition into Aries occurs at a precise mathematical moment. If this happens at mid-day, after sunset or at a certain time of night, different regional traditions may choose to observe the festival on either the current day or the following day.
Because of these small differences, the new year can fall one or two days apart. That is why in 2026, both Vaisakhi and Puthandu fall on 14 April, while Vishu falls on 15 April.
Ugadi, the Telugu new year, follows a lunisolar calendar. This is why it falls on a different date each year – typically in March or early April, based on the first new moon after the spring equinox. In 2026, it fell on 19 March.
In short: everyone is celebrating the same cosmic event, but each community measures it in its own traditional way.
A reflection on time and community
These different dates reflect different approaches to time. Yet the passage of time itself is singular. The calendars may differ, but the human experience of hope, renewal and beginning again is shared.
As we observe this staggered new year in Malaysia, we are reminded that we are diverse in our traditions but united in our humanity – just as time is plural in its expression, yet singular in its flow.
We may each belong to different communities or find our own individual paths – but our hopes, desires and expectations are essentially the same.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
