KollaVarsham

The journey of a Graphic Designer analysing and redesigning the Malayalam Calendar.

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Patterns, Colours and Visual Language, to use as Inspiration.

Here is a link to a Pinterest Board I’ve made collecting some Inspiration to create a Visual Language for my deliverable. 

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Interesting video about Vishu and it’s Agricultural significance, with respect to Njattuvelas. 

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This survey is for a project I am working on regarding Malayalam Calendars. Since the target group is very specific, please only fill this survey if you are Malayalee/married into a Malayalee family.

As a part of my research phase of this project, I created this survey in order to collect more information about my target group, as well as understand their needs and how they interact with the product (The Calendar). 

If you happen to be Malayalee, please click the link and fill out the short survey. 

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One of the biggest questions I had when I first started trying to understand the Malayalam Calendar was why it wasn’t a Malayalam Calendar. If you look closely, the Calendars made by Malayala Manorama and Mathrabhumi and other publishing houses, is a Gregorian Calendar, with the KollaVarsham dates written smaller within the boxes. The Visual Hierarchy is Gregorian over Kollam.

Only after scouring the internet did I find this Calendar, a seemingly old document, however released in 2012! Here is finally a Calendar with Malayalam numbers in ‘Vattezhuthu’ or older Malayalam script, and with the Malayalam month covering the whole page while the English Month starts and ends halfway through. Personally I think it’s amazing that a Calendar like this exists and is still being published today, even though Malayalam numbers are out of use. It makes me feel like the year is actually 1188. 

Sources:

To Read more about this Calendar:  http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/malayalam-calendar-with-new-features/article2321553.ece,

http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b5f_93.pdf,

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Elements of KollaVarsham (5) NJATTUVELA

The Calendar plays a much larger role is defining out the agricultural cycle for the year. This is an infographic I made from what I’ve understood of Njattuvelas, and some limited information of the basic cycle followed. To know more about what is cultivated in each Njattuvela, go to this external link. 

Sources:

http://njattuvela.com/en/content/know-about-njattuvela, 

http://njattuvela.com/en/content/impact-sun-and-moon-farming, 

http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=16400

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Elements of KollaVarsham (4) TITHI

Sources:

http://www.vaikhari.org/kollavarsham.html,

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Information Overload

I’ve taken up the project of redesigning this Calendar for a bunch of reasons. For starters, I want to learn more about this piece of iconic graphic design that has been around for so many years now, and still remains in print every single year and ends up in the homes of millions of Keralites everywhere around the world.

Today, the two most popular versions of the Calendars that people buy every year are made by two Newspaper publishing houses- Malayala Manorama and Mathrabhumi. At first glance, there is so much information everywhere that one may never know where to start, however every Malayalee who knows how to read it, can tell you exactly where to find anything from Train timings to when the Sun will rise on the First Saturday of next month. What they do with this information is beyond me, but I think as a Graphic Designer my job remains to make this information more accessible and easy to understand to the common man.

After having analysed a whole bunch of these Calendars by now, I’ve realised that most people are unaware of just how many things are going on simultaneously, as I’ve had a bunch of Malayalee friends come up to me and ask me what else can you do from it besides find your piranaal (birthday). Let’s get into it:

There are essentially a total of seven simultaneous Calendar cycles happening in each box.

The first is the KollaVarsham which is the Malayalam Calendar beginning and ending approximately in the middle of each month, with 12 months and each month having approximately 29-32 days, each day corresponding to one of the 27 Nakshatras.

This goes along with the Gregorian Calendar we’re all familiar with.

Each box also shows the date according to the Shaka Varsham, or the Hindu Calendar which is the official civil calendar in use by the Government of India.

Below the Shaka Varsham is the date according to the Hijri Calendar , or the Islamic Lunar Calendar.

Some Calendars also have the date according to the Tamil Calendar, which differs only slightly from the Malayalam one, but differs nonetheless.

Besides these five cycles, each day has a Tithi, which is essentially the phase of the moon that particular day, covering the entire Lunar Cycle.

Lastly, every cluster of 13.5 days is called a Njattuvela and 27 of these clusters, each named after a Nakshatra, forms another cycle used by Famers in traditional agricultural practises of Paddy cultivation.

From each of these Calendars, crucial information is calculated, which I will blog about in further articles.

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Elements of KollaVarsham (3) STARS

Sources:

http://alaivani.com/Blog/tabid/56/EntryId/192/Default.aspx,

http://www.vaikhari.org/kollavarsham.html

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Elements of KollaVarsham (2) DAYS

Sources:

http://alaivani.com/Blog/tabid/56/EntryId/192/Default.aspx,

http://www.vaikhari.org/kollavarsham.html

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Elements of KollaVarsham (1) MONTHS

The Kerala calendar, unlike a Western Calendar, is dynamic as day and date combinations change based on the position of the heavenly bodies (stars). Here is a visualisation of this ecliptic;  

Sources:

http://www.vaikhari.org/kollavarsham.html,

http://www.alaivani.com/Default.aspx?tabid=56&EntryID=352,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_calendar

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Sources:

http://www.vaikhari.org/demography.html,

http://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/kerala.html

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The Kollam Calendar Mystery – A discussion

The History of Kollam Era

Initially Keralites followed the Kali abda based on the Chathuryuga system. According to this there are 4 yugas -Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. Kaliyuga started on February 18, 3102 BC. Having surveyed the internet extensively, this is the most in-depth article I have found discussing the history behind the Kollam Era. In brief, from what I’ve understood, many theories revolve around how it came about, many of which include other significant events which happened around 825 AD when the Era began:

The “Kolla Varsham” started with the erection of a ‘Siva’ temple at Quilon or Kollam in 824/825 AD. As its origination was strictly local and religious, “Kolla Varsham” was not accepted by the people living in other countries. But, when Kollam became a major trade centre, the traders and the people of other countries began to follow “Kolla Varsham”.

The conversion of King Cheraman Perumal of Kodungalloor to Islam and his consequent pilgrimage to Mecca or Mount Kailasam…

The launch of Kollavarsham was to commemorate the complete transition of Kerala from the Dravidian-Buddhist tradition to the Aryan-Vedic system in 825, from the reign of Perumals to a caste based rule.

The educated king Raja Udaya Mathanda Varma, the Lord of Venad, summoned a special council under his authority at Kollam, to make extensive astronomical calculations and the new era was established with effect from 15 August 825.

The Kollam Era may be connected to the legend of Parasurama, an incarnation of Vishnu, and is also called the Era of Parusurama.

Sources: 

http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=16400, 

http://www.vaikhari.org/kollavarsham.html, 

http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b5f_93.pdf, 

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Project Introduction:

The Malayalam Calendar is an article that one can find in almost every single Keralite’s house no matter whether they reside in Kerala, or abroad. Growing up constantly seeing this mysterious commodity, but never being able to read it, was always a cause for frustration because it is only ever available in the Malayalam Script.

It is an indispensable source of information regarding festivals in Kerala and uses the Astrological Calculations to determine Nakshatrams and important timings; making it an indispensable part of Kerala’s Heritage.