Even as the people have geared up to celebrate Sankranti, some sort of confusion is prevailing over the date of the festival. Astrologers are divided over the Makara Sankranti in Telugu speaking States.
The almanac writers, who follow poorva paddati, have decided that the festival is on January 15, while those followed chaitra paddati fixed the festival date as January 14.
Problems have cropped up due to contradictions between the two calendars with each claiming to be superior.
According to the poorva paddati , the Makara Sankramana begins at 7.43 p.m. on January 14, while other system put it as 1.47 p.m. The festival will be on January 15 if poorva paddati were to be followed.
As per the holy scriptures, the festival has to be celebrated on following day, if the Sankramana begins more than 1 hour 12 min after sunset, say scholars.
Those who propound drik siddhanta assert that one should take the time before and after sunset into consideration in deciding the festival. If Sankramana comes before sunset, Sankranti should be on January 14.
Noted almanac writer Kappagantu Subbarama Somayajulu, who follows poorva paddati , says that there was no fault in dharma. But, the confusion has arisen due to different methods adopted in calculation of movement of planets etc. There was no confusion at all.
The people are suggested to celebrate the festival duly following the panchanga or date fixed by their pontiff or mutts.
In Telangana, the scholars and almanac writers have come to a platform and decided that the festival should be celebrated on January 15.
