Vedic clocks to adorn temples, govt landmarks across India

Bhopal: Taking a leaf out of the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor in Uttar Pradesh, which became the first shrine complex in India to install a ‘Vikramaditya' clock, a gift from Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav during his visit to the shrine complex, all major temples and govt landmarks in the country will now put up the world's first clock that keeps traditional Indian time.The device, designed and developed in MP, represents a unique marriage of tradition and tech attesting to time calculation going back to the earliest times.Themed as ‘India's Time – Earth's Time', the Vedic clock was installed at the sacred temple complex in Varanasi, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month. "We have discussed the plan and it is now in its final stage. Somnath temple in Gujarat will put up a Vedic clock in the coming months, followed by the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain. Our govt would install these clocks at all the 12 Jyotirlingas in the first phase before taking it forward to all major temples in the country, including the Ram temple in Ayodhya.Among the top govt landmarks and offices where these clocks are to be installed are the Lok Bhavan, MP assembly secretariat, PMO, Parliament and the Rashtrapati Bhavan," Shriram Tiwari, the CM's cultural advisor and director of the Maharaja Vikramaditya Research Chair, Shriram Tiwari, told TOI on Tuesday.The PM's visit to where the ‘Vikramaditya' clock was installed, on April 29, became a hot trend across social media platforms, filling the developers with renewed energy to come out with more such traditional time pieces.According to govt sources, #Vikramotsav_Varanasi ranked number one in India's trending section on the microblogging site X, marking a digital milestone for an event related to Sanatan culture and the Indian system of time-keeping.More than 16 major hashtags were tracked, including #Varanasi, #Vikramaditya_Vedic_Clock, and #Vedic Ghadi, attracting millions of online views, officials said.The state has so far installed Vedic clocks in Ujjain (in the city, not at the Mahakaleshwar temple), one at the CM's Bhopal residence, and the third in the Kashi Vishwanath temple of Varanasi.The clock is touted as the first of its kind in the world, which calculates and displays time based on the traditional ‘Vedic Panchang', as opposed to the standard 24-hour Gregorian system.This clock flips the script on traditional time-keeping. A day starts at sunrise, not midnight, and wraps up with the next sunrise. It divides the day into 30 ‘muhurtas', each lasting approximately 48 minutes. The clock begins at 0:00 at sunrise, with sunset typically occurring around the 15th muhurta. It also shows Local Mean Time (LMT), which is calculated based on the sun's position, making it more location-specific.The clock also displays key ‘panchang' elements such as ‘tithi' (lunar day) and ‘nakshatra' (constellation). It provides information on festivals, eclipses, moon phases and astrological calculations. For reference, it simultaneously displays Indian Standard Time (IST) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).The initiative aims to revive the ancient Indian system of ‘kaal ganana' (time reckoning) derived from Vedic texts, integrating it with modern digital technology.