According to the Encyclopedia Britannica ( 1969), “ an almanac is a books or table containing a calendar of the days, weeks and months of the year, a register of ecclesiastical festivals and saint’s day and a record of various astronomical phenomena, often with weather prognostications and seasonal suggestions for countrymen”.

In India, the classical Hindu almanac is known as ‘Panchang’.

The word ‘panchang’ has it’s roots in two Sanskrit words, viz., ‘panch’ and ‘ang’, which means ‘five’ and ‘body part/limb’ respectively.