Ritucharya kalender

An ayurvedic calendar to promote healthy living
2011-03-25 16:10:00

Varanasi, March 25 (IANS) What's the right lifestyle and diet for the season? To find out, turn to the first-of-its-kind ayurvedic calendar brought out by the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) here.

The faculty of ayurveda at the BHU, a prestigious central university, has come up with a health calendar that would guide people on how to stay fit and healthy round the year.

'Put simply, the calendar would enable people to select the right diet and lifestyle tips in every season for staying fit,' V.K. Joshi, a professor with the varsity's ayurveda faculty, told reporters Friday in Varanasi, some 300 km from Lucknow.

'You can broadly say the calendar has various guidelines in sync with different seasons that would make people stay healthy,' Joshi said.

'The calendar also has other beneficial information. One of them is to make people select the right colour for clothes on a seasonal basis - an exercise that helps in healthy living,' added Joshi, who has conceptualised the calendar.

According to officials, the calendar is based on 'ritucharya', the time-tested ancient seasonal regimen, which helps keep people healthy through proper diet and lifestyle pertaining to the season.

The guidelines and information in the ayurvedic calendar are based on the seasons as traditionally classified by Hindu calendars. The six ritus (seasons) are: Hemant (mid November-mid January), Shishir (mid January-mid March), Basant (mid March-mid May), Grishma (mid May-mid July), Varsha (mid July-mid September), Sharad (mid September-mid November).

'You will get to know every information on how to change your lifestyle according to seasonal fluctuations,' said Joshi.

The BHU has published the calendar with the assistance of Kerala Ayurvedic Ltd, a Kochi-based company.

'Officially, the calendar would be launched before the New Hindu Year 2068, starting April 4. Initially, we would be circulating the calendar free of cost to various government departments, BHU faculties and other institutions,' said Joshi.

'Though initially there will not be any price tag for the calendar, we anticipate that in the coming days the demand for the calendar would increase and we will have to fix a price for it,' he added.