Jur Sital

What it is

Jur Sital opens the Maithil year. The name is Maithili, and the day carries several others: Maithil New Year, Aakhar Bochhor, Nirayana Mesh Sankranti and Tirhuta new year. Maithils are the people who keep it. Their home region, Mithila, stretches across northern India and southern Nepal. The date belongs to the Tirhuta Panchang, Mithila's own calendar, and it begins the month of Baishakh. The observance lasts a single day. Its mood is social: households eat together, gifts are given, and the new year is welcomed.

How the date is set

The Maithil new year is a solar event. It follows the nirayana or sidereal reckoning, which tracks the sun's entry into sidereal Aries. That moment is called Nirayana Mesha Sankranti. The tropical spring equinox falls near 22 March, and the sidereal system runs later, so the Maithil year normally starts on 14 April and occasionally on 15 April. In the Tirhuta Panchang, 15 April is counted as day one. Baishakh is the first month. Other traditional calendars in India and Nepal begin on the same date, among them those of Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab and Tripura.

Food and gifts

The day is a feast. Maithils eat bori with bhaat, which is steamed rice, and sweets also form part of the observance. Feasting and gifts are listed among the festival's celebrations, so the table carries the meaning of the new year. The meal belongs at home with family. To share this food on this date is to open the year well. The dishes themselves are everyday ones in Mithila. What makes them festive is the occasion, the company and the sense of beginning again.

A state holiday

After years of public demand, the government of Bihar made the day a public holiday across the state in 2011. In official use Bihar calls it Mithila Diwas. The holiday is observed on 14 April each year in that Indian state, which describes the occasion as a great festival. The calendar behind the date, the Tirhuta Panchang, is Mithila's own, and Mithila lies in both India and Nepal; the public holiday described here belongs to Bihar alone. Many other parts of India and Nepal also treat this date as a new year.

Water among the Tharu

Tharu communities in Nepal keep the same new year, and they call it Siruwa as well as Jur Sital. Their custom is water. On the opening day of their year, in the month of Vaisakha, people sprinkle water over one another. The gesture runs in both directions. The young pour water over the feet of their elders to show respect, and elders pour it over the heads of the young as a blessing. Compatriots splash each other too, which keeps the day playful.

How Jur Sital is kept

The day is kept at home and in the neighbourhood, and it lasts a single day. Maithils start with the new year meal of bori with steamed rice, followed by sweets. Gifts are exchanged. In Bihar the date is a public holiday, which lets families gather. Among the Tharu of Nepal, people go out and sprinkle water on one another. The young pour water over the feet of their elders, elders pour it over the heads of the young as a blessing, and friends splash each other.

When and where

The new year falls on 14 April in most years, and sometimes on 15 April, counted by the Gregorian calendar. The date comes from the nirayana solar reckoning, the sun's move into sidereal Aries, and from the Tirhuta Panchang used in Mithila, where it opens Baishakh. Tharu keepers treat it as the opening day of Vaisakha.

Mithila is the home region, and it lies across northern India and southern Nepal, so the new year is kept on both sides of the border. Maithils are the main community. In the Indian state of Bihar the day is an official public holiday. Tharu communities in Nepal mark it as Siruwa. Many traditional calendars elsewhere in India and in Nepal also start on this date.

What Jur Sital means

The day is a beginning. It marks the sun's turn into a new sign in the sidereal sky and the start of a fresh year and a fresh month, Baishakh. For Maithils, eating the new year meal and giving gifts set the household on a good footing. For the Tharu, water carries the meaning: poured from elder to younger as a blessing, and from younger to elder as respect, it says that the year opens with care across the generations.

Questions people ask about Jur Sital

See also

NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsIndian national calendarIndia's official civil solar calendar, designed to bring unity to timekeepingLosarThe Tibetan Buddhist New Year festival of renewal, offerings, and family feastsUgadiA South Indian New Year feast celebrating life with sweet, sour, and bitter tastes

Good reading and sources

• Jur Sital on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.