Nepal Sambat and Mha Puja: The Newar New Year Explained

Nepal Sambat (Nepali/Nepal Bhasa: nepal sambat) is the indigenous lunisolar era of Nepal, most closely associated with the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley. Unlike Vikram Sambat, which is imported and pan-South Asian, Nepal Sambat is the only era to have originated within Nepal itself, which is why it carries strong cultural and national identity value. Its months follow the phases of the moon, and each lunar month is divided into a bright, waxing half called 'thwa' and a dark, waning half called 'ga'.

The era is counted from 20 October 879 CE (Common Era), during the reign of King Raghavadeva. To convert an ordinary AD year to Nepal Sambat you add roughly 879 to 880, because the Nepal Sambat year turns over in autumn rather than on 1 January. As a concrete anchor, Nepal Sambat 1146 began on 22 October 2025, so the era is more than a millennium old and one of the oldest continuously observed calendars still in everyday cultural use in Nepal.

Nepal Sambat is used to date many Newar religious, social and civic events, from the timing of jatras (festival processions) to community anniversaries. Traditional Newar households, cultural organisations and almanacs (patro) still track it alongside Vikram Sambat and the Gregorian calendar, and public banners marking the year are hung across Kathmandu, Lalitpur (Patan) and Bhaktapur during the new-year season.

By tradition, Nepal Sambat was founded by Shankhadhar Sakhwa (also spelt Sankhadhar Sakhwa), a Newar merchant and philanthropist. According to chronicles such as the Bhasa Vamsavali, Shankhadhar noticed that sand carried from the Bishnumati river turned to gold. He gathered enough of this wealth to pay off the debts of all the people of Nepal to the state, freeing the entire population from bondage, and the era is said to have been inaugurated to mark that liberation.

The story is a foundational one for Newar identity: it frames the new year not as a royal or astronomical event but as a moment of collective release from debt and a fresh, unburdened start. Historians caution that the historicity of Shankhadhar Sakhwa is debated and the precise details cannot be independently confirmed, so the account is best treated as cherished tradition rather than settled fact.

The Government of Nepal formally honoured him on 18 November 1999, when the cabinet under Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai declared Shankhadhar Sakhwa a national luminary (rastriya vibhuti) in recognition of his legendary debt cancellation. A statue of Shankhadhar in Kathmandu is garlanded each year, and senior officials pay tribute at the start of the new Nepal Sambat year.

Long-running lobbying by Newar cultural and civic organisations, including Nepal Bhasa Manka Khala, pushed the state to give Nepal Sambat official standing. In the year 2065 BS (2008), Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) announced national recognition for Nepal Sambat, and on 25 October 2011 the government decided to bring it into use as a national calendar, a landmark for advocates of Nepal's indigenous heritage.

In practice, Vikram Sambat remains the official civil and administrative calendar of Nepal for government dates, and the Gregorian calendar is used internationally, so national recognition of Nepal Sambat has been largely symbolic and cultural rather than a wholesale switch. Even so, the recognition affirmed Nepal Sambat's status as a shared national heritage rather than the property of one community alone.

Because the era is lunisolar and turns over in the autumn month of Kachhala rather than on a fixed Gregorian date, the exact new-year date shifts from year to year. Anyone who needs the precise correspondence between a Vikram Sambat, Gregorian and Nepal Sambat date can use the date-converter tool on this site to move between the three systems.

The Nepal Sambat new year is welcomed with Mha Puja, whose name in Nepal Bhasa literally means 'worship of the self' or 'worship of the body' (mha = self/body, puja = worship). It is performed on the fourth day of the five-day Swanti festival, better known nationally as Tihar (Yamapanchak / Deepawali). The ritual honours the divine spark and life-force within each person and is one of the most distinctive elements of Newar culture.

Mha Puja is a family rite conducted in the evening, usually led by the senior woman of the household. Each member of the family sits cross-legged before a mandap, a sacred mandala drawn on the floor. The mandala represents the universe and the self within it, and additional mandalas are traditionally drawn for household objects and, in some accounts, for symbolic figures such as the messengers of death, acknowledging mortality even in a rite about life.

The worship of the mandala is the central act of Mha Puja. A very long ceremonial wick, the 'khelu itah', is lit beside each person's mandala along with incense; the burning wick and fragrant incense express the wish that the individual should spread light and fragrance, that is, goodness, to others in the year ahead. Fruit, sacred thread and other auspicious offerings are placed on the mandala to invoke longevity and prosperity.

A defining part of Mha Puja is the Sagan (also written Sagun), the giving of auspicious ceremonial food that seals blessings for long life and good fortune. The classic Sagan set consists of a boiled egg, smoked or fried fish, meat, lentil-flour bara (a savoury patty) and aila, the traditional homemade Newar rice liquor. These items are offered to each participant, often before the wicks burn out, so the timing of the rite matters.

The rite of Sagan Biyegu follows, in which the leading woman moves along the row of seated family members carrying a clay pot of dhau (curd/yogurt) and places a dab of it on each person's forehead or temple as a mark of blessing. The full ceremonial plate is arranged around beaten rice (baji) and is often said to carry eight items associated with the Ashta Matrika, the eight mother goddesses, linking the personal rite to the wider protective deities of the valley.

After the formal worship, the family shares a festive Newar feast (bhoj). The combination of the personal mandala worship, the shared Sagan and the communal meal turns Mha Puja into both an inward act of self-respect and an outward act of family bonding at the turn of the year.

As the new year begins, Newars greet one another with 'Bhintuna', a word in Nepal Bhasa meaning good wishes, congratulations or best regards. The fuller new-year greeting is 'Nhu Da Ya Bhintuna' or 'Nhu Daya Bhintuna', which translates roughly as 'best wishes for the new year' or 'Happy New Year', with 'nhu da' meaning the new year. You will see and hear it everywhere during the season, on banners, greeting cards and in processions.

The new-year day is publicly celebrated with cultural rallies and processions in Kathmandu, Patan (Lalitpur) and Bhaktapur, as well as in Newar towns such as Banepa, Dhulikhel and Dolakha, and among Nepali diaspora communities abroad. Marchers carry banners announcing the Nepal Sambat year, perform traditional dances and play instruments such as the dhime drum, and community organisations hold felicitation programmes.

For visitors and non-Newar Nepalis, Mha Puja and the Nepal Sambat new year offer an accessible window into the valley's living heritage: a calendar born in Nepal, a legend of freeing people from debt, and a rite that begins the year by honouring the self before honouring the community. Wishing a Newar friend 'Nhu Daya Bhintuna' at Tihar is a small, welcome gesture of that shared culture.