Bikram Sambat (BS) is the calendar used as Nepal’s national calendar. Its New Year falls around mid-April, so a BS year overlaps two Gregorian years and the difference between the year numbers changes during the year.
See today’s date in the Nepali calendar, or convert a complete date with the BS–AD date converter.
What is Bikram Sambat?
Bikram Sambat—also written Vikram Samvat and commonly shortened to BS—is Nepal’s national calendar. The Government of Nepal’s Nepal Investment Guide 2024 identifies Bikram Sambat as the national calendar and describes its year-number difference from the Common Era (CE) calendar as 56 for January to mid-April and 57 from mid-April to December. These are useful year-number guides, not a way to convert every date exactly.
In daily use, a Nepali date is usually written with a BS year, a month and a day. For example, a date may appear as “Bhadra 29, 2083 BS” or in numeric form as “2083-05-29.” Nepal’s calendar year begins in Baishakh, around the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar. Because the new years do not begin together, one BS year covers parts of two Gregorian years.
The 12 Nepali months
KhataIN displays the BS months in this order:
| No. | Month |
|---|---|
| 1 | Baishakh |
| 2 | Jestha |
| 3 | Ashadh |
| 4 | Shrawan |
| 5 | Bhadra |
| 6 | Ashwin |
| 7 | Kartik |
| 8 | Mangsir |
| 9 | Poush |
| 10 | Magh |
| 11 | Falgun |
| 12 | Chaitra |
The exact start and end of each month should be read from that year’s calendar. Do not assume that a Nepali month starts on the same Gregorian day each year or that every month has a fixed length.
Why BS and AD year numbers differ by 56 or 57
“Add 56” or “add 57” can help estimate the relationship between a Gregorian year and a BS year, but the right difference depends on whether the date falls before or after the BS New Year. The BS year changes around mid-April, while the Gregorian year changes on January 1. As a result, a single Gregorian year can contain dates from two different BS years.
For example, a date in January may still fall in the BS year that began the previous April. After Baishakh 1, dates fall in the next BS year. This is why converting only the year number can give the wrong answer: the month and day matter too.
When should you use BS or AD?
Use the calendar specified by the document, institution or event you are dealing with. BS is central to Nepal’s calendar and public life; Gregorian/AD dates are also commonly used for international schedules, software and coordination across countries. Kathmandu Metropolitan City, for example, presents its calendar with both BS and Gregorian dates.
When a form asks for a date, follow its instructions rather than silently substituting one calendar for another. If you need to compare dates, convert the complete year, month and day—not just the year.
Convert a Bikram Sambat date accurately
The year-number difference is only a shortcut. For an exact result, use the full date and a calendar table that accounts for that year’s actual month lengths. KhataIN’s date converter converts in either direction, and the calendar lets you inspect a BS month alongside its Gregorian dates.
For more detail, read how an exact BS–AD date conversion works or browse the BS-to-AD year chart.