Sankranti ( saṁkrānti) means transmigration of the Sun from one Rāshi (constellation of the zodiac in Indian astronomy) to the next. Hence, there are 12 Sankrantis in a year. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calendars followed in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Gujarat. On the other hand, in the sidereal solar Bengali calendar and Assamese calendar, a Sankranti is marked as the end of each month and the day following as the beginning of a new month.