Pahar

'''Pahar''' (Bengali পহর, Hindi/Nepali: पहर, Punjabi: ਪੈਹਰ, Urdu: {{lang|ur|پہر}}), which is more commonly pronounced '''peher''' ({{IPA|/pɛhɛr/|lang=hi}}) is a traditional unit of time used in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. One ''pahar'' nominally equals three hours, and there are eight ''pahars'' in a day.<ref name="wadley2005">{{Citation | title=Essays on North Indian folk traditions | author=Susan Snow Wadley | author-link=Susan Snow Wadley | year=2005 | isbn=81-8028-016-0 | publisher=Orient Blackswan | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XuyTqD0Ybw4C | quote=''... pahar (period of three hours) ...''}}</ref> In India, the measure is primarily used in North India and by Hindi-speaking communities throughout the Deccan in Southern India.<ref name="khusro1882">{{Citation | title=Bāgh-o-bahār; or, Tales of the four darweshes | author= Amir Khusro Dihlavi, Mir Amman | year=1882 | publisher=W.H. Allen | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=va9AAAAAYAAJ | quote=''... pahars, or watches, of which the second terminated at noon; hence, do-pahar-din, mid-day ... do-pahar-rat, midnight ... in the north of India, the pahar must have varied from three and a-half hours about the summer solstice, to two and a-half in winter, the pahars of the night varying inversely ...''}}</ref>

==Etymology== {{Lang|hi|Pahar/pehar/peher}} is derived from Sanskrit word {{Lang|sa|prahar}} which is an ancient unit of time in India.

The word {{Lang|hi|pahar/peher}} has the same root as the Hindustani word {{Lang|hi|pehra}} (meaning "to stand guard") and {{Lang|hi|pehredar}} (literally "guard/watchman").<ref name="khusro1882"/> It literally means a "watch" (i.e. period of guard-duty).

==Timing==

Traditionally, night and day were each allocated four ''pahars'', or "watches." The first ''{{Lang|hi|pahar}}'' of the day (or ''{{Lang|hi|din pahar}}'') was timed to begin at sunrise, and the first ''pahar'' of the night (''{{Lang|hi|raat pahar}}'') was timed to begin at sunset.<ref name="khusro1882"/>

This meant that in the winter the daytime ''pahars'' were shorter than the nighttime ''pahars,'' and the opposite was true in summer. The ''pahars'' were exactly equal on the equinoxes.<ref name="wilson1883">{{Citation | title=Final report on the revision of settlement of the Sirsa district in the Punjab | author=J. Wilson (Settlement Officer) | year=1883 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5oIAAAAQAAJ | quote=''... they vary in length at different times of the year, but at the equinox the pahars of the day and night are equal, each being three hours long. In traditional Hindu society(as in of time when Sanatan Dharma was only major religion in Indian Subcontinent), each prahar was associated with certain task or Karma, which were to be finished in that prahar only. Each varna had specified karma in which at least one prahar(mostly first or last day prahar) was dedicated to sadhna(God worship). Dopahar means midday; pahar din raha=3 PM; pahar rat gai=9 PM; pahar din charha=9 AM ...''}}</ref> Thus, the length of the traditional ''{{Lang|hi|pahar}}'' varied from about 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours in the Indo-Gangetic plains.<ref name="khusro1882"/>

Each ''pahar'' of a 24-hour day-night cycle has a specific name and number.<ref name="khusro1882"/> The first ''pahar'' of the day, known as {{Lang|hi|pehla pahar}} ({{Langx|hi|pehla|lit=first|label=Hindustani}}), corresponds to the early morning and sunrise.<ref name="kumar2006">{{Citation | title=अरविंद सहज समांतर कोश: शब्दकोश भी-थिसारस भी (Arvind Basic Dictionary and Thesaurus) | author=Arvind Kumar, Kusum Kumar | year=2006 | isbn=81-267-1103-5 | publisher=Rajkamal Prakashan Pvt Ltd | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMO036cxZPwC | quote=''... पहला पहर = प्रातःकाल ...''}}</ref>

The second ''pahar'' is called ''{{Lang|hi|do-pahar}}'' ({{Langx|hi|do|lit=second|label=Hindustani}}). However, in the common speech of North India, Pakistan and Nepal, {{Lang|hi|dopahar}} ({{Lang|hi|दोपहर}} or {{Lang|ur|دوپہر}}) has now come to be known as the generic term for afternoon or the time after midday, since it begins after completing the ''do-pahars''.<ref name="wilson1883"/><ref name="ref43jomef">{{Citation | title=A shorter English-Nepali dictionary | author=T. Warren | publisher=Asian Educational Services, 1988 | isbn=978-81-206-0304-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bKLI6V8V9vYC | quote=''... midday dopahar दोपहर् ...''}}</ref>

The third ''pahar'' is called {{Lang|hi|seh pahar}} ({{Langx|fa|seh|lit=three}}) and has generically come to mean evening, though the term is less commonly used than ''shaam''.<ref name="delacy1998">{{Citation | title=Hindi & Urdu phrasebook | author=Richard Delacy | year=1998 | isbn=0-86442-425-6 | publisher=Lonely Planet | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkJH90HBlekC | quote=''... kal seh pahar ko : yesterday evening ...''}}</ref>

==Literature==

The poet-saint Kabir mentions ''pahar'' in one of his dohas:

{{Lang|bho|पाँच पहर धंधे गया, तीन पहर गया सोय ।

एक पहर हरि नाम बिन, मुक्ति कैसे होय ॥}}

[You] went to work for five ''pahar''s, slept for the remaining three ''pahar''s. How will you attain salvation without chanting the names of Lord Hari for at least one ''pahar''?

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Culture of India Category:Culture of Pakistan Category:Units of time