Vikram Samvat known as the Vikrami or Bikrami calendar, is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian states and Nepal. It is a lunisolar calendar, using twelve lunar months and an intercalary month each sidereal year. The epoch of the Vikram Samvat calendar is the full moon or new moon of March or April, 57 BCE, so the year count of Vikram Samvat is usually 57 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar; except during the period from January to March/April, when it is ahead by 56 years.