What is "amavasya"

n. (context Hinduism English) The Indian name for a new moon in the Hindu calendar.

Amāvāsyā means dark moon lunar phase in Sanskrit. The word Amāvāsyā is common to almost all Nepalese and Indian languages as most of them are derived from Sanskrit. Ancient Babylonian, Greek and Indian calendars used 30 lunar phases, called tithi in India. The dark moon tithi is when the Moon is within the 12 degrees of angular distance between the Sun and Moon before conjunction ( syzygy). The New Moon tithi (called Pratipada or Pratima) is the 12 angular degrees after syzygy. Amāvāsyā is often translated as new moon since there is no standard term for the Moon before conjunction in English.