Hinduism is the major religion of Nepal. In the 2011 census, approximately 81.3 percent of the Nepalese people identified themselves as Hindus, although observers note that "[m]any of the people regarded as Hindus in the 1981 census could, with as much justification, be called Buddhists."[1] The national calendar of Nepal, Vikram Samvat, is a solar Hindu calendar essentially the same to that widespread in North India as a religious calendar, and is based on Hindu units of time.