India, March 14 -- In case you haven't noticed, today is the ides of March. I can't say I'm superstitious but I am aware it's a day when often remarkable things have happened. Yet my research suggests it probably only began with Julius Caesar. Before his murder, it was known to the Romans for a very different reason.

According to the ancient Roman calendar, the months of the year were divided in terms of the lunar cycle into three groups of days. The ides corresponded with the rise of the full moon in the middle of the month. The word is derived from the Latin iduera which means to divide. Hence it was somewhere between the 13th and 15th. The Kalends corresponded with the new moon at the beginning of the month and fell on the 1st or ther...