Masa 4 of 12
Ashadhaఆషాఢం
Chaturmasya begins — the four months when weddings stop and study starts.
- Named for
- Purva and Uttara Ashadha
- Ritu
- Grishma (summer)
- Sun crosses
- Mithuna into Karka
- Roughly
- June-July
About Ashadha
Ashadha is the hinge of the year. Devshayani Ekadashi in its bright fortnight begins Chaturmasya: Vishnu is said to rest for four months, weddings and housewarmings are suspended, and wandering ascetics stop moving and settle, because the monsoon brings out life a traveller cannot avoid treading on. Having settled, they teach — which is why Guru Purnima closes the month. Ashadha Gupta Navratri runs quietly through its first nine nights.
Festivals and observances
- Ashadha Gupta Navratri — shukla padyami to navami
- Puri Rath Yatra — shukla dwitiya
- Devshayani Ekadashi — shukla ekadashi, opening Chaturmasya
- Guru Purnima (Vyasa Purnima) — Ashadha purnima
How the month gets its name
The month is named for the nakshatra in which its full moon falls. Because a lunar month is about 29.5 days and the moon returns to the same nakshatra in about 27.3, the match is close rather than exact — the full moon lands in the named nakshatra most months and in a neighbouring one occasionally. The name does not change when it does; the rule fixed the names long ago and they stay put.
Everything here follows the amanta convention used across the Telugu country and the south, in which the month ends at the new moon. In the purnimanta reckoning of the north the month ends at the full moon instead, so every waning-fortnight day carries the following month's name. The days are identical; only the label differs.