Masa 6 of 12
Bhadrapadaభాద్రపదం
Vinayaka Chaviti opens it; the fortnight of the ancestors closes it.
- Named for
- Purva and Uttara Bhadrapada
- Ritu
- Varsha (monsoon)
- Sun crosses
- Simha into Kanya
- Roughly
- August-September
About Bhadrapada
Bhadrapada holds the two halves of the year's emotional range in one month. Its bright fortnight carries Vinayaka Chaviti, the largest public festival in the Telugu country, and closes with the immersions of Anant Chaturdashi. Its dark fortnight is Pitru Paksha, given wholly to the ancestors, when nothing new is begun. The month ends at Mahalaya Amavasya, and Navratri starts the following day.
Festivals and observances
- Vinayaka Chaviti — shukla chaturthi, at midday
- Onam (Thiruvonam) — solar, in Kerala, during this stretch
- Parsva Ekadashi — shukla ekadashi
- Anant Chaturdashi — shukla chaturdashi, the great immersion
- Pitru Paksha — the whole waning fortnight
- Mahalaya Amavasya — amavasya, the principal shraddha day
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.