Masa 8 of 12
Kartikaకార్తీకం
The month of lamps, and the most auspicious of the twelve.
- Named for
- Krittika
- Ritu
- Sharad (autumn)
- Sun crosses
- Tula into Vrischika
- Roughly
- October-November
About Kartika
Kartika is widely regarded as the most auspicious lunar month of the year, and it is kept as a month rather than as a set of days: a lamp before the tulasi every evening, a river bath at dawn, a fast on Mondays. Deepavali falls at its dark end and Kartika Pournami at its bright one, so the month opens and closes with light. Vishnu wakes at Prabodhini Ekadashi, ending Chaturmasya and reopening the wedding calendar.
Festivals and observances
- Deepavali — Kartika amavasya, in pradosha kala
- Bali Pratipada and Bhai Dooj — shukla padyami and dwitiya
- Nagula Chaviti — shukla chaturthi, in the Telugu states
- Prabodhini Ekadashi — shukla ekadashi, closing Chaturmasya
- Tulasi Vivaha — shukla dwadashi
- Kartika Pournami and Deva Deepavali — Kartika 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.