Masa 11 of 12
Maghaమాఘం
Saraswati at one end, Shiva's great night at the other.
- Named for
- Magha
- Ritu
- Shishira (winter)
- Sun crosses
- Makara into Kumbha
- Roughly
- January-February
About Magha
Magha is a month of bathing and of learning. Magha snanam — a river bath at dawn through the whole month — is among the oldest continuously kept observances in the tradition, and the Prayagraj Magh Mela is built on it. Vasant Panchami falls on its fifth tithi and is when children are traditionally started on their letters; Ratha Saptami two days later marks the sun's chariot turning north; and Maha Shivaratri closes the month in its dark fortnight.
Festivals and observances
- Magha Gupta Navratri — shukla padyami to navami
- Vasant Panchami — shukla panchami, for Saraswati
- Ratha Saptami (Surya Jayanti) — shukla saptami, before dawn
- Bhishma Ashtami — shukla ashtami
- Magha Purnima — Magha purnima
- Maha Shivaratri — krishna chaturdashi, at nishita kala
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.