Masa 2 of 12
Vaishakhaవైశాఖం
The month of Akshaya Tritiya, and of giving water against the heat.
- Named for
- Vishakha
- Ritu
- Vasanta (spring)
- Sun crosses
- Mesha into Vrishabha
- Roughly
- April-May
About Vaishakha
Vaishakha carries the last of spring into the beginning of real heat, and its observances reflect that directly: the danam prescribed through the month is water, buttermilk, fans, umbrellas and footwear. Akshaya Tritiya falls on its third tithi and is one of the handful of days in the year treated as needing no muhurta at all. The solar new years — Puthandu, Vishu, Baisakhi, Poila Boishakh — fall at Mesha Sankranti near its start.
Festivals and observances
- Akshaya Tritiya — shukla tritiya, self-sufficient muhurta
- Shankara Jayanti — shukla panchami
- Sita Navami — shukla navami
- Mohini Ekadashi — shukla ekadashi
- Narasimha Jayanti — shukla chaturdashi
- Buddha Purnima — Vaishakha 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.