కార్తీకంKartika
Masa 8 of 12
The month of lamps, and the most auspicious of the twelve.
- Named for
- Krittika
- ఋతువు
- Sharad (autumn)
- Sun crosses
- Tula into Vrischika
- Roughly
- October-November
About కార్తీకం
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. In the amanta reckoning it opens the morning after Deepavali, with Bali Pratipada, and reaches its full moon at Kartika Pournami, so the month is framed by lamps. (Purnimanta calendars place Deepavali itself in Kartika.) Vishnu wakes at Prabodhini Ekadashi, ending Chaturmasya and reopening the wedding calendar.
పండుగలు
- Bali Pratipada and Bhai Dooj — shukla padyami and dwitiya, the days after Deepavali
- 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.
Spotted an error on this page?Report itCorrections log