Āṣāḍha · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturdaśī · Punarvasu
☀About the day
Lunar month
Āṣāḍha
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturdaśī · until 19:21
Nakṣatra
Punarvasu
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
05:57 · 19:09
2Mon
Monday, 2 August 2027
Āṣāḍha · Amāvāsyā · Puṣya
☀About the day
Lunar month
Āṣāḍha
Tithi at sunrise
Amāvāsyā · until 15:35
Nakṣatra
Puṣya
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
05:57 · 19:09
Solar eclipse · total
Greatest eclipse (IST) 15:36
📜Bṛhat Saṃhitā · Adhyāya 5
Varāhamihira gives both accounts side by side. First the story: the severed head that tasted the nectar and became a graha. Then the science: the Moon enters the earth’s shadow, and at a solar eclipse the Moon covers the Sun — “Rāhu is not the cause”. And then why the rite continues: by Brahmā’s boon Rāhu has a share of the oblation offered at an eclipse.
Some say that this head, though severed from the demon (asura) on account of a taste of the nectar of immortality, was not abandoned by the vital breaths, and thus attained the status of a planet (graha).
The truth is: in its own eclipse, the Moon enters the earth’s shadow; in the Sun’s eclipse, the Moon obscures the Sun. Hence the eclipse begins, for the Moon, from the hindward part, and for the Sun, not from the forward part.
Thus has the true cause of an eclipse been stated by the teachers of divine sight (the astronomer-sages); and it has been said that Rahu is not the true, physical cause in this -- such is the real purport of the science.
An eclipse can in no way be known merely by omens; omens, in the form of portents, also occur at other times unrelated to eclipses.
✦Significance
An eclipse is a parva — a sacred juncture. The tradition treats its hours as the most potent of all for japa, meditation and giving: a mantra repeated through an eclipse is said to bear fruit many times over, and a gift made at its release never decays.
🔥Pūjā and havan
A bath at the first touch; japa of one’s own mantra, the Gāyatrī or the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya through the eclipse; a second bath at release; then gifts of grain, sesame, clothes and gold, and fresh cooking. Darbha grass or tulasī leaves are placed on stored food and water.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
Ṛgveda 7.59.12 (Vasiṣṭha); Śukla Yajurveda 3.60
📖Scriptural references 2
Bṛhat Saṃhitā 5
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.82 — the eclipse pilgrimage to Kurukṣetra
Somavatī Amāvāsyā — a new moon on a Monday
✦Significance
The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜The story from the scriptures
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
bright fortnight (śukla) Pañcamī · until 00:23 (next day)
Nakṣatra
Uttara Phalgunī
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
05:59 · 19:06
Nāga Pañcamī
✦Significance
The worship of the serpents — guardians of the waters, of buried treasure and of the household’s lineage — at the height of the monsoon, when snakes leave their flooded burrows. The Nāgas are honoured, not feared: Śeṣa bears the earth, Vāsuki serves as Śiva’s garland, and the day asks their protection for the family.
📜The story from the scriptures
Mahābhārata, Ādi-parva — Āstīka-parva (13–58)
King Parīkṣit died of the bite of the nāga Takṣaka, and his son Janamejaya vowed a sarpa-satra, a sacrifice into whose fire every serpent on earth would be drawn by the force of mantra. Snakes in their thousands fell into the flames, and Takṣaka himself, clinging to Indra’s throne, was being dragged down. Then the young sage Āstīka — son of the ṛṣi Jaratkāru and of Manasā, sister of Vāsuki — came to the sacrifice and so pleased the king with his praise that Janamejaya offered him any boon. Āstīka asked that the sacrifice stop. It ceased on the fifth of bright Śrāvaṇa, and the nāgas promised that whoever remembers Āstīka shall have no fear of serpents.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
In Bengal, Assam and Jharkhand the day belongs to Manasā Devī and the ballad of Behulā, who floated downriver with her husband Lakhindar’s body and won his life back. Maharashtra’s Battīs Śirāḷā, Karnataka’s ant-hill worship with milk and turmeric, Kerala’s sarpa-kāvus (serpent groves) and the great Nāga shrines of Mannārśāla and Kukke Subrahmaṇya are thronged. Farmers do not plough or dig today, so that no snake is hurt.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Nine nāgas — Ananta, Vāsuki, Śeṣa, Padmanābha, Kambala, Śaṅkhapāla, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Takṣaka and Kāliya — are drawn with turmeric or sandal on the doorway or a wooden plank and worshipped with milk, dūrvā, lājā (puffed rice), flowers and lamps. Nothing is fried or cut in many homes; sisters pray for their brothers.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙The vrata
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
📖Scriptural references 1
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 36–63
13Fri
Friday, 13 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · bright fortnight (śukla) Dvādaśī · Mūla
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
bright fortnight (śukla) Dvādaśī · until 05:22 (next day)
bright fortnight (śukla) Trayodaśī · until 07:54 (next day)
Nakṣatra
Pūrva Aṣāḍhā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:02 · 19:01
Pradoṣa Vrata
✦Significance
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙The vrata
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
Varāhamihira gives both accounts side by side. First the story: the severed head that tasted the nectar and became a graha. Then the science: the Moon enters the earth’s shadow, and at a solar eclipse the Moon covers the Sun — “Rāhu is not the cause”. And then why the rite continues: by Brahmā’s boon Rāhu has a share of the oblation offered at an eclipse.
Some say that this head, though severed from the demon (asura) on account of a taste of the nectar of immortality, was not abandoned by the vital breaths, and thus attained the status of a planet (graha).
The truth is: in its own eclipse, the Moon enters the earth’s shadow; in the Sun’s eclipse, the Moon obscures the Sun. Hence the eclipse begins, for the Moon, from the hindward part, and for the Sun, not from the forward part.
Thus has the true cause of an eclipse been stated by the teachers of divine sight (the astronomer-sages); and it has been said that Rahu is not the true, physical cause in this -- such is the real purport of the science.
An eclipse can in no way be known merely by omens; omens, in the form of portents, also occur at other times unrelated to eclipses.
✦Significance
An eclipse is a parva — a sacred juncture. The tradition treats its hours as the most potent of all for japa, meditation and giving: a mantra repeated through an eclipse is said to bear fruit many times over, and a gift made at its release never decays.
🔥Pūjā and havan
A bath at the first touch; japa of one’s own mantra, the Gāyatrī or the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya through the eclipse; a second bath at release; then gifts of grain, sesame, clothes and gold, and fresh cooking. Darbha grass or tulasī leaves are placed on stored food and water.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
Ṛgveda 7.59.12 (Vasiṣṭha); Śukla Yajurveda 3.60
📖Scriptural references 2
Bṛhat Saṃhitā 5
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.82 — the eclipse pilgrimage to Kurukṣetra
Rakṣā Bandhana; Upākarma
✦Significance
The bond of protection. A consecrated thread (rakṣā) is tied on the wrist — by the priest on the patron, by the sister on the brother — and with it a vow of mutual care. On the same full moon the twice-born renew the sacred thread and begin the year’s Vedic study (Upākarma, Āvaṇi Aviṭṭam), and the coast offers coconuts to the sea (Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā).
📜The story from the scriptures
Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Uttara-parva 137
Kṛṣṇa told Yudhiṣṭhira of an ancient war: for twelve years the gods fought the asuras and Indra, worn out, was ready to yield. His queen Śacī said, “Today is the full moon of Śrāvaṇa; I shall make you invincible.” With the blessing of Bṛhaspati she prepared a protective amulet, consecrated it with mantras and tied it on Indra’s right wrist. He returned to the field and won back the three worlds. “Such is the power of the rakṣā,” said Kṛṣṇa — “it gives victory, happiness, sons, health and wealth; let it be tied every year.”
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
The Bhāgavata’s Bali story gives the mantra its first line: Lakṣmī is said to have tied a thread on King Bali and asked, as a sister’s gift, for the return of Viṣṇu who was guarding his door. Draupadī bound Kṛṣṇa’s bleeding finger with a strip of her sari, and he repaid it thread for thread in the Kuru court. In Rajasthan lumbā rākhīs are tied on the sister-in-law’s bangle; in Nepal it is Janai Pūrṇimā; in Odisha and Bengal it is Jhūlan Pūrṇimā and Balarāma’s birthday.
🔥Pūjā and havan
The rākhī is placed on a plate with lamp, rice, kumkum and sweets and offered first to the family deity. The sister applies tilaka, ties the thread on the right wrist reciting the rakṣā verse, waves the ārati and sweetens the brother’s mouth; he gives a gift and his word. For Upākarma: ṛṣi-tarpaṇa, the new yajñopavīta, a homa, and the next morning 1,008 Gāyatrī japa.
ॐMantras and japa 2
येन बद्धो बली राजा दानवेन्द्रो महाबलः ।
तेन त्वामभिबध्नामि रक्षे मा चल मा चल ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ | tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may he awaken our understanding.
Benefit: The mother of the Vedic mantras — recited at sunrise, noon and sunset for clarity of mind, inner light and the blessing of the Sun.
Ṛgveda 3.62.10 (Viśvāmitra)
📖Scriptural references 2
Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Uttara-parva 137
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.22–23
Pūrṇimā — the full moon
✦Significance
The full moon — the day of fullness, when the mind’s own planet is complete. It is the customary day for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, for charity, for honouring the guru and for a bath in sacred waters; each month’s full moon carries its own festival.
Nārada, grieved by the sufferings of people in the Kali age, asked Viṣṇu for a simple remedy, and the Lord taught him the worship of Satya-Nārāyaṇa — Truth itself as God. The kathā’s five chapters tell of a poor brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, a woodcutter, the merchant Sādhu and his daughter Kalāvatī, and King Tuṅgadhvaja: each prospered by keeping the vow and honouring its prasāda, and each stumbled on forgetting a promise made to the Lord — for truthfulness is the vow’s real offering.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the evening: a kalaśa and an image or picture of Viṣṇu under a canopy of plantain stems; offerings of tulasī, fruit and the prasāda of roasted wheat flour, sugar, ghee, milk and banana (sapāda-bhakṣya); the five-chapter kathā is read aloud and the prasāda shared with all. Arghya is offered to the risen moon.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
📖Scriptural references 1
Skanda Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa (Satyanārāyaṇa-kathā)
18Wed
Wednesday, 18 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Pratipadā · Śatabhiṣā
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Pratipadā · until 15:16
Nakṣatra
Śatabhiṣā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:04 · 18:57
19Thu
Thursday, 19 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Dvitīyā · Pūrva Bhādrapadā
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Dvitīyā · until 17:16
Nakṣatra
Pūrva Bhādrapadā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:04 · 18:57
20Fri
Friday, 20 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Tṛtīyā · Pūrva Bhādrapadā
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Tṛtīyā · until 18:54
Nakṣatra
Pūrva Bhādrapadā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:05 · 18:56
Saṅkaṣṭī Caturthī
✦Significance
The fourth of the dark fortnight, Gaṇeśa’s monthly vow: saṅkaṣṭa-hara, “the remover of hardships”. The fast is kept until the moon rises. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Aṅgārakī, the most prized of all.
📜The story from the scriptures
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa; Mudgala Purāṇa
The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells that Aṅgāraka (Mars), son of the Earth and the sage Bharadvāja, worshipped Gaṇeśa with long austerity; the Lord appeared to him on a dark fourth that fell on a Tuesday and granted that the day bear his name, and that whoever keeps the vow on it have every obstacle removed. Each month’s Caturthī has its own form of Gaṇeśa and its own story, told at moonrise.
🌙The vrata
A day-long fast, fruit and roots permitted; at moonrise Gaṇeśa is worshipped, arghya is given to the Moon, the kathā is heard and the fast is broken.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Twenty-one dūrvā blades, red flowers, modaka or sesame laḍḍū; the Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana Gaṇeśa-stotra from the Nārada Purāṇa and the Atharvaśīrṣa are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 1
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥
oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ ||
Meaning: Salutation to Gaṇapati, lord of the hosts.
Benefit: Recited before every beginning — removes obstacles and grants success, learning and a steady intellect.
Gaṇapati Atharvaśīrṣa Upaniṣad 7
📖Scriptural references 2
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa
Nārada Purāṇa (Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana-stotra)
21Sat
Saturday, 21 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturthī · Uttara Bhādrapadā
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturthī · until 20:05
Nakṣatra
Uttara Bhādrapadā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:05 · 18:55
22Sun
Sunday, 22 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Pañcamī · Revatī
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Pañcamī · until 20:46
Nakṣatra
Revatī
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:05 · 18:54
23Mon
Monday, 23 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Ṣaṣṭhī · Aśvinī
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Ṣaṣṭhī · until 20:53
Nakṣatra
Aśvinī
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:06 · 18:53
24Tue
Tuesday, 24 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Saptamī · Bharaṇī
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Saptamī · until 20:25
Nakṣatra
Bharaṇī
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:06 · 18:52
Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī
✦Significance
The midnight birth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the eighth avatāra, on the eighth tithi of the dark half under the star Rohiṇī — the Lord who comes “whenever dharma declines”. The fast is kept until midnight; the night is spent in song.
📜The story from the scriptures
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.1–3
Kaṃsa, king of Mathurā, was driving the wedding chariot of his cousin Devakī when a voice from the sky declared that her eighth child would slay him. He imprisoned Devakī and Vasudeva and killed six of their newborns; the seventh, Balarāma, was carried to Rohiṇī’s womb. When the eighth was due, the quarters grew clear, rivers ran calm and the fires of the sages burned bright; at midnight, as Rohiṇī rose, Viṣṇu appeared before his parents four-armed, bearing conch, disc, mace and lotus, and then became an ordinary infant. The chains fell, the guards slept, the prison doors swung open; Vasudeva carried the child in a basket through the storm, Śeṣa spreading his hoods above as an umbrella and the Yamunā parting to make a path. In Gokula he laid the child beside the sleeping Yaśodā and brought back her newborn daughter — Yogamāyā, who slipped from Kaṃsa’s hands into the sky and announced that his slayer was already born.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
Mathurā and Vṛndāvana celebrate with rāsa-līlā plays and jhūlans (swings). In Maharashtra the Dahī Haṇḍī has human pyramids reaching for a pot of curd hung high, as the butter-thief once did. Tamil homes draw tiny footprints in rice flour from doorstep to shrine and offer sīḍai and murukku; in Udupi, Dvārakā, Guruvāyūr and Manipur the night is kept with great splendour. The next day is Nandotsava, Nanda’s joy at the birth.
🌙The vrata
The vrata is a full-day fast (fruit and milk for those who need it), a night vigil with kīrtana, and pāraṇa the next day after the tithi and star have passed. The Bhaviṣya Purāṇa praises it as a vow whose merit equals many Ekādaśīs.
🔥Pūjā and havan
At midnight the infant Kṛṣṇa (Laḍḍū Gopāla) is bathed in pañcāmṛta — milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar — dressed in new clothes, placed in a decorated cradle and rocked. Butter, miśrī, pañjīrī, tulasī and fifty-six dishes (chappan bhoga) are offered; the tenth canto of the Bhāgavata and the Gītā are read.
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙The vrata
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
📖Scriptural references 1
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 36–63
29Sun
Sunday, 29 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Dvādaśī · Punarvasu
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Dvādaśī · until 09:36
Nakṣatra
Punarvasu
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:08 · 18:48
Pradoṣa Vrata
✦Significance
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙The vrata
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
Ṛgveda 7.59.12 (Vasiṣṭha); Śukla Yajurveda 3.60
📖Scriptural references 2
Skanda Purāṇa, Brahmottara-khaṇḍa 6–7
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.7
30Mon
Monday, 30 August 2027
Śrāvaṇa · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Trayodaśī · Āśleṣā
☀About the day
Lunar month
Śrāvaṇa
Tithi at sunrise
dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Trayodaśī · until 06:13
Nakṣatra
Āśleṣā
Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
06:08 · 18:47
Māsika Śivarātri
✦Significance
The monthly night of Śiva, the fourteenth of the dark half, when the waning moon — the mind — is almost still. Those who keep all twelve through the year complete the vow on Mahā Śivarātri.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Evening or midnight worship of the liṅga with water, milk and bilva; a fast through the day; japa of the pañcākṣarī.
ॐMantras and japa 1
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜The story from the scriptures
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ | tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may he awaken our understanding.
Benefit: The mother of the Vedic mantras — recited at sunrise, noon and sunset for clarity of mind, inner light and the blessing of the Sun.
Ṛgveda 3.62.10 (Viśvāmitra)
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
📖Scriptural references 2
Matsya Purāṇa 14
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92
Reference shelf
◐The twenty-six Ekādaśīs 26
The year of twenty-four Ekādaśīs — outer ring bright fortnight, inner ring dark; the centre holds the two of the intercalary month
The Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, adhyāyas 38–63, tells the glory of each Ekādaśī as Śrī Kṛṣṇa told it to Yudhiṣṭhira. The cards give the amānta month; the Purāṇa speaks in the pūrṇimānta reckoning of North India, which writes each dark fortnight under the following month’s name — so a verse may say “Pauṣa” where the card says Mārgaśīrṣa. The day is the same. Each card opens onto its chapter in the Library.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: King Mahījit and the sage Lomaśa; the pavitrāropaṇa follows on the Dvādaśī
देवता निर्जिताः सर्वाः स्वर्गभ्रष्टाः कृताः प्रभो ।
अत्युग्रेण हि दैत्येन मुरनाम्ना महौजसा ।
इंद्रस्य वचनं श्रुत्वा विष्णुर्वचनमब्रवीत् ॥ 65 ॥
All the gods have been defeated and cast out of heaven, O Lord, by the exceedingly fierce and mighty daitya named Mura. Hearing Indra’s words, Viṣṇu spoke.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: the daitya Mura of Candrāvatī, who drives the gods from heaven — the chapter of Ekādaśī’s own origin
… for so many thousand years he is honoured in heaven. Bathing with sesame, rubbing the body with sesame, offering sesame into the fire, sesame in water —
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
Nārada asked the lotus-seated Brahmā: “The one in the dark fortnight of Phālguna, Vijayā by name — tell me her merit, O best of the twice-born, by your grace.”
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
In the chapter: Rāma at the ocean and the sage Dālbhya
अमा वा यदि वा पूर्णा संपूर्णा जायते तदा ।
भूत्वा वै नाडिकाषष्ठिर्जायते प्रतिपद्दिने ।
अश्वमेधायुतैस्तुल्या सा भवेत्पक्षवर्द्धिनी ॥ 2 ॥
When the Amāvāsyā or the Pūrṇimā runs complete — a full sixty nāḍikās — and continues into the Pratipad day, that is Pakṣavardhinī, equal to ten thousand horse-sacrifices.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
3
Jayā and Vijayā — named by the star
A bright Ekādaśī under Punarvasu is Jayā; a bright Dvādaśī under Śravaṇa is Vijayā. The chapter goes on to Jayantī and Pāpanāśinī in the same way.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
English rendering by Horā — the edition on file carries a Hindi commentary only.
What the text asks of the day
Read together, the chapters ask for the same few things: the fast on the Ekādaśī (waterless, on Nirjalā); worship of Viṣṇu under the name the chapter gives — Dāmodara, Hṛṣīkeśa, Padmanābha; an offering that suits the day — fruits on Saphalā, sesame on Ṣaṭtilā, tulasī on Kāmikā; the vigil through the night with song and hymn; and worship again on the Dvādaśī before the fast is broken. The japa of the day is the dvādaśākṣarī, oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, with the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma.
🌘Eclipses (grahaṇa)
Varāhamihira gives both accounts side by side. First the story: the severed head that tasted the nectar and became a graha. Then the science: the Moon enters the earth’s shadow, and at a solar eclipse the Moon covers the Sun — “Rāhu is not the cause”. And then why the rite continues: by Brahmā’s boon Rāhu has a share of the oblation offered at an eclipse.
Some say that this head, though severed from the demon (asura) on account of a taste of the nectar of immortality, was not abandoned by the vital breaths, and thus attained the status of a planet (graha).
The truth is: in its own eclipse, the Moon enters the earth’s shadow; in the Sun’s eclipse, the Moon obscures the Sun. Hence the eclipse begins, for the Moon, from the hindward part, and for the Sun, not from the forward part.
Thus has the true cause of an eclipse been stated by the teachers of divine sight (the astronomer-sages); and it has been said that Rahu is not the true, physical cause in this -- such is the real purport of the science.