Bhadrapada

Bhadrapada is named after Purva and Uttara Bhadrapada, the nakshatras near its full moon. It is the late rainy season, and in many parts of India the monsoon is slowly withdrawing. Fields of rice are heading, and the calendar becomes crowded with community festivals that need dry enough ground for processions.

Ganesh Chaturthi opens the sequence on the fourth tithi of the bright half; clay images are installed at home and in neighbourhood pandals and immersed after several days, the public form having grown especially in Maharashtra. Anant Chaturdashi, on the fourteenth, often marks the final immersion. Hartalika Teej recalls Parvati's penance to win Shiva, and women fast on it. Radha Ashtami celebrates Radha's appearance, Onam is the Malayali harvest festival tied to King Mahabali, though it follows a solar-month calendar in Kerala, and so does not always coincide neatly with the lunar date.

The dark half of Bhadrapada in Amanta reckoning is Pitru Paksha, or Mahalaya, sixteen days when families offer water, sesame and cooked food to forefathers through shraddha rites. Under Purnimanta calendars the same fortnight is counted as part of Ashvin, which is why you may see Pitru Paksha placed in either month depending on the almanac. Hrishikesha, a name of Vishnu, is the presiding deity, with Parjanya, the rain, as the Aditya.