Ashada or adi month-the good bad month of Indian calendar

Ashada  or adi month-the good bad  month of Indian calendar

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

The month of Ashada(Chandra mana)  or Aadi (tamil)  or Karkidaga   is normally   considered   as inauspicious.It is the beginning of Southern Solstice  (Dakshinayana) comes.

     During Aadi/Ashada  month  , no auspicious functions are held , husband and wife(certain places  daughter in law   and mother  in law)   do not live together . This is strictly implemented on the first   year of marriage  as people believe that  if a lady conceives in Adi month  , she will get the child in the very hot summer   and this should be avoided.

    But this month is full of special days of penance and worship. On Tuesdays of the month , if women apply turmeric and take bath, their husbands would live very long. On  all Fridays   of the month, Goddess  Parvathy  is worshipped.On Adi Krithika day, Lord Muruga is worshipped, on Adi  pooram day   Goddess  AAndal is worshipped and  Aadi amavasya  is considered as very special   to worship oou dead   ancestors.The Vara Lakshmi Vrutha when Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped also comes in this month.

    There   is an interesting story about  Aadi month  in Tamil Nadu:-

It seems Aadi was   a deva maiden  and when once Goddess  Parvatrhi was not with her husband, she took the form of a serpent  , went near  God Shiva   and took the form of Goddess  Parvathi and sat near him.Shiva could immediately recognize that   she was not Parvathy   and attacked her with his trident.The fire sparks that flew from his trident   made her.But God Shiva cursed that   she should be born as a  bitter neem tree  in the world .When she  cried he told her that  People will worship as the Goddess and one of the months of the earth would be named after  her   and she would do all that is good to people of earth. It is also believed that  worship of Thulasi plant  in the Shukla paksha days  in Aadi   would bless them with prosperity.

   In Kerala it was being called  as “kalla Karkidagam(the Thief  Karkidaga”)  earlier because due to replanting of paddy  in the previous monthand incessant rains   during that month, no agricultural work  takes place  and no crops  yield(due to  shedding of flowers due to rain)  .But   for a long time  Keralaites considered  it as  most suitable   to read Ramayana   and read  “Adhyathma  Ramayana”   on all days.  It is also called  the Ayurvedic month   as it is believed that Ayurvedic treatment is most effective during this time.