Varṣā traditionally spans the months of Nabhas and Nabhasya – nabhas means mist, clouds or sky – or Śrāvaṇa and Bhādra, and thus starts today, 23rd July. In fact India has not one but two monsoons: the first comes from the South-West and tends to hit land in May or June and then make its way North (and East) and a second North-East monsoon follows towards the end of the year. So Kerala is usually in full swing by mid June while Delhi still steams; Chennai tends to get no rain until the cyclone season in December. The monsoon therefore tends to be subject to what corporatese calls ‘scope creep’ – as we see in the Rāmāyaṇa where varṣā has four rather than two months – and it often includes the months of Āṣāḍha and Āśvina (which otherwise belong to the seasons that precede and follow varṣā respectively)
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 16:01:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015