Amavasya

Amavasya, the new Moon night

Amavasya is the new Moon night, or a night without the Moon visible in the sky. From tomorrow the Moon “will grow” up to Purnima, the full Moon. Then it will decrease again up to Amavasya again.

The word Amavasya means “the Moon is not there”. A= no, ma= Moon, asya= there.

The reason why we have waxing and waning Moon is told in the Maha-bharata, Salya Parva, chapter 35. I’ll tell the story some other time.

We have about 12 Amavasya nights (pratipada or prathama) in a year. These are their names:
Magha Amavasya (January)
Phalguna Amavasya (February)
Chaitra Amavasya (March)
Vaishakha Amavasya (April)
Jyeshtha Amavasya (May)
Jyeshtha Amavasya (June)
Ashadha Amavasya (July)
Shravana Amavasya (August)
Bhadrapada Amavasya (September)
Ashvina Amavasya (October)
Kartik Amavasya (November)
Margashirsha Amavasya (December)

The forthnight starting with Amavasya is referred to as Shukla paksha (bright half of the month).

We Vedantist Vaisnavas follow the lunar calendar, while in the West the solar calendar is observed.

According to Sastra, Amavasya is a favorable day to offer Sraddha rituals to ancestors and other ceremonies for material gain. It is considered auspicios because Divali (Diwali) falls during a dark night.
It is also a favorable time for materialistic people to perform Kalasarpa Dosha Puja and demoniac sacrifices to appease Goddess Kali.

– Manonatha Dasa (ACBSP)
24 jan 2020

Another list

January
The Amavasya falling in January will be known as Darsha Amavasya. Since it falls in the Hindu month Paush, it is also known as Paush Amavasya. It will be observed on 5 January 2019. It will start at 4.58 am on 5 January and will end at 6.58 am on 6 January.

February
The one falling in the month of February, will be known as Magh Amavasya. The Amavasya on this day will be from 11.52 pm on 3 February 2019 to 2.33 am on 5 February 2019.

March
Chaitra Krishna Amavasya will fall on Wednesday, 5 March 2019. Amavasya will begin at 11.52 pm on 5 March and will end at 9.34 pm on 6 March.

April
Darsh Amavasya will be observed on Thursday, 4 April 2019. Amavasya will begin at 12.51 pm on 4 April and will end at 2.20 pm on 5 April. Another Amavasya will be observed on 5 April 2019, hence there will be two Amavasyas in April 2019.

May
Vaishakh Amavasya will be observed on Saturday, 4 May 2019. This will begin at 4.04 am on May 4 and will end at 4.15 am on May 5.

June
Jyeshtha Amavasya will be observed on 3 June 2019. Amavasya will start at 4.40 pm on June 2 and end at 3.32 pm on 3 June.

July
Amavasya falling in the month of July will be Ashadha Krishna Amavasya. It will be observed on Tuesday, 2 July 2019. The timings would be from 3.06 am on July 2 to 12.46 am on July 3. Another Amavasya, Shravana Krishna Amavasya will be observed from 11.57 am on 31 July to 8.41 am on 1 August.

August
Bhadrapad Krishna Amavasya will be observed on Thursday, 1 August 2019. Continued from July 31 it will remain till 8.41 am on 1 August. But here it will be called Bhadrapad Amavasya as the Hindu month will also change with the Gregorian month.
Another Amavasya, Ashvin Krishna Amavasya will be observed from 7.55 pm on Friday 29 August and will continue till 4.07 pm on 30 August.

September
It will be Kartik Krishna Amavasya which will fall on Saturday, 28 September 2019. This Amavasya will continue from 3.46 am on 28 September to 11.56 pm on the same day.

October
The Amavasya falling in October will also be called Kartik Krishna Amavasya. It will be observed on Sunday, 27 October 2019.It will begin at 12.23 pm on 27 October and will continue till 9.08 am on 28 October. After this, the Hindu month will change and the Amavasya will be counted as another Amavasya in the month and will be known as Marghashirsha Krishna Amavasya. The timings remain same.

November
Amavasya to be observed in November will be known as Paush Krishna Amavasya. It will begin at 10.40 pm on Monday, 25 November and will end at 8.35 pm on Tuesday, 26 November.

December
The Amavasya in December has been given two names, Paush Krishna Amavasya and Magh Krishna Amavasya. It will be observed on Thursday, 25 December from 11.17 am to 10.43 am on Friday, 26 December.

Dictionary
आमावास्य AmAvAsya adj. belonging to the new moon or its festival
अमावास्य amAvAsya adj. born in new moon night
आमावास्य AmAvAsya adj. born at the time of new moon
अमावास्य amAvAsya adj. night when the sun and moon are home together – i.e., new moon
अमावास्या amAvAsyA f. first day of the first quarter on which the moon is invisible
अमावास्या amAvAsyA f. day of new moon
अमावास्या amAvAsyA f. sacrifice offered at that time
अमावास्या amAvAsyA f. night of new moon
अमावास्य amAvAsya n. neighbourhood

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