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
Amavasya Moon
Amavasya is new moon day in Hindu calendar.
It is significant day as many rituals are performed only on Amavasya Tithi. Amavasya falling on weekday Monday is known as Somvati Amavasya and Amavasya falling on weekday Saturday is known as Shani Amavasya.
All Amavasya days are appropriate to perform Shraddha rituals to appease ancestors.
Amavasya day is also appropriate day to perform Kalasarpa Dosha puja.
Dates from 2018
16 January (Tuesday) Magha Amavasya
15 February (Thursday) Phalguna Amavasya
17 March (Saturday) Chaitra Amavasya
15 April (Sunday) Vaishakha Amavasya
15 May (Tuesday) Jyeshtha Amavasya
13 June (Wednesday) Jyeshtha Amavasya
12 July (Thursday) Ashadha Amavasya
10 August (Friday) Shravana Amavasya
09 September (Sunday) Bhadrapada Amavasya
08 October (Monday) Ashwin Amavasya
07 November (Wednesday) Kartik Amavasya
06 December (Thursday) Margashirsha Amavasya
Amavasya is new moon day in Hindu calendar.
It is significant day as many rituals are performed only on Amavasya Tithi. Amavasya falling on weekday Monday is known as Somvati Amavasya and Amavasya falling on weekday Saturday is known as Shani Amavasya.
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