Caturmasya<\/p>\n
\u201cThe C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya period begins in the month of \u00c4\u00f1\u00e4\u00f2ha (June-July) from the day of Ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9 called \u00c7ayan\u00e4-ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9, in the fortnight of the waxing moon. The period ends in the month of K\u00e4rtika (October-November) on the Ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9 day known as Utth\u00e4n\u00e4-ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9, in the fortnight of the waxing moon. This four-month period is known as C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya. Some Vai\u00f1\u00ebavas also observe it from the full-moon day of \u00c4\u00f1\u00e4\u00f2ha until the full-moon day of K\u00e4rtika. That is also a period of four months. This period, calculated by the lunar months, is called C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya, but others also observe C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya according to the solar month from \u00c7r\u00e4va\u00eba to K\u00e4rtika. The whole period, either lunar or solar, takes place during the rainy season. C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya should be observed by all sections of the population. It does not matter whether one is a g\u00e5hastha or a sanny\u00e4s\u00e9. The observance is obligatory for all \u00e4\u00e7ramas. The real purpose behind the vow taken during these four months is to minimize the quantity of sense gratification. This is not very difficult. In the month of \u00c7r\u00e4va\u00eba one should not eat spinach, in the month of Bh\u00e4dra one should not eat yogurt, and in the month of \u00c4\u00e7vina one should not drink milk. One should not eat fish or other nonvegetarian food during the month of K\u00e4rtika. A nonvegetarian diet means fish and meat. Similarly, mas\u00fcra d\u00e4l and urad d\u00e4l are also considered nonvegetarian. These two d\u00e4ls contain a great amount of protein, and food rich in protein is considered nonvegetarian. On the whole, during the four-month period of C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya one should practice giving up all food intended for sense enjoyment.
\n(A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita. Madhya-lila 4.169. purport.)<\/p>\n
Notes:
\nUrja vrata \u2013 means restricting eating.
\nThe term \u201cspinach\u201d in India refers to green leafy vegetables of that nature.
\nThe yogurt fast is fasting from eating yogurt by itself. Yogurt used as a binding agent for cake is not included.
\nMilk fast means refrain from drinking milk. Milk sweets, milk by-products are okay.<\/p>\n
In the fourth (last) month, Ashvin Shukla Dashami to Kartik Shukla Dwadashi one should not partake dicotyledon grains (grains breaking in two parts) like gram, tur urad, masur etc., Similarly, one should not eat fruits or vegetables containing lot of seeds. This also applies to tubors as ordained. Thus reason for making a list of prohibited items seperately for each of the four months is in the nature of dietary discipline, and declared as daily regimen (\u201cNityavrata\u201d) by the scriptures.<\/p>\n
During Festivals of the Lord (ie Balaram\u2019s App, Sri Krishna Janmastami, Radhastami, etc) all preparations are offered to the Lord and chaturmasya vrata of restrictive honouring of even foods in the above categories does not apply. (yes one can honour Urid dal kachoris that have been offered to Srila Prabhupad on his Tirubhav)<\/p>\n
Also during the Purushottam Adika masa there is no observance of chaturmasya.<\/p>\n
Chaturmasya means \u201cfour months\u201d, which is the duration that Vishnu sleeps.<\/p>\n
Ekadasi, Asadha 11 (July 20, 2002). The time the Vishnu goes to sleep for four months.
\nNaga Panchami, Sravana 5 (Aug 12, 2002). The cobras are appeased at this festival, which is dedicated to the serpent Ananta (aka Sesha?), on whose coils Vishnu rested when he created the universe.
\n\u201cVishnu lies on Ananta\u201d, Bhadra 14 (Sept 19, 2002). Celebration of Vishnu lying on the cobra Ananta. [same as Sharad Purnima?]\n\u201cVishnu wakes\u201d. eleven days after new moon in [Agrahayana]. Vishnu wakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Caturmasya \u201cThe C\u00e4turm\u00e4sya period begins in the month of \u00c4\u00f1\u00e4\u00f2ha (June-July) from the day of Ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9 called \u00c7ayan\u00e4-ek\u00e4da\u00e7\u00e9, in the fortnight of the waxing moon. The period ends in the month of K\u00e4rtika (October-November) on the … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area2","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 11:12:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}