Vasanta (Season)
Vasanta · vasanta, “the spring”
Śiśira has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śiśira.
Grammar: masculine noun; vasanta, the spring. Vasanta ṛtu, the spring season.
Meaning: the spring, one of the six ṛtus (seasons) of the year, which the Agni Purāṇa names with Śiśira, Grīshma, Varsha, Śarad and Hemanta.
In the scriptures:
In Āyurveda. In the Āyurveda which Dhanvantari teaches Suśruta, kapha has its accumulation, its aggravation and its pacification in Śiśira, Vasanta and Grīshma, in that order; so in Vasanta kapha is aggravated (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 280). For one of vāta nature, massage (mardana) is ordinary or abundant in Śiśira, moderate in Vasanta and of a special kind in Grīshma (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 281).
In the care of horses. Hemanta, Śiśira and Vasanta are the good seasons for mounting a horse; in Grīshma, Śarat and Varsha mounting is forbidden (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 288). Śālihotra tells Suśruta the pratipāna (the after-drink) of each season: in Vasanta, a pratipāna of lodhra, priyaṅgu, mustā, pippalī, śuṇṭhī and honey destroys kapha. Ghee is given in Śarat and Grīshma, oil in Hemanta and Vasanta, and both in Varsha and Śiśira (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 289).
In rites and the march. In the Yuddhajayārṇava, the anushṭhāna (performance) of the mantras of ākarshaṇa (attraction) and the like is done in Vasanta (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 138). In the march to war, at the beginning of Vasanta and of Śarad the king takes the fourfold army of elephants, chariots, horses and foot-soldiers (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 228).
In the hearing of the Purāṇa. In the glory of the Agni Purāṇa, one who hears it season by season, after doing pūjā to the book with sandal paste and flowers, gains in Hemanta the fruit of the agni-homa, in Śiśira the fruit of the Puṇḍarīka, in Vasanta the fruit of the Aśvamedha, in Grīshma the fruit of the Vājapeya, in Varsha the fruit of the Rājasūya, and in Śarad the fruit of giving a thousand cows (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).
Related terms: Ṛtu · Grīshma · Śiśira · Kapha · Caitra · Vaiśākha
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 138, 228, 280, 281, 288, 289, 383