Ṛtu
Ṛtu, “season”
Śiśira has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śiśira.
Grammar: masculine noun: “season”.
Meaning: a season of the year, two months long, one sixth of the year. There are six ṛtus, beginning with Vasanta (spring).
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa:
- In his account of the measures of time, Maitreya tells Vidura that fifteen days make a paksha, two months make one ṛtu, and six months one ayana, the dakshiṇāyana or the uttarāyaṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 11).
- Kardama Muni, praising Śrī Hari at Bindu-sara, says: “Your wheel of time, which is the year, turns on the axle that is Parabrahma. It has thirteen spokes, counting the adhika-māsa, six bars, which are the ṛtus, countless leaves carved on it, the seconds and minutes, and three naves, the periods of four months each. Running with fierce speed, this wheel drags the world towards destruction; but it cannot waste the life-span of your devotees” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 21).
- Vatsara and his wife Svarvīthi had six sons, Pushpārṇa, Tigmaketu, Isha, Ūrja, Vasu and Jaya, whom the text explains as the presiding devatās of the ṛtus (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 13).
- Śuka tells Parīkshit that the year is the wheel of Sūrya‘s chariot: the twelve months are its spokes, the six ṛtus its rim-pieces, and the three four-month periods its nave (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 21).
- Nārāyaṇa, manifest as Sūrya, for the purity of Vedic rites and the welfare of the lokas, divided his form as time into the twelve months, and so that beings may enjoy the fruits of their karma, he set up the features of the six ṛtus beginning with Vasanta. The time in which Sūrya completes one sixth of his yearly round is called a ṛtu; it too is a limb of the year (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 22).
Related terms: Vasanta · Māsa · Ayana · Saṃvatsara · Kāla-cakra · Adhika-māsa
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapters 11, 21; Skandha 4, Chapter 13; Skandha 5, Chapters 21–22