Adhika Māsa
Adhika Māsa · adhika-māsa, “the extra month”
Grammar: masculine noun phrase; adhika (additional, extra) with māsa (month): “the extra month”. It is also called malamāsa.
Meaning: the intercalary month, an extra lunar month that comes within some years.
In the scriptures: in his teaching on the purity that follows a death, Pushkara tells Paraśurāma how the piṇḍas are given in the śrāddhas of the first year. The piṇḍas are made of cooked rice, curd, honey and black gram. If an adhika month comes within the year, one extra piṇḍa is made for it. Or all the monthly śrāddhas of the twelve months may be completed on the twelfth day; then, if an adhika month is to come in that year, one extra piṇḍa for that month is given on the day of the twelfth śrāddha (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 157).
Agnideva also counts the adhika māsa among the times when no work connected with the house should be done, together with the time when Guru (Bṛhaspati) is in Siṃha and when Śukra is newly risen, about to set or set (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 121). In the rules of vratas which he gives Vasishṭha Maharshi, the malamāsa is kept free of great beginnings: in it one does not set up the sacred fires, perform a pratishṭhā, a yajña, a dāna or a vrata, release a bull, perform the tonsure, the upanayana or a vivāha, or any such auspicious act, nor a royal abhisheka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 175).
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: in his stotra to Śrī Hari, Kardama Prajāpati 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). In the Puṃsavana vrata, a pativratā performs the pūjā for the twelve months of a year that has no adhika-māsa, and then fasts on Kārtika amāvāsyā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 19).
Per Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, when Bhagavān Sūrya was frightened by the śāpa of Jamadagni, Brahmā came to console him and told him the limits of the śāpa. In a year in which there is an adhika-māsa and a kshaya-māsa, Rāhu will swallow Sūrya; then he will be unseen by some, and seen by others, to whom he gives puṇya (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 79).
Related terms: Māsa · Malamāsa · Cāndra-māsa · Śrāddha · Piṇḍa
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 121, 157, 175
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 21; Skandha 6, Chapter 19
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 79