Āshāḍha
Āshāḍha, “the month of the Āshāḍhā nakshatras”
Grammar: masculine noun; the month named after the nakshatras Āshāḍhā (the two Āshāḍhās).
Meaning: a month of the lunar year, when Sūrya enters the rāśi Mithuna and Bhagavān Vishṇu begins his sleep. The word also names the āshāḍha daṇḍa, the staff of a brahmacārī.
In the scriptures: when Uttarāyaṇa has passed and Āshāḍha comes, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Lakshmīpati, sleeps on the bed of Śesha, and after him the devas, the gandharvas and the yakshas sink into sleep one after another. On Āshāḍha śukla ekādaśī, when Sūrya enters Mithuna, Jagannātha begins his sleep. In the same chapter, in the Kālāshṭamī vrata to Bhagavān Śiva, the Āshāḍha step is: a bath of bilva water for the deity, worship with white dhattūra flowers, dhūpa of pilhaka, naivedya of pūpas cooked in ghee, ghee and barley as dakshiṇā, and the praise sung aloud, “Daksha-yajña-nāśaka!” (destroyer of Daksha‘s yajña) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17).
On the amāvāsyā of Āshāḍha joined with the Mṛgaśira nakshatra, Devendra offered piṇḍa of sesame, honey and havishya-anna to the pitṛs at Kurukshetra. Pleased, the pitṛdevatās gave their daughter Menā in marriage to Himavān (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 24).
In the dvādaśa-patraka yoga (the yoga of the twelve leaves) that Brahmā taught Sanatkumāra, the third leaf is the syllable “mo”, on the two arms, with the rāśi Mithuna and the month Āshāḍha (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
In Prahlāda‘s teaching to Bali on the gifts dear to Bhagavān Vishṇu month by month, in Āshāḍha one gives footwear, an umbrella, salt, āmalaka and the like, for the satisfaction of Vāmana Deva (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 68).
At Kurukshetra, one who worships the Gokarṇeśvara mahāliṅga, installed by Rāvaṇa, on Āshāḍha kṛshṇa caturdaśī is freed from all pāpas done knowingly or unknowingly. North of it is the liṅga that Vibhīshaṇa worshipped, by which he conquered old age and death: one who fasts on Āshāḍha śukla ashṭamī and worships that liṅga gains amaratva (deathlessness) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25).
When Bhagavān Vāmana appeared as a young vaṭu, Marīci, son of Brahmā, gave him the āshāḍha daṇḍa (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 9).
Related terms: Āshāḍhā · Mithuna · Ekādaśī · Uttarāyaṇa · Dvādaśa-patraka · Daṇḍa
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 17, 24, 35, 68
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 9, 25