Varshā Ṛtu

Varshā Ṛtu, “the season of the rains”

Grammar: a compound of varshā (the rains) and ṛtu (season), masculine: “the season of the rains”.

Meaning: the rainy season, one of the six ṛtus of the year. In the Brahma Purāṇa the season also comes in embodied form, as the beauty of the rains (varsha-ṛtu-sundarī).

In the scriptures: the Brahma Purāṇa shows the rainy season at the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī, in Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s Bṛndāvana and in the rites for the pitṛs.

At the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī. Brahmā tells the munis that the six ṛtus came in embodied form to the house of Himavān and served Īśvara at the wedding. The beauty of the rainy season adorned the wedding maṇḍapa, and these were her signs, as the text lists them:

  • the gathering of the rains, with the sound of the mantras as their thunder;
  • the lustre of dark blue clouds;
  • the lovely dances of peacocks with their keka cries;
  • flickering tawny streaks of lightning;
  • rows of cranes, white like a crown of kumuda flowers;
  • fresh mushrooms, kandalī plants, and creepers and trees with tender shoots;
  • the croaking of frogs, woken by the cool streams of rain;
  • proud women giving up their quarrels with their beloved and embracing them of their own accord;
  • the crescent moon peeping softly from behind thin clouds;
  • the rainbow showing its colours on the clouds;
  • soft breezes, fragrant with flowers and cooled by the water, stirring the locks of the women of the devas;
  • the moon’s orb veiled by thundering clouds;
  • the first raindrops like strings of pearls;
  • tufts of grass shining like emeralds;
  • haṃsas as her anklets and high clouds as her breasts.

The haṃsas took fright at the thunder of the blue clouds, the water lilies bowed under the clear streams of rain, and, her limbs adorned with the pollen of fragrant flowers, the rainy season dressed herself for Pārvatī’s wedding (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36).

In Bṛndāvana. Vyāsa tells the munis that when the cowherds left their old vraja, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa meditated on Bṛndāvana for the welfare of the cows. By that, even in the harsh grīshma season, the qualities of the rainy season appeared there, and fresh tender grass was everywhere, as in the rains. Later, while Balarāma and Kṛshṇa were herding the calves, the rainy season came: clouds covered the whole sky and the streams of rain made the ten directions one. The trees, shrubs and creepers put out buds and grew dark green, the indragopa insects shone like rubies set in emerald, and the river floods broke their banks and ran in wrong paths, like the minds of upstarts who have gained sudden wealth (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 184).

For the pitṛs. Teaching the śrāddha, Vyāsa tells the munis that the pitṛs long eagerly: “Will one born in our line offer us jalāñjali (handfuls of water), and in the rainy season, and in Māgha and Phālguna, offer us pāyasa mixed with honey?” (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).

Related terms: Ṛtu · Varshā · Vasanta · Śarad · Pitṛ · Śrāddha

Sources

  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 36, 184, 220