October 2030
The year as Sanatan keeps it — every month behind you and every month ahead. Each day is computed for where you stand, and each festival carries what it is for and one act.
This is a default, not your place. Set it so the tithi and the muhurtas are your own.
Every tithi here turns at sunrise where you are, so this calendar is yours rather than a Delhi almanac reprinted.
This month crosses out of Ashvina and into Kartika.
Ashvina — The mind clears after the rains. Sharad Navaratri and Vijayadashami stand within, and Sharad Purnima is its full moon.
Kartika — The month of lamps. Chhath is kept here, and Tulsi Vivah, and Dev Deepavali at its full moon.
The days this month keeps
Whose year is this?
Bharat does not keep one calendar. Pongal, Onam, Bihu, Baisakhi and Poila Boishakh are all real new years, and none of them is a variant of another. VEDAUM will not guess yours from a birthplace — a Malayali family in Delhi still keeps Onam.
This list is not complete, and a region missing from it is VEDAUM's gap, not yours. You keep the whole pan-Indian year either way.
Sharada Navaratri
Day 5 of 9Nine nights of Devi, three each for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — the personality rebuilt in three movements: what must be fought, what must be gathered, what must be understood.
The actOne practice, all nine nights, unbroken. On day nine, feed and honour young girls — that is the tradition's own instruction and it is not symbolic.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sharada Navaratri
Day 6 of 9Nine nights of Devi, three each for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — the personality rebuilt in three movements: what must be fought, what must be gathered, what must be understood.
The actOne practice, all nine nights, unbroken. On day nine, feed and honour young girls — that is the tradition's own instruction and it is not symbolic.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sharada Navaratri
Day 7 of 9Nine nights of Devi, three each for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — the personality rebuilt in three movements: what must be fought, what must be gathered, what must be understood.
The actOne practice, all nine nights, unbroken. On day nine, feed and honour young girls — that is the tradition's own instruction and it is not symbolic.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sharada Navaratri
Day 8 of 9Nine nights of Devi, three each for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — the personality rebuilt in three movements: what must be fought, what must be gathered, what must be understood.
The actOne practice, all nine nights, unbroken. On day nine, feed and honour young girls — that is the tradition's own instruction and it is not symbolic.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sharada Navaratri
Day 9 of 9Nine nights of Devi, three each for Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati — the personality rebuilt in three movements: what must be fought, what must be gathered, what must be understood.
The actOne practice, all nine nights, unbroken. On day nine, feed and honour young girls — that is the tradition's own instruction and it is not symbolic.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Vijayadashami · Dussehra
Victory on the tenth. Ravana was learned, powerful and devout — the tradition burns him anyway, because none of that survives what he did.
The actName the thing in you that is intelligent and still wrong. Burn something written, and begin a new learning today — the day is classically for starting study.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sharad Purnima
The clearest full moon of the year. The moon is said to pour amrit tonight; rice pudding is left out to take it.
The actSit in the moonlight, without a screen, for as long as you can stand. It is the whole practice.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Dhanteras
Dhanvantari, who rose from the churning of the ocean carrying medicine — the day is about health as the first wealth. The metal-buying is a much later graft.
The actLook after the body you have been ignoring. Then give medicine, or its cost, to someone who cannot afford it.
Matched in Kartika, by the purnimanta reckoning. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Deepavali
The darkest night of the year, and the tradition's answer to it is not to wait for light but to make it. A row of lamps against an amavasya.
The actLight a lamp for someone who is sitting in the dark. Not metaphorically — find the person and do something.
Matched in Kartika, by the purnimanta reckoning. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Govardhan Puja
A hill lifted to shelter people from a storm sent by a god they had stopped worshipping. The story is about protecting your own rather than obeying power.
The actCook and give food away. Honour the animals and land that fed you this year.
Matched in Kartika. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Bhai Dooj
Yama visits his sister Yamuna and is fed — the god of death, at a family table.
The actGo to a sibling, or someone who has been one to you. Eat together. Do not discuss anything difficult.
Matched in Kartika. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
The days that return
Ekadashi, pradosh, purnima, amavasya — these come round every fortnight or every month. They are set out in full here rather than folded away.
Ekadashi
The eleventh tithi, twice a month — the tradition's regular fast. Physiologically a rest for the body, and structurally a rehearsal in wanting something and not taking it.
The actFast as your health allows, and only as it allows. If you cannot fast, then give up one thing you would ordinarily take.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Pradosh
The thirteenth tithi at dusk — the twilight window sacred to Shiva.
The actAt dusk, a lamp and stillness. Fifteen minutes is enough.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Purnima
The full moon. The mind is at its most expanded and least contained — the tradition's month-long high tide.
The actCharity, and something collective. Do not make a large decision tonight; you will feel more certain than the evidence warrants.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Sankashti Chaturthi
The fourth tithi after the full moon, for Ganesha — the day for obstacles specifically.
The actName one obstacle plainly. Do the smallest possible thing about it today rather than the largest.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Ekadashi
The eleventh tithi, twice a month — the tradition's regular fast. Physiologically a rest for the body, and structurally a rehearsal in wanting something and not taking it.
The actFast as your health allows, and only as it allows. If you cannot fast, then give up one thing you would ordinarily take.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Pradosh
The thirteenth tithi at dusk — the twilight window sacred to Shiva.
The actAt dusk, a lamp and stillness. Fifteen minutes is enough.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
Amavasya
The new moon. The month's lowest point and the day given to the ancestors.
The actOffer water to the pitris with their names said aloud. Rest. Begin nothing; the tradition asks for silence here rather than effort.
Matched in Ashvina. Both reckonings name this month alike, so there is nothing to choose between them here. A krishna-paksha day carries two month names — purnimanta runs a month ahead of amanta — so each festival is matched by the reckoning its own name uses. This is shown so you can check it.
A guide to the rhythm of the year, not a replacement for your family's own panchang. Where a tithi spans two sunrises, regional convention decides which day keeps the festival, and VEDAUM shows the day its own reckoning gives.
VEDAUM draws the years 1900 to 2100.