August 2041
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 Shravana and into Bhadrapada.
Shravana — The month of listening. Shiva's month — its Mondays are kept, and Raksha Bandhan falls at its full moon.
Bhadrapada — Ganesha arrives and is given back to the water. Onam and Anant Chaturdashi stand within.
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.
Nag Panchami
The serpents honoured — the tradition's oldest ecological instinct, protecting the creature everyone else kills.
The actProtect something people find easy to destroy. Feed the animals nobody feeds.
Matched in Shravana. 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.
Raksha Bandhan
A thread tied, and a protection promised. The vow runs in one direction and asks nothing back, which is what separates it from a transaction.
The actExtend protection to someone outside your own family, where nothing comes back to you for it.
Matched in Shravana. 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.
Krishna Janmashtami
Born at midnight, in a prison, to parents who could not keep him. The tradition puts its most joyful figure's birth in the least joyful place on purpose.
The actStay awake past midnight if you can, and sing. Feed children who are not yours.
Matched in Bhadrapada, 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.
Ganesh Chaturthi
The remover of obstacles, invited home for ten days and then given back to the water. The immersion is the teaching, not the arrival.
The actBegin the thing you have been putting off. And on the last day, let go of something you have been holding — the festival is built around a return.
Matched in Bhadrapada. 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.
Ganesh Chaturthi
The remover of obstacles, invited home for ten days and then given back to the water. The immersion is the teaching, not the arrival.
The actBegin the thing you have been putting off. And on the last day, let go of something you have been holding — the festival is built around a return.
Matched in Bhadrapada. 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 Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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.
Masik Shivaratri
The fourteenth tithi of the dark fortnight — Shivaratri, every month. The great one in Phalguna is this same night at its strongest.
The actKeep the evening quiet. Om Namah Shivaya, for as long as you can hold it.
Matched in Shravana. 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 Shravana. 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.