Shishira (late winter) in Magh and
Phalgun. In actual practice, there are
three major seasons, at least in northern
India: the hot season (April–June), the
monsoon( July–September), and the
cool season (October–March). All these
seasons are approximate, because they
are ultimately determined by larger cli-
matic phenomena. In the hot season the
sun bakes the northern Indian plains,
eventually setting in motion air currents
that suck moist air north from the
Indian ocean; the resulting monsoons
break the heat and provide rain for the
crops. The weather then gets gradually
cooler until January, when it becomes
gradually hotter until the hot season
returns. The monsoon arrives at differ-
ent times in different parts of the coun-
try—earlier to regions further south,
later to regions further north—and at
times the monsoons are sporadic or do
not come at all. Each of these three sea-
sons has general correlations with cer-
tain festivals.
The hot season is a time of gradually
increasing heat, and many of the festi-
vals during this time have associations
with heat: Holi, Navaratri, Ram
Navami, Shitalashtami, and Ganga
Dashahara. Although the rising heat
can make life difficult, it is considered a
generally auspicious time.
The rainy season is a time of both
physical and ritual danger. The sudden
influx of rain drives venomous animals
such as snakes and scorpions from their
holes, and their search for other habita-
tions often brings them into contact with
human beings. On a bacteriological level,
the runoff from the rains often leads to
the contamination of water supplies by
sewage and to a sharp rise in sickness and
death from gastrointestinal ailments, as
well as other infections. On the ritual
level, the gods are considered to be sleep-
ing during part of the rainy season and
thus less available to protect their devo-
tees (bhakta). At the same time, the com-
ing of the rains is greatly anticipated, and
the moisture is essential for crops to grow.
Consequently, although this is a time of
great fertility and abundance, it is also
associated with danger, and some of the
festivals are rites of protection: Nag
Panchami, Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh
Chaturthi, Anant Chaturdashi, and the
Pitrpaksha. Other ceremonies are associ-
ated with water or with the rains, such as
the Shravan festival and Janmashtami.
In the cool season the gods awaken
from their sleep, and crops that have been
fed by the rains are ready for harvest. This
is the most ritually active time of the year,
and is generally auspicious. Major festivals
include the fall Navaratri, ending with the
festival of Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami),
Diwali, Karva Chauth, Kartik Purnima,
Makara Sankranti, and Shivaratri. The
last major festival of the year is Holi, which
marks the unofficial beginning of the hot
season. In ending with Holi, a festival cel-
ebrating license, excess, and the dissolu-
tion of all social boundaries, followed by
an abrupt reestablishment of propriety
and social order, the lunar year thus mir-
rors the cycle of the cosmos, which is sub-
ject to degeneration and periodic renewal.Seed Syllable
A syllable, or set of syllables, that are
believed to have an intimate connection
with a deity—either as a way of gaining
access to the deity’s power or as the sub-
tlest form of the deity itself. They are
seed syllables in that they contain the
deity in its briefest form, just as a seed
contains the potential for a plant. These
seed syllables are called bijaksharas.
See bijakshara.Self-Residence
In Indian logic, one of the fallacies
in constructing an argument. Self-
residence occurs when the cause and
effect are believed to be the same thing.
Although the simplest forms of this
fallacy are almost never found, since
it is so patently unconvincing, one does
find extended forms of it, such as recip-
rocal dependence, vicious circle, and
infinite regress.Self-Residence