Ramayana masam begins Observance Karkidakam 1, the first day of the last and poorest month of the Malayalam year, the month of heavy monsoon when there was no work and little food.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Ramayana masam begins
- മലയാളം
- രാമായണ മാസാരംഭം
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
Karkidakam 1, the first day of the last and poorest month of the Malayalam year, the month of heavy monsoon when there was no work and little food. Kerala reads the Adhyatma Ramayana of Ezhuthachan aloud through the whole month, a set portion each evening, finishing on the last day of Karkidakam. It is also the month of the karkidaka kanji, the medicinal rice gruel, and of the ayurvedic sukha chikitsa.
- Deity
- Rama, Hanuman
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
The hour
The rule in words
From the first day of Karkidakam to its last; the reading is done at dusk, after the evening lamp is lit.
The fast
No fast is prescribed. Karkidaka kanji, a gruel of rice with ten herbs, is taken in place of the evening meal through the month.
Where the regions differ
Kerala only. The corresponding Tamil month, Aadi, is also treated as a month for the Amman and not for weddings, which is a related instinct about the same season.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.