Shishir Ritu Guide – Pausha Month Traditions, Vaikunta Ekadasi & Shakambari Purnima

 Pausha Month (Shishir Ritu) Overview

• Season: Winter (Shishir Ritu), coldest in North India, cooler nights in South India.
• Calendar: Pausha (Pushya Masam in Telugu) – 10th month of Hindu solar calendar, overlaps with Dhanurmasa in the lunar calendar.
• Period: December–January.
• Nature: Misty mornings, shorter days, focus on worship rather than marriages or auspicious events.

Rituals & Practices

• Tiruppavai Recitation: In South India during Dhanurmasa, devotees chant Tiruppavai at dawn, with kolams (rangoli) adorning house fronts.
• Temple Prasadam: Hot Ven Pongal (rice + moong dal + ghee + pepper + jeera) and Sakkarai Pongal (sweet pongal with jaggery).
• Dietary Practices: Jaggery, ginger, cloves, sesame – foods that provide warmth and immunity.

Important Ekadasis

• Saphala Ekadasi: Occurs in Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight). Believed to bring success and fruitful results.
• Putrada Ekadasi: Sacred for those desiring progeny.
• Vaikunta Ekadasi (Mukkoti Ekadasi):
• Known as Mokshada Ekadasi.
• Paramapada Vasal (Vaikunta Dwaram) opened in Vishnu temples.
• Lord Vishnu taken in procession through the symbolic gateway to heaven.
• Ten days before and after are devoted to reciting Divya Prabandham.

Festivals in Pausha

• Simhachalam Theppotsavam: Float festival at Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Visakhapatnam.
• Tyagaraja Aradhana: Celebrated on Bahula Panchami, commemorating saint Tyagaraja with Pancharatna Keertanas sung in Tiruvaiyaru and worldwide.
• Makara Sankranti: Surya Bhagavan enters Makara Rashi (Capricorn), marking Uttarayana Punya Kalam. Pan‑India harvest festival.
• Pausha Purnima:
• Bathing at Triveni Sangam believed to grant salvation.
• Celebrated as Shakambari Purnima, culmination of Shakambari Navaratri.
• Goddess Shakambari (aspect of Shakti) worshipped as the bearer of greens, fruits, and vegetables ensuring food security.

Beliefs & Significance

• Focus on Worship: Pausha is considered inauspicious for marriages but auspicious for devotion.
• Surya Worship: Prayers to Sun God for warmth and health.
• Shakambari Devi: Honored for sustaining life with vegetation after drought.

Spiritual Merit: Ekadasi fasts, Sankranti rituals, and Pausha Purnima baths believed to bring prosperity and salvation