# चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/chaturmasya

चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) is a Sanskrit word meaning beginning of a four-month season, belonging to Chaturmasya sacrifices, the name of three sacrifices performed every four months, pertaining to the Chaturmasya sacrifice, a sacrifice performed every four months, a specific sacrifice lasting four months. Its 13 recorded definitions are grouped into 5 contexts, among them Periodic Seasonal Sacrifices (Cāturmāsya Yajñas), A Four-Month Period or Season, Adjective: Relating to Cāturmāsya.

- **Etymology:** E. चतुर, and मास a month, यञ् aff — E. catura, and māsa a month, yañ aff
- **SLP1:** `cAturmAsya`  **IAST:** cāturmāsya  **Devanagari:** चातुर्मास्य
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturmasya
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/chaturmasya/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** चतुर्मास्य (caturmāsya)

## Meanings by context

### Periodic Seasonal Sacrifices (Cāturmāsya Yajñas) (9 definitions)
- the three sacrifices performed at the beginning of the three seasons of four months  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > pl. N. of the 3 sacrifices performed at the beginning of the 3 seasons of 4 months ( viz. वैश्वदेवम् (vaiśvadevam), वरुण - प्रघासाः (varuṇa-praghāsāḥ), साकम् - एधाः (sākam-edhāḥ) ), Taittirīya-saṃhitā (Title) i, 6, 10; Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa (Title) i f.; Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (Title); Āśvalāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title); Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title); Manu-smṛti (Title) &c. [ ID=72845 ]
- A sacrifice performed every four months.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चातुर्मास (māsa) ्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 322 ] चातुर्मास (māsa) ्य (cāturmāsya) n. ( - स्यं (-syaṃ) ) A sacrifice performed every four months. E. चतुर (catura), and मास (māsa) a month, यञ् (yañ) aff. [ ID=14998 ]
- A sacrifice performed every four months.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 270-18 ] चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) n. Name of the sacrifice performed every four months, viz., at the beginning of Kārtīka, Phālguna, and Āshāḍha. [ ID=13534 ]
- A sacrifice performed every four months  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चातुर्मास (māsa) ्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 266-a ] चातुर्मास (māsa) ्य (cāturmāsya) n. ( - स्यं (-syaṃ) ) A sacrifice performed every four months. E. चतुर् (catur) and मास (māsa) a month, यञ् (yañ) aff. [ ID=14990 ]
- Sacrifices that should be offered every four months.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 0300-a ] चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) cāturmāsya, i. e. catur māsa + ya, n. The name of sacrifices which ought to be offered every four months, Man. 6, 10. [ ID=4933 ]
- a sacrifice to be made every four months  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 155-b ] cāturmāsyá, n. a sacrifice to be made every four months, i. e. at the beginning of each of the three seasons. [ catur + māsa, 1211. ] [ ID=1497 ]
- 1. The name of three sacrifices performed every four months. 2. Pertaining to the Chaturmasya sacrifice.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 0320-b ] Cāturmāsya, am, n., N. of three sacrifices be- longing to the subdivision called Havir-yajña and performed (every four months) at the beginning of the three seasons, viz. the vaiśvadevam on the full moon in Phalguna, varuṇa-praghāsāḥ in Aṣāḍha, and sākamedhāḥ in Kṛttikā; ( as, ā, am ), belong- ing to the Cāturmāsya sacrifice. [ ID=18402 ]
- a sacrifice performed by Bharata  
  *The Purana Index*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 1-595 ] Cāturmāsya (I) — sacrifice, performed by Bharata. Bhā. V. 7. 5. [ ID=4718 ]
- four-monthly, denoting the festival of the Vedic ritual held at the beginning of the three seasons of four months each into which the Vedic year was divided  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 1-259 ] Cātur-māsya, ‘four-monthly,’ denotes the festival of the Vedic ritual held at the beginning of the three seasons of four months each, into which the Vedic year was artificially divided. 1 It is clear that the sacrifices commenced with the beginning of each season, 2 and it is certain that the first of them, the Vaiśvadeva, coincided with the Phālgunī full moon, 3 the second, the Varuṇa-praghāsas, with the Āṣāḍhī full moon, 4 and the third, the Sāka-medha, with the Kārttikī full moon. 5 There were, however, two alternative datings: the festivals could also be held in the Caitrī, the Śrāvaṇī, and Āgrahāyaṇī (Mārgaśīrṣī) full moons, 6 or in the Vaiśākhī, Bhādrapadī, and Pauṣī full moons. 7 Neither of the later datings is found in a Brāhmaṇa text, but each may well have been known early, since the Taittirīya Saṃhitā 8 and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa 9 both recognize the full moon in the month Caitra as an alternative to the full moon in the month Phālguna, for the beginning of the year. Jacobi considers that the commencement of the year with the full moon in the asterism Phalgunī, which is supported by other evidence, 10 indicates that the year at one time began with the winter solstice with the moon in Phalgunī, corresponding to the summer solstice when the sun was in Phalgunī. These astronomical conditions, he believes, existed in the time of the Rigveda, 11 and prevailed in the fourth millennium B.C. The alternative Page1-260+ 51 dates would then indicate periods when the winter solstice coincided with the Caitrī or the Vaiśākhī full moon. But Oldenberg 12 and Thibaut 13 seem clearly right in holding that the coincidence of Phālgunī with the beginning of spring, 14 which is certain, is fatal to this view, and that there is no difficulty in regarding this date as consistent with the date of the winter solstice in the new moon of Māgha, which is given by the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, 15 and which forms the basis of the calculations of the Jyotiṣa. 16 The full moon in Phālguna would be placed about one month and a half after the winter solstice, or, say, in the first week of February, which date, according to Thibaut, may reasonably be deemed to mark the beginning of a new season in India about 800 B.C. At the same time it must be remembered that the date was necessarily artificial, inasmuch as the year was divided into three seasons, each of four months, and the Indian year does not in fact consist of three equal seasons. The variations of the other datings would then not be unnatural if any school wished to defer its spring festival, the Vaiśvadeva, to the time when spring had really manifested itself. See also Saṃvatsara. [ Footnote: 1) Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 6, 5, 3; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 4, 9, 5; ii. 2, 2, 2; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6, 3, 36; ii. 5, 2, 48; 6, 4, 1; v. 2, 3, 10; xiii. 2, 5, 2; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1, etc.] [ Footnote: 2) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6, 3, 36 ( cf. xiv. 1, 1, 28); Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1.] [ Footnote: 3) In the month Phālguna, or Feb- ruary-March.] [ Footnote: 4) In the month Āṣāḍhā, or June- July.] [ Footnote: 5) That is, in the month Kārttika, when the moon is in the asterism Kṛttikā: Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 6, 3, 13; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1, etc.] [ Footnote: 6) Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra, iii. 13, 1; 14, 1. 2; 15, 1. These are the full- moon days in the months Caitra (March-April), Śrāvaṇa (July-August), and Mārgaśīṛṣa (November-December) respectively.] [ Footnote: 7) Deva's Paddhati on Kātyāyana Srauta Sūtra, pp. 430, 450, 497. These are the full-moon days in the months Vaiśākha (April-May), Bhādrapada (August-September), and Pauṣa (De- cember-January) respectively.] [ Footnote: 8) vii. 4, 8, 1. 2.] [ Footnote: 9) v. 9, 8. 11.] [ Footnote: 10) Indian Antiquary, 23, 156 et seq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 49, 223 et seq.; 50, 72-81.] [ Footnote: 11) vii. 103, 9; x. 85, 13. Cf. Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth, 68 et seq. ] [ Footnote: 12) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- ländischen Gesellschaft, 48, 630 et seq.; 49, 475, 476; 50, 453-457.] [ Footnote: 13) Indian Antiquary, 24, 86 et seq. ] [ Footnote: 14) See Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 1, 2, 6, 8; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 4, 1, 2-4. So the Phālgunī full moon is called ‘the mouth of the seasons ( ṛtūnāṃ mukham ) — e.g., Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xxi. 15, 2; Kāṭhaka Saṃ- hitā, viii. 1; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 6, 9; and the first season is always spring: Śatapaṭha Brāhmaṇa, i. 5, 3, 8-14; ii. 1, 3, 1; vii. 2, 4, 26; xi. 2, 7, 32; xii. 8, 2, 34; xiii. 5, 4, 28; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 1, 2, 5; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xiii. 1. 7, etc. See Weber, Naxatra, 2, 352.] [ Footnote: 15) xix. 3.] [ Footnote: 16) Thibaut, Astronomie, Astrologie, und Mathematik, 17, 18. Cf. Weber, Naxatra, 2, 329 et seq.; Whitney, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 16, lxxxvi., lxxxvii.; Keith, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, 1101-1104.] [ ID=969 ]

### A Four-Month Period or Season (1 definition)
- beginning of a four-month season  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 392,2] चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) n. beginning of a season of 4 months, Mahābhārata (Title) xii, 1007 [ ID=72844 ]

### Adjective: Relating to Cāturmāsya (1 definition)
- belonging to Chaturmasya sacrifices  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) mfn. belonging to such sacrifices, Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa (Title) xiii, 2, 5; Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title) xxii; Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad (Title) i, 2, 3. [ ID=72846 ]

### Four-Month Religious Vow/Observance (Vrata) (1 definition)
- 1. A specific sacrifice lasting four months. 2. A period of four months.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 170 ] चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) n. a cert. sacrifice (lasting four months); period of four months. [ ID=10429 ]

### Personified Deity (1 definition)
- born of Savita  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Cāturmāsya (II) — (personified) born of Savitā. Bha. VI. 18. 1. [ ID=4719 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872); Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary; The Purana Index; The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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