# ऋतु (ṛtu)

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

ऋतु (ṛtu) is a Sanskrit word meaning a fixed time, appointed time, or fit time, an epoch or period, a season, symbolical expression for the number six, the menstrual discharge, the fertile period following menstruation. Its 26 recorded definitions are grouped into 9 contexts, among them Proper Noun (Person/Deity), Season / Time of Year, Fixed or Appointed Time.

- **Root:** ऋ (ṛ)
- **SLP1:** `ftu`  **IAST:** ṛtu  **Devanagari:** ऋतु
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B9%9At%C3%BA
- **Declensions:** 72 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/ritu/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### Proper Noun (Person/Deity) (7 definitions)
- Name of a Rishi  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of a Ṛṣi [ ID=38555 ]
- of the twelfth Manu  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > of the twelfth Manu. [ ID=38556 ]
- 1. An epithet of Shiva. 2. An epithet of Vishnu.  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 602-1 ] Ṛtu 1 = Śiva (1000 names 2 ).—Do. 2 = Viṣṇu (1000 names).— Do. 3. pl. ( °avaḥ ), personif.; IX, 2513, 2517.—Do. 4, pl. ( °araḥ ) = Śiva (1000 names 1 ). [ ID=9187 ]
- a Sutapa god  
  *The Purana Index*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 1-265 ] Ṛtu (I) — a Sutapa god. Br. IV. 1. 14. [ ID=2120 ]
- an Amitabha god  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Ṛtu (II) — an Amitābha god. Br. IV. 1. 16. [ ID=2121 ]
- wife of Samatti  
  *The Purana Index*
  > [Printed book page 1-266 ] Ṛtu (III) — wife Samattī; with the sun in the Hemanta Vā. 28. 31; 52. 16. [ ID=2122 ]
- one of the twenty Sutapa ganas  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Ṛtu (IV) — one of the twenty Sutapa gaṇas. Vā. 100. 15. [ ID=2123 ]

### Season / Time of Year (7 definitions)
- 1. An epoch or period. 2. A season.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > an epoch, period ( esp. a division or part of the year), season (the number of the divisions of the year is in ancient times, three, five, six, seven, twelve, thirteen, and twenty-four; in later time six seasons are enumerated, viz. Vasanta, ‘spring’; Grīṣma, ‘the hot season’; Varṣās ( f. pl. nom. ), ‘the rainy season’ Śarad, ‘autumn’; Hemanta, ‘winter’; and Śiśira, ‘the cool season’; the seasons are not unfrequently personified, addressed in Mantras, and worshipped by libations), Ṛg-veda (Title); Atharva-veda (Title); Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā (Title) &c., Mahābhārata (Title); Manu-smṛti (Title) &c. [ ID=38548 ]
- 1. A season. 2. Menstruation. 3. The favorable time for conception. 4. A month. 5. A kind of collyrium. 6. Light.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋ (ṛ) तु (tu) (ṛtu) [Printed book page 168 ] ऋ (ṛ) तु (tu) (ṛtu) m. ( - तु (tu) ः (-tuḥ) ) 1 A season, (the Hindu year is divided into ar seasons, each consisting of two months.) 2 The menstrual evacuation. 3 The time favourable for procreation, or sixteen days in each month. 4 A month. 5 A kind of collyrium 6 Light. E. ऋ (ṛ) to go, तु (tu) Uṇādi aff. [ ID=8026 ]
- 1. A season. 2. Menses.  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 138-b ] ऋतु (ṛtu) ( तुः ) ((tuḥ)) 2. m. A season; menses [ ID=7443 ]
- 1. A season, one of the six periods of the Hindu year. 2. Menstrual bleeding. 3. The fertile period favourable for conception. 4. A proper or auspicious time. 5. Light. 6. The number six.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 151-04 ] ऋतु (ṛtu) m. 1. A period of the year, a season; there are six seasons in a Hindu year- शिशिरः पुष्यसमयो ग्रीष्मो वर्षा शरद्धिमः (śiśiraḥ puṣyasamayo grīṣmo varṣā śaraddhimaḥ); 2. The menstrual evacuation; 3. the period favourable for conception, e.g. ऋतौ भार्यामुपेयात् (ṛtau bhāryāmupeyāt); 4. fit season; 5. light; 6. the number ‘six.’ [ ID=7310 ]
- 1. A season. 2. The menstrual evacuation. 3. The time favourable for procreation. 4. A month. 5. A kind of collyrium. 6. Light.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋ (ṛ) तु (tu) (ṛtu) [Printed book page 138-b ] ऋ (ṛ) तु (tu) (ṛtu) m. ( - तु (tu) ः (-tuḥ) ) 1. A season, (the Hindu year is divided into six seasons, each consisting of two months.) 2. The menstrual evacuation. 3. The time favourable for procreation, or sixteen days in each month. 4. A month. 5. A kind of collyrium. 6. Light. E. ऋ (ṛ) to go, तु (tu) Unādi aff. [ ID=8022 ]
- 1. Six in number due to the movements of the sun. 2. Sons of Brahma and Nimi. 3. Each lasting two months. 4. Three making one ayanam.  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Ṛtus — six in number; 1 due to the movements of the sun; 2 representation of pitṛs and pitāmahas, 3 sons of Brahmā; 4 sons of Nimi; 5 fathers of five ārtavas; considered as pitāmahas while ārtavas are pitṛs; 6 duration of each, two months; 7 three ṛtus make one ayanam; 8 their locale, māsa and ardhamāsa; 9 are Agni; 10 prayed to in śrāddha; 11 sang and danced at the marriage of Umā; 12 characteristics of. 13 [ Footnote: 1) Vā. 30. 4; Br. II. 13. 4.] [ Footnote: 2) Vā. 3. 14; 23. 106; 31. 26; 62. 48; 66. 38; Br. II. 21. 126, 153; 24. 57.] [ Footnote: 3) Br. II. 13. 8; 23. 76; 28. 16-17; III. 1. 59; 72. 30; Vā. 30. 7.] [ Footnote: 4) Br. II. 13. 12.] [ Footnote: 5) Br. II. 13. 18.] [ Footnote: 6) Br. II. 13. 18, 20, 23; Vā. 30. 18, 24-25.] [ Footnote: 7) Br. II. 13. 17.] [ Footnote: 8) Br. II. 13. 114.] [ Footnote: 9) Vā. 30. 12.] [ Footnote: 10) M. 141. 14 and 57.] [ Footnote: 11) M. 16. 39.] [ Footnote: 12) M. 154. 492.] [ Footnote: 13) M. 229. 13-26.] [ ID=2124 ]
- season  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 1-110 ] Ṛtu, ‘season,’ is a term repeatedly mentioned from the Rigveda 1 onwards, Three seasons of the year are often alluded to, 2 but the names are not usually specified. In one passage of the Rigveda 3 spring ( vasanta ), summer ( grīṣma ), and autumn ( śarad ) are given. The Rigveda knows also the rainy season ( prā-vṛṣ ) and the winter ( himā, hemanta ). A more usual 4 division (not found in the Rigveda) is into five seasons, Page1-111+ 57 vasanta, grīṣma, varṣā, śarad, hemama-siśira, but occasionally the five are otherwise divided, varṣā-śarad being made one season. 5 Sometimes six 6 seasons are reckoned, hemanta and śiśira being divided, so that the six seasons can be made parallel to the twelve months of the year. A still more artificial arrangement 7 makes the seasons seven, possibly by reckoning the intercalary month as a season, as Weber and Zimmer 8 hold, or more probably because of the predilection for the number seven, as Roth 9 suggests. Occasionally the word ṛtu is applied to the months. 10 The last season, according to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 11 is hemanta. The growth of the division of the seasons from three to five is rightly explained by Zimmer 12 as indicating the advance of the Vedic Indians towards the east. It is not Rigvedic, but dominates the later Saṃhitās. Traces of an earlier division of the year into winter and summer do not appear clearly in the Rigveda, where the appropriate words himā and samā are merely general appellations of the year, and where śarad 13 is commoner than either as a designation of the year, because it denotes the harvest, a time of overwhelming importance to a young agricultural people. The division of the year in one passage of the Atharvaveda 14 into two periods of six months is merely formal, and in no way an indication of old tradition. [ Footnote: 1) i. 49, 3; 84, 18, etc.] [ Footnote: 2) Cf. Rv. i. 164, 2 ( tri-nābhi ), 48 ( trīṇi nabhyāni ); also perhaps the Ṛbhus as the genii of the three seasons and the three dawns. Cf. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p. 133; Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, 2, 33 et seq.: Śatapatha Brāh- maṇa, xiv. 1, 1, 28, and the cāturmāsyāni, or four-monthly sacrifices performed at the beginning of the seasons in the ritual (Weber, Naxatra, 2, 329 et seq. ).] [ Footnote: 3) x. 90, 6. Hillebrandt, op. cit., 2, 35, finds in Rv. v. 14, 4: ix. 91, 6, reference to three seasons in the triad gāvaḥ (? spring), āpaḥ (rains), svar (= gharma), and in the ritual literature (Āpastamba Śrauta Sūtra, viii. 4, 2) in the threefold division into ṛta, gharma, and oṣadhi. ] [ Footnote: 4) Av. viii. 2, 22; 9, 15; xiii. 1, 18; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 6, 2, 3; iv. 3, 3, 1. 2; v. 1, 10, 3; 3, 1, 2; 4. 12, 2; 6. 10, 1; 7, 2, 4; vii. 1, 18, 1. 2; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 7, 3; iii. 4, 8; 13, 1; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, iv. 14; ix. 16; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, x. 10-14; Śata- patha Brāhmaṇa, i. 3, 5, 11; vi. 2, 2, 3. etc.; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 10, 4, 1; 11, 10, 4, etc. Cf. Rv. i, 164, 13. See also Weber, op. cit., 2, 352.] [ Footnote: 5) Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 6, 1, 10. 11.] [ Footnote: 6) Av. vi. 55, 2; xii. 1, 36; Taittīrīya Saṃhitā, v. 1, 5, 2; 7, 3; 2. 6, 1, etc.; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 7, 3; iii. 11, 12; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, viii. 6; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxi. 23-28; Satapatha Brāh- maṇa, i. 7, 2, 21; ii. 4, 2, 24; xii. 8, 2, 34; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 6, 19, etc. Cf. also Rv. i. 23, 15, as interpreted by Roth, St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v. indu. ] [ Footnote: 7) Av. vi. 61, 2; viii. 9, 18; Śata- patha Brāhmaṇa, viii. 5, 1, 15; ix. 1, 2, 31; 2, 3, 45; 3, 1, 19; 5, 2, 8; perhaps Av. iv. 11, 9, and of. Rv. i. 164. 1.] [ Footnote: 8) Indische Studien, 18, 44; Altindisches Leben, 374.] [ Footnote: 9) St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v. ṛtu. Cf. Hopkins, Religions of India, 18, 33.] [ Footnote: 10) Av. xv. 4; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, iv. 4, 11, 1; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xiii. 25; xiv. 6. 15. 26. 27; xv. 57, etc.] [ Footnote: 11) i. 5. 3. 13.] [ Footnote: 12) Op. cit., 373.] [ Footnote: 13) Hopkins, American Journal of Phil- ology, 15, 159, 160: Weber, Indische Studien, 17, 232; Bühler, Zcitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 41, 28.] [ Footnote: 14) viii. 9, 17. Cf. Zimmer, 372.] [ ID=428 ]

### Fixed or Appointed Time (5 definitions)
- A fixed time, appointed time, or fit time.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 224,1] ऋतु (ṛtu) ( उस् (us) ), m. ( Uṇādi-sūtra (Title) i, 72 ) any settled point of time, fixed time, time appointed for any action ( esp. for sacrifices and other regular worship), right or fit time, Ṛg-veda (Title); Atharva-veda (Title); Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā (Title) [ ID=38547 ]
- 1. Fixed or proper time. 2. Season or period. 3. The menses and the days suitable for conception. 4. Sexual intercourse at such a time. 5. Settled sequence, order, or rule.  
  *Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 057-1 ] ऋतु (ṛtu) ṛ-tú, m. fixed time, right time for sacrifice; period, season; the menses, esp. the days immediately following and suitable for conception; sexual intercourse at such time; settled sequence; order; rule in. sg. & pl. at the right time, in due season; lc. at the proper season. [ ID=5053 ]
- 1. A fixed time, season, period, or epoch. 2. A woman's menses and intercourse during that time. 3. A fixed order or rule.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 097 ] ऋतु (ṛtu) m. right or fixed time, period, epoch, season (mostly reckoned as 6, but also 5, 7, 12, & 24); the menses of a woman & coition at that time; fixed order, rule. — ऋतु (ṛtu) ना (ṛtunā) & ऋतु (ṛtu) भिस् (ṛtubhis) in time, at the appointed time, esp. for sacrifice or a festival: पुर ऋतोस् (pura ṛtos) before the (right) time, too early. [ ID=6289 ]
- 1. A fixed and settled time for sacrificing. 2. A season of the year. 3. The menses.  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 136-a ] ṛtú, m. —1. a fixed and settled time; esp. time for sacrificing; —2. time of year, i. e. season; —3. the menses. [ √ṛ, 1161a : cf. ἀρτύ-ω, ‘fit together, prepare’; Lat. artu-s, ‘joint.’] [ ID=924 ]
- 1. A fixed time or fit season. 2. A period of the year or a season. 3. The menstrual evacuation or time favorable for procreation. 4. Fixed order or rule. 5. Light or splendor. 6. The number six. 7. A kind of collyrium. 8. The twelfth Manu.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 0180-c ] ऋतु (ṛtu) ṛtu, us, m. (fr. rt. 4. ṛ? ), any settled point of time, a fixed time, time appointed for sacrifices and other regular worship, right time, fit season (especially in the inst. pl. ṛtubhis, at the right time or at the appointed time for sacrifice or for a festival); an epoch, a period, a period of the year, a season; (the number of seasons is sometimes limited to three, or sometimes to five, viz. Vasanta, ‘spring;’ Grīṣma, ‘the hot season;’ Varṣa, pl. ‘the rains;’ Sarad, ‘the autumn;’ Hemanta-śiśira, du. ‘the cold and dewy season:’ but is more com- monly reckoned as six, Hemanta and Śiśira being regarded as distinct: occasionally as seven, or even as twelve, in the latter case each season lasting one month. The Ṛtus or seasons are occasionally ad- dressed in the Veda and libations offered to them); the menstrual evacuation, the time favourable for pro- creation, or sixteen days in each month; fixed order, order, rule; light, splendor; the number six (from the six seasons); a kind of collyrium; N. of the twelfth Manu; [cf. Hib. raithe, ‘a quarter of a year;’ alt, ‘time, a joint, an article.’] —Ṛtu- kāla, as, m. the duration of a season; the period of menstruation, the period favourable for procreation, sixteen days of each month. —Ṛtu-gaṇa, as, m. the Page0181-a+ 78 seasons collectively. —Ṛtu-gāmin, ī, m. having in- tercourse with a wife after the period of menstrua- tion. —Ṛtu-graha, as, m., Ved. a libation offered to the seasons. —Ṛtu-jit, t, m., N. of a prince of Mithilā. —Ṛtu-dhāman, ā, m. epithet of Viṣṇu; N. of the Indra of the twelfth Manvantara. —Ṛtu- pati, is, m., Ved. lord of the seasons; an epithet of Agni. —Ṛtu-parṇa, as, m., N. of a king of Ayo- dhyā. —Ṛtu-paryāya, as, m. the revolution of the seasons. —Ṛtu-pā, ās, ās, am, Ved. drinking or com- ing to the libation regularly or at the appointed seasons. —Ṛtu-pātra, am, n., Ved. the cup in which the liba- tion to the seasons is offered. —Ṛtu-prāpta, as, ā, am, productive in due season, fruitful, fertile. —Ṛtu-mat, ān, atī, at, Ved. observing regular times, coming at regular times; enjoying the seasons; ( tī ), f. a woman during her courses, a woman during menstruation or in the period favourable for procreation; ( t ) n., N. of Varuṇa's grove or garden. —Ṛtu-maya, as, ī, am, consisting of the seasons. —Ṛtu-mukha, am, n. the beginning or first day of a season. —Ṛtu-yāja, as, m. sacrifice offered to the seasons; N. of a ceremony of the Prātaḥ-savana, just before the Ājya-śastra. —Ṛtu-rāja, as, m. the spring (king of the sea- sons). —Ṛtu-liṅga, am, n. characteristic or sign of the season; symptom of menstruation. —Ṛtu-vṛtti, is, m. revolution of the seasons, a year. —Ṛtu-velā, f. the period of menstruation; the period favourable for procreation, sixteen days of each month. —Ṛtu- śas, ind., Ved. in order, duly; at the right or fixed time. —Ṛtu-ṣṭhā and ṛtu-sthā, ās, ā, am, Ved. fixed at the proper seasons. —Ṛtu-saṃhāra, as, m. ‘collection of the seasons,’ title of a poem ascribed to Kālidāsa in praise of the six seasons. —Ṛtu- sandhi, is, m. the interval or junction between two seasons, the last seven days of one season and the first seven of the next. —Ṛtu-samaya, as, m. the period favourable for procreation. —Ṛtu-sātmya, am, n. diet &c. suited to the season. —Ṛtu-sthalā, f., N. of an Apsaras. —Ṛtu-snātā, f. a woman who has bathed after menstruation and so prepared herself for sexual intercourse. —Ṛtu-snāna, am, n. bathing after menstruation. —Ṛtv-anta, as, m. the close of a season, the termination of menstruation. [ ID=12644 ]

### Order or Rule (2 definitions)
- fixed order  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > fixed order, order, rule [ Böhtlingk and Roth’s Sanskrit-Wörterbuch (Title) ], Ṛg-veda (Title) i, 162, 19 [ ID=38552 ]
- 1. Order. 2. Right time. 3. A season of the year. 4. The menstrual discharge. 5. The proper season for sexual intercourse.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ऋतु (ṛtu) [Printed book page 0138-a ] ऋतु (ṛtu) ṛ + tu, m. 1. Order ( ved. ). 2. Right time, Chr. 288, 3 = Rigv. i. 49, 3. 3. A season (of the year), Man. 3, 217. 4. The menstrual discharge, MBh. 14, 2739. 5. The season approved for sexual intercourse, Man. 3, 46, sqq. — Comp. An-, m. wrong season, Man. 4, 104; for sexual intercourse, 5, 153. The aff. tu is a form of tvan and ṛ of ar; the older form would be * artvan = Lat. ordo, base ordon. — Cf. ἀρτύνω for ἀρτυν-ϳω, ἀρτύς, ἀρτύω. [ ID=2546 ]

### Light or Splendour (1 definition)
- light, splendour  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > light, splendour, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=38553 ]

### Menstruation / Fertile Period (1 definition)
- 1. The menstrual discharge. 2. The fertile period following menstruation.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > the menstrual discharge (in women), the time after the courses (favourable for procreation; according to Bhāvaprakāśa (Title) sixteen days after their appearance), Suśruta (Title); Mahābhārata (Title); Manu-smṛti (Title) &c. [ ID=38550 ]

### Mineral or Collyrium (1 definition)
- a particular mineral  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a particular mineral, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=38554 ]

### Sexual Union (Fertile Period) (1 definition)
- sexual union at the specified time  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > sexual union at the above time, Manu-smṛti (Title) ix, 93; Mahābhārata (Title) [ ID=38551 ]

### The Number Six (1 definition)
- symbolical expression for the number six  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > symbolical expression for the number six, Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā (Title); Sūryasiddhānta (Title) &c. [ ID=38549 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Index to the Names in the Mahabharata; Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary; Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary; 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; Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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