Purushottama Mas

Religious observance that occurs when
the intercalary month falls during the
536
Pururavas
lunar month of Ashadh. The intercalary
month is an extra lunar month inserted
into the calendar about every thirty
months, to maintain general agreement
between the solar and lunar calendar. It
begins after any “regular” lunar month
in which the sun has not moved into the
next sign of the zodiac, and takes the
name of the preceding month. Since the
intercalary month is an unusual phenomenon, it is generally considered to
be inauspicious, and the most common
colloquial name for this month is the
malamasa, the “impure month.” When
this extra month falls in the lunar month
of Ashadh, however, devotees (bhakta)
of the god Vishnu take the opposite perspective and treat it as an exceedingly
holy time, dedicated to Vishnu in his
form as Purushottama (“best of men”).
Vaishnavas celebrate this month by
reading the sacred texts, chanting
Vishnu’s divine names, and other sorts
of worship. The month of Ashadh, and
its intercalary month, are especially
important for the Jagannath temple in
the city of Puri, whose presiding deity,
Jagannath, is considered a form of
Krishna and therefore, by extension, a
form of Vishnu. During every year
Ashadh is the month in which the Rath
Yatra festival is performed in Puri, and in
years when the intercalary month falls in
Ashadh, new images of Jagannath and
his siblings are created.