🕉️ Vishnu (sleeping)
Devshayani Ekadashi (Ashadh Shukla) to Devuthani Ekadashi (Kartik Shukla) — 4 months
Chaturmasa
Chaturmasa ("four months") is the 4-month sacred period from Devshayani Ekadashi (Ashadh Shukla) to Devuthani Ekadashi (Kartik Shukla) — traditionally when Vishnu sleeps on his serpent bed Shesha. This coincides with the monsoon season (Shravan-Bhadrapada-Ashwin-Kartik). New auspicious ventures — weddings, griha pravesh, upanayanam, thread ceremonies — are traditionally paused during Chaturmasa. Instead, this is a period intensified for spiritual practice: extra fasts, mantra recitation, scripture study, and monsoon-appropriate ascetic disciplines.
🔔 Puja Vidhi
- Observe extra fasts during Chaturmasa (all Ekadashis are especially powerful)
- Choose one specific ascetic vow: giving up curd, jaggery, salt, or one favourite food
- Read one Purana or scripture entirely during the 4 months
- Increase daily japa (mantra recitation)
- Perform Satyanarayan Puja on each Purnima
📜 Rules
- Weddings and new ventures traditionally postponed until Devuthani Ekadashi
- Sanyasis and ascetics do not travel during Chaturmasa (stay in one place)
- Modern flexibility: for urgent life events, muhurat can still be found; ideally within Shravan's "Ravi Yoga" days
Read the full vrat katha
📖 Open the katha in the Devotional Library
Frequently Asked Questions
Are weddings absolutely forbidden during Chaturmasa? +
Traditionally yes, but modern practice allows weddings during specific Ravi Yoga days within Shravan for those who cannot postpone. Full traditional families still wait for Devuthani Ekadashi.
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