The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2
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Yatri<br />
780<br />
Yatri<br />
In an ascetic context, the word yatri<br />
denotes a novitiate Bairagi, a renunciant<br />
ascetic community comprising<br />
devotees (bhakta) <strong>of</strong> the god Vishnu. As<br />
an everyday word it means a person performing<br />
a yatra (“journey”; more specifically,<br />
a trip with the significance <strong>of</strong> a<br />
religious pilgrimage).<br />
Yayati<br />
In Hindu mythology, the son <strong>of</strong> King<br />
Nahusha and a king in the lunar dynasty.<br />
Year, Structure <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> Hindu ritual year is determined<br />
according to both a solar calendar and a<br />
lunar calendar. Aside from the Gregorian<br />
calendar and the common era, there are<br />
two indigenous Hindu calculations <strong>of</strong><br />
the solar year, both <strong>of</strong> which have twelve<br />
solar months. In northern India these<br />
months correspond to the twelve signs<br />
<strong>of</strong> the zodiac, and the months change as<br />
the sun moves through them. As in the<br />
Western zodiac, the year begins when<br />
the sun enters Aries, although according<br />
to Indian astrology this transition takes<br />
place around April 14, rather than<br />
March 21, as figured in Euro-American<br />
astrology. In southern India there is an<br />
identical solar calendar, whose names<br />
are drawn from the names <strong>of</strong> certain<br />
nakshatras or lunar asterisms. Aside<br />
from the solar months, the solar year is<br />
also divided into halves based on the<br />
movement <strong>of</strong> the sun: the Uttarayana<br />
for the period when the sun is moving<br />
north, and the Dakshinayana in the<br />
time the sun is moving south. <strong>The</strong> sun<br />
begins its northward journey, considered<br />
the more auspicious time, on<br />
Makara Sankranti, reckoned as falling<br />
on January 14; it begins its southward<br />
journey six months later on Karka<br />
Sankranti on July 14.<br />
Far more important for religious<br />
purposes is the lunar calendar, which<br />
has twelve lunar months: Chaitra<br />
(March–April), Baisakh (April–May),<br />
Jyeshth (May–June), Ashadh (June–July),<br />
Shravan (July–August), Bhadrapada<br />
(August–September), Ashvin (September–<br />
October), Kartik (October–November),<br />
Margashirsha (November–December),<br />
Paush (December–January), Magh (January–<br />
February), and Phalgun (February–<br />
March). In northern India, the calendar<br />
usually begins in the first day <strong>of</strong> the<br />
bright half <strong>of</strong> Chaitra, meaning that the<br />
last days <strong>of</strong> the year are those in the<br />
dark half <strong>of</strong> this same month.<br />
Since these lunar months are based on<br />
the phases <strong>of</strong> the moon (ending with the<br />
full moon in northern India and the new<br />
moon in southern India), the festivals<br />
determined by this lunar calendar fall at<br />
different times each year with respect to<br />
the solar calendar. This is because the<br />
twelve lunar months are completed in<br />
about 354 solar days, and thus, each lunar<br />
year begins eleven days earlier than the<br />
last. About every 2 1 ⁄2 years this discrepancy<br />
is corrected by the addition <strong>of</strong> an extra<br />
lunar month, known as the intercalary<br />
month, through which the solar and lunar<br />
calendars are kept in general correspondence.<br />
<strong>The</strong> intercalary month is added to<br />
any lunar month in which the sun does<br />
not enter a new sign <strong>of</strong> the zodiac and can<br />
thus fall in any month <strong>of</strong> the year. In this<br />
way, although the solar calendar is less<br />
important in everyday life, it helps maintain<br />
the general correspondence between<br />
the lunar calendar and the seasonal festivals<br />
associated with that calendar.<br />
At least in northern India, the three<br />
major seasons (hot, monsoon, and cool)<br />
have important links with the festival<br />
calendar. In general, the most ritually<br />
active time is the cool season between<br />
October and February; in many places<br />
this is also the time following the<br />
harvest, when many people have more<br />
time and money to spend on religious<br />
observances. <strong>The</strong> hot season has many<br />
rites associated with heat, whereas the<br />
rainy season, as a time <strong>of</strong> peril, is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
connected with rites <strong>of</strong> protection.<br />
Yellamma<br />
Presiding goddess <strong>of</strong> the shrine on<br />
Yellama hill, in the town <strong>of</strong> Saundatti in