3

Monsoon In Traditional Culture

Francis Zimmermann
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sciences de I'Homme et de la Societe
Paris, France

INTRODUCTION

The Arabic word mausim is used for anything that comes around but once a year,
a fixed time, a season. In a derivative sense, it was the name given to the periodic
winds of the Indian seas by the Arab pilots. The notion of periodic changes in the
direction of the winds is not prevalent in indigenous thought; it is a notion taught
by navigators from the West. According to Sanskrit literature as well as to folk
knowledge, the monsoon is indeed the result of a periodic reversal, but the realization
of this reversal is with the sun and rains, not the winds. In the view of priests,
astrologers, and physicians-who are responsible for establishing the cycle of the
festivals, the calendar of agricultural activities, the seasonal diets, and regimensthere exists a fundamental alternation between the Dry and the Wet principles.
Monsoon comes after the summer solstice, when Agni (the sun) reverses its course
and the earth comes under the rule of Soma (the moon), the dispenser of rain. Thus
to define monsoon in traditional culture, we have to substitute rains for winds.
"Monsoon" proper was first used by sailors. The voyage to the East Indies,
Joiio de Barros wrote in 1553, "has to be made by the prevailing wind, which is
called monriio" (Portuguese form of the word corrupted from the Arabic). This is
one of many quotations from the earlier travelers that are found in the HobsonJobson (1), an ethnographic glossary published in the early 1900s that yields a
wealth of information on South Asian culture. The entry for monsoon, however,
remains totally external to indigenous ideas. It takes into account only the seafarer's
concept of periodic wind reversal and fails to mention that, nowadays in common
parlance, monsoon means "the rainy season." In Chapter 7, Warren presents the
ancient and medieval reports of monsoon winds and currents; in this chapter, we
address the native's viewpoint.

51

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FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

t
Figure 3.1. Map of South Asia.

It would be unfair to say that an association of the monsoon with reversing winds
is totally unknown to local people. For example, the Tamil word te1J.r:al, "southwind," is used to qualify the damp wind that blows from the south on the Coromandel
coast (Fig. 3.1) from July to September. It is the "longshore wind" mentioned in
the Glossary of the Madras Presidency (2), a wealth of ethnographic information
dating back to 1893.
Traditional culture and classical literature originated with rural settlements. Monsoon
Asia is an essentially agricultural world; consequently in collective thought, monsoon
is viewed in farmer's terms and, in that sense, is linked to the outburst of rains.
Of course, the winds might be used in predicting rain. Examples are found in
Chapter 4 where Murton traces monsoon concepts in agricultural proverbs. The
almanacs, which are printed every year in the various vernaculars for lay audiences,
refer to the strength and direction of the winds, but they are overwhelmingly
concerned with astrological reflections (and thus are of little value for scientists,
although they make fascinating stories for the anthropologist).
While Westerners divide the year into four seasons, the South Asian calendar
in its most abstract form consists of a triad: winter, summer, monsoon. The year

53

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

is also partitioned into six seasons or 12 lunar months. This division of the year
into three main phases, Cold, Hot, and the Rains, is quite faithful to local realities.
The rains cover a period of four months that, under the Sanskrit name caturmasa, *
"the Four Months," reflects the concept of monsoons. One should never forget
monsoon in daily prayers: "May the rain come down in the proper time, may the
earth yield plenty of com ... "(3). The prosperity of a kingdom depends upon
the rains, that is why the king in the religious literature is called a "rain-maker"
(4). The outburst of the monsoon is of the utmost importance to the man of the
soil. One can start plowing as soon as the monsoon has come. It marks the beginning
of the agricultural year and it is tinged with drama because of the risk either of
floods or of rain failure.
This chapter will examine the role of the rains in the religious Hindu year,
stressing the ritual and social significance of monsoon endings. We then proceed
to the analysis of indigenous concepts related to the cause and effect of monsoons:
the alternating motions of the sun and moon, and the increase and decrease of
vegetable saps and bodily humors (the liquids in the body said to determine a
person's complexion). The next step is to draw a picture of monsoon symbolism,
referring, among other sources, to miniatures (from the Indian schools of portraiture
and landscape on vellum) illustrative of seasonal moods and manners. Despite our
scanty knowledge of ethnometeorology outside India, we conclude with some remarks
on one of the various Hinduized cultures of Southeast Asia to put our Sanskritic
bias in context.
It is appropriate to note that much of our material is drawn from Sanskrit texts.
We focus on the leamed tradition and the way in which the classical Hindu calendar

* Regarding the use of diacritics,

three cases are distinguished:

1. Proper names--of Sanskrit authors, mythological characters, geographical names-are without

diacritical marks:
Kalidasa, Susruta instead of Kiilidiisa,

Su~ruta;

Vishnu, Krishna instead of Vi~~u, ~~a;

the Himalayas instead of Himiilayas.
2. Technical common names are with diacritics and printed in italics:
var~ii

(rains), biirahmiisii (twelve months), and so on.

3. Exceptionally, the names of the months and the names of the

forms:

nak~atras

appear in two different

ii~ii4ha,

with diacritics, in italics;

Asadha, in roman, capital A, no diacritics.

These conventions are to simplify and make explanations more readable in those paragraphs where
the names of months or of asterisms are frequently repeated. They have been used also by Singh (Chapter
2) and Murton (Chapter 4).
Full diacriticals are used in the list of references, for author's names as well as for Sanskrit titles.

S4

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

is implemented in the various fields of medicine, astrology, rituals, and the fine
arts.

1 THE RAINS IN THE CLASSICAL HINDU CALENDAR

The monsoon raises ambivalent feelings. Preceded by a period of water shortage

and physical exhaustion, its advent is a relief and is greeted with great joy, as Singh
shows in Chapter 2. But the first rains are followed immediately by a period of
anxiety. Hindu religion explains the tenseness of the monsoon time by teaching
that god Vishnu goes to sleep during the rainy season, and the earth deprived of
its Lord remains in the power of demons. Caturmasa, the Four Months of the
monsoon time, are expressly thought of as inauspicious. The gods are absent (holding
aloof from human matters), it is the time of pralaya, the deluge or world destruction,
an ominous time, the ambiguity of which is explained by Judy Pugh (5), an anthropologist studying the North Indian almanacs:
The monsoon rains constitute the pivot of the agricultural year. Since this is the time for
planting rice and other crops which form the major portion of the food supply, the
abundance or scarcity of rain during this period determines whether or not the year's
crops will be bountiful. ... In the context of agricultural production, then, temporal and
climatic auspiciousness is manifested as "wetness," which ramifies into "fertility,"
"succulence," and "plenty." "Dryness" during this season is "untimely" and hence
connotes "sterility," "harshness," and "scarcity." In an inverted set of significances,
the "wetness" of the monsoon rains signifies inauspiciousness for the celebration of
marriages and other life-cycle rites, which are proscribed for the four months of the rainy
season. Inauspiciousness as "wetness" is manifested as "cosmic deluge," "destruction,"
"divine absence," "difficulty in travel and communication," "isolation," and "danger
from snakes and other creatures. "

Hence the outburst of the rains raises expectations and dread simultaneously,
which the people try to reconcile through an elaborate cycle of festivals and other
observances.
1.1 Festivals and Other Observances

The main calendrical festivals occurring in caturmiisa are shown in Figure 3.2.*
The Four Months of the rainy season represent one night in the life of god Vishnu.

* A note on chronology-The religious calendar is luni-solar. The year is divided into 12 lunar months.
One lunar month corresponds to a complete series of lunar phases between two new moons or two full
moons. The amiinta system of reckoning, in which a month is bounded by two new moons, is commonly
used in the south, while the purfJimiinta system of reckoning, according to which a month is bounded
by two full moons, prevails in North India. The bright fortnight is the 15-day period of the moon's
waxing between the new and full moons. The dark fortnight is the period of the moon's waning, between
the full moon and the following new moon. The lunar months and the solar months bear the same
names. The lunar year is shorter than the solar year by about IO days. The gap is compensated for by
adding one intercalary lunar month every three years. This extra month has no festivals. Interested
readers should refer to Merrey (6) for further details.

55

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Amanta
System of
reckoning

Alternation
of dark
and bright
fortnights

PiJrnimanta

-System
- ' -ofreckoning
Full moon

New moon

'1 '1 1[~ ;I~ J1l l ili

Asadha

Bright
waxing
Asadha

Dates

Names

11th bright

Vishnu's Sleep

Full moon

Guru Purnima

5th bright

Naga Pancami

Full moon

Raksa Bandhana

Sravana

1il

::>
bD
::>

Sravana

...

Haritala Tij

Q)

.c
E
Q)

a.

Bhadrapada

Q)

en

.c

Asvina

...

1st to 9th bright

Durga Puja

10th bright

Dasera

New moon

Dipavali

11th bright

Vishnu's Wake

New moon

End of rains
in ancient text

Q)

.c
E
Q)

Karttika

i;;

...
Q)

.c
E
Q)
u

Margasirsa

Q)

Cl

Figure 3.2. Calendar of the monsoon rituals. The names of the months are Sanskrit. The amiinta system
of reckoning. in which a month is bounded by two new moons, is commonly used in the south, while
the pumimiinta system of reckoning, according to which a month is bounded by two full moons, prevails
in North India. This calendar gives the position of the main festivals occurring in the Four Months.
Approximate equivalents in the Western calendar are indicated on the left.

On the eleventh day of the bright fortnight in the month of a~adha, Vishnu is
believed to retire below the ocean for his four months' sleep, and on the eleventh
day of the bright fortnight of kiirttika to awake and return. This period covers the
last few days of the month of a~adha, all of srava1Jtl, bhiidrapada, and asvina, and
almost all of kiirttika. (These are the Sanskrit names of the months, the full list of
which is given in Table 3.5 and Figure 3.6). The Hindi names, the most common

56

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

TABLE 3.1. Calendrical Festivals during the Monsoona

Harisayanl
GurupurlJirna
N iigapaflcaml
Ralqiibandhana
Haritiilii tfj
DurgiipUjii
Daserii
Dlpiivali
Haribodhinl

Vishnu's Sleep
Gurus' Worship
Serpent Deities' Worship
Tying the Amulet
Goddess Parvati's Festival
Goddess Durga's Nine Days
Warriors' Day
Row of Lights
Vishnu's Wake

Early July
Mid-July
Early August
Mid-August
Early September
Early October
Early October
End of October
Early November

a All

names are in Sanskrit, except Tij and Dasera (Hindi). It is not possible here to
account for regional variations (despite their significance to the anthropologist) such
as the duality of Tij in some provinces; the first Tij (Women's Swinging Festival),
more exuberant, being followed one month later by the more subdued Haritala Tij.

in India today, are derivatives easily inferred from the Sanskrit originals. The Tamil
calendar used in the next chapter (see Table 4.1) follows a different system of
reckoning, but the first day of the Tamil month of ii[i (July-August) corresponds
to the eleventh bright of ii~iidha, so that the four Tamil months of ii[i, iivalJi,
puraniici, and aippaci correspond to the Sanskrit caturmiisa. The Four Months
cover most of the agricultural activities which yield the kharif (i.e., the autumn)
crop. This crop depends upon the monsoon rains. The Four Months also encompass
some of the major religious festivals. The names, definitions, and dates of these
festivals are given in Table 3.1.
All rituals are not festive occasions. For example, since Vishnu, who is the
special protector of the newly married, retires on the eleventh bright of Asadha,
and the shortest wedding celebrations last two days, the latest date on which a
wedding ceremony may begin is the ninth day of the bright fortnight of Asadha.
After that it would be necessary to postpone the wedding for four months.
When Vishnu goes to sleep:
It is the ritual opening of the monsoon season, a "ticklish" season ritually, for a man's
sins may spoil the monsoon crops for others as well as for himself. This is the day on
which vows are taken for the term of the monsoon as to what books people will read,
how long they will fast, when they will observe silence, whether or not they will eat
with the left hand, and so forth. (3)

Conflicting tendencies underlie the tense atmosphere of the period. It is time for
us to retreat and take shelter-but it is also a time for renewals and revivals. Certain
religious characters, gurus and nagas for instance, clearly show this ambivalence.
1.1.1 The Gurus.
On the full-moon night of Asadha every one should worship the spiritual preceptors (the
gurus), though nowadays this is not always done. However, laymen and disciples do

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

57

very often worship Sankara and Vyasa (paragons of wisdom).... On this night ascetics
of all sects go to the temple of Vishnu in whatever town they happen to be . . . and there
take their special vow of not travelling during the monsoon. They ... are not allowed
to travel during this season lest they should commit the sin of killing by inadvertently
trampling under foot some of the young life then so abundantly springing into being. (3)
Not only do the flooded rivers of the monsoon months make travel difficult, but
the difficulty is ritualized so that the monsoon becomes a season of retreat and
religious observances. The temporary settlement of itinerant sannyiisis (world-renouncers) is a major cultural feature. The rains bring an afflux of siidhus (holy
men, ascetics) to pilgrimage cities like Banaras:
The presence of so many ascetics and renouncers in the city during these months is
important to devout Hindu householders. Some of these renouncers will be dependent
upon Banaras householders for alms, an act of generosity that benefits the householders
as well. Formerly, this was a time when the renouncers, many of whom were learned,
would settle among the people for long enough to teach them. In Banaras today something
of this tradition lingers on. While the rains pour down in the early evening, certain temples
and monasteries will be crowded with eager listeners, both lay people and ascetics, and
one of the learned ones will speak. (7)
1.1.2 The Nagas. Deities appearing in the form of snakes, the niigas, are celebrated
on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Sravana:

These niigas have always been propitiated with special care during the rains, for in this
season the floods often force them from their usual habitations in the earth, and they
suddenly appear in people's gardens, courtyards, and houses. The niigas are both loved
and feared, and on niigapancamf (the name of their festival) their images are painted on
either side of the doorways of houses, and they are propitiated there with offerings of
milk and puffed rice.(7)
A symbolical connection is postulated between the serpents, the idea of fertility,
and the rains. The snake-deities are propitiated by barren women in want of a son,
and fertility associated with the monsoon materializes not only in rice but in sons.
1.1.3 Other Observances. The remaining festivals of the period, raJqiibandhana,
tfj, durgiipujii, and dlpiivali, stress the cataclysmic character of the monsoon. They
symbolize radical disorder, followed by drastic reordering. Marc Gaborieau (8) has
argued that, on a cosmic scale, monsoon is conceived of as a disintegration of the
world. Demons are overwhelmingly present in durgiipujii and dipiivali rituals, while
the gods have accompanied Vishnu in his retirement. The borders of the living and
the dead vanish. The dead are thought to be very close by during the months of
Asvina and Karttika; the dark fortnight of Asvina, named Fathers' Fortnight, is
devoted to them. Dlpiivali also is partly dedicated to the dead and their god Yama.
Disorder affects human society itself. In the month of Sravana, low castes become
arrogant and ask their high-caste employers for extra wages; in the next month with
the beginning of tij, women contest their husbands' and mothers-in-Iaw's authority.

58

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

On the other hand, each of these festivals ultimately contributes toward restoring
order. At a cosmic level, the gods are gradually called back, until Vishnu during
dfpiivali eventually defeats the demon Bali, thus putting an end to the demons'
rule. The human society also is reconstructed. At ra/qiibandhana, the twice-born
(high-caste Hindus) reassert their superiority over their low-caste employees; tij
ends with the women resuming their job of submissive wives.
Not only is dfpiivali often regarded as a New Year festival, but particulars of
durgiipujii and daserii suggest that the end of the monsoon marks the time of new
endeavors. For example, sarasvatfpujii (celebration of Sarasvati, the goddess of
eloquence and learning) on the ninth day of durgiipujii is traditionally the date when
the young brahmins join their guru's house for a new course of studies; from daserii
onwards, armies can embark on new campaigns, and kings set out for a tour of
their territories. Finally the monsoon season, which is widely accepted as JuneSeptember on meteorological grounds, has been symbolically protracted in the
Sanskrit calendar, to encompass the end of the autumn harvest in October. Thus
defined, the rainy season represents a ritual conclusion, a ritual break in the annual
cycle, the time of cosmic reversals and commencements afresh.

1.2 The Precession of the Equinoxes

The precession of the equinoxes accounts for a number of discrepancies between
the traditionally fixed dates of festivals and the actual timing of monsoons. For
example, today the monsoon season ends in October and dfpiivali is the festival
that marks the end of the monsoon on the new moon of Karttika (end of October).
But in ancient times the rainy season ended one month later, accompanied with
some other festivals that have now fallen into oblivion. Among various literary
sources, the Br:hatsal1}hitii (9), a treatise of astrology, fixes the date for the end of
the rainy season on the new moon of Margasirsa (end of November). The calendar
set forth in this astrological text of the sixth century A.D. is illustrated in Figure
3.3. According to F. B. J. Kuiper (10), the fact that the rains now end about one
month earlier than in the Mahiibhiirata times explains why Karttika was set as the
specific time for playing dice in the Mahiibhiirata (a Sanskrit epic dating back to
the last few centuries B.C.). Since dice, a demoniac game in which the heroes lose
their kingdoms, symbolizes a period of cosmic chaos, Karttika had to be part of
the rainy season.
Thus in dealing with classical texts, we have to allow for a time-lag of about
one month due to the precession of the equinoxes. The seasons' dates have changed
28 days in 2000 years. Ancient dates for the summer solstice (the outburst of the
rains) and for the end of the rainy season four months later can be determined by
taking this into account: the summer solstice is on June 21 (today) versus July 19
(2000 years ago), and the end of the rainy season is in October (today) compared
to November (2000 years ago). No wonder the very first theatrical performance
connected with Indra's banner festival, celebrating god Indra's victory over the
demons and symbolizing the re-enactment of the world creation, took place in the
month of Margasirsa; it was the end of the rainy season.

The rainy
half-year
begins

DELIVERY

CONCEPTION
The rainy
half-year
ends

Figure 3.3. The pregnancy of clouds through the cycle of 12 months. From Brhatsarrmitii (9), Chapter
XXI, verses 9-12. The 12 months are reckoned from new moon to new moon (amiinta system). The
rains pour down during the rainy half-year-Delivery, but these rainfalls originated 195 days earlier in
the dry half-year-Conception.

59

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FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

1.3 The North Indian Context

The geographical setting to which the Hindu calendar best applies is the northern
plains of the Indian subcontinent, the Indus and Ganges basins. This is the traditional
place of reference for Hindu medicine and astrology. The Delhi Doab constitutes
the native soil of Brahminic culture and serves as the point of reference in Sanskrit
writing. Although the timings and features of the monsoon differ as one goes from
the west coast to the Bay of Bengal, and still more from Assam to Sri Lanka (see
Fig. 3.1), the sequence of the seasons remains roughly the same and the ritual
calendar is applicable throughout.
Kerala (the southwest coast) more or less fits the northern pattern. Tamilnad (the
southeast), by contrast, is said to be deprived of a real monsoon and the sequence
of Tamil festivals differs from the Sanskrit one. The pohkal festival in January
celebrates the end of the rainy season. However, in the Tamil coastal plains, which
produce two crops of rice a year, the paddy-growing cycle is not very different
from the classical pattern: summer rice is harvested in September and winter rice

TABLE 3.2. The Cycle of the Seasons in the Dry Zone of Sri LankaD

April

Seasons

Climate

Paddy-Growing Cycle

Rites

Season between
years

Rain

Plowing

New Year

Sowing (mid-May)

May
HOT

June

(u~1Ja)

Hot
July
Dry
August
September
October

COOL
(samaSfta)

Heavy
Rains

Harvest (September)
Plowing
Sowing (mid-October)

November
December
January
February

Dry
COLD
(SUa)

Harvest (March)

March
a From

Leach (11).

New Rice
Festival

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

61

in February. This compares with what has been observed by Leach (11) in Sri
Lanka. In both cases, most of the annual rainfall is concentrated into two periods:
April-May (Sri Lanka) or June-July (Tamilnad), and September-December. The
three traditional seasons are here, but their sequence and timings are quite different.
The calendar observed in Sri Lanka is outlined in Table 3.2. Significantly, Sanskrit
names are given to the seasons. U~1Ja, the hot, the dry season, covers the period
of dry season paddy-growing, and harvest. Sama!;Ua, the cool season, is the period
of preparing the land and sowing the seed for the monsoon crop. SUa, the cold
season, extends over the monsoon paddy-growing period up to the harvest. Similarities
to the classical calendar can be recognized: plowing when the rains start and New
Year's Day when the rains stop. Although the climate is different, obviously the
basic cultural framework remains the same.

2 INDI.GENOUS CONCEPTS OF MONSOONS AND MEDICINE

The macrobiotic medicine of India includes a sophisticated doctrine of the relationships
between mankind and the environment based on the seasonal pulsation of the sun's
track across the sky. Traditionally there is an alternation between dak~i1Jiiyana (the
sun's movement southward) and uttariiyana (its movement northward). Consequently,
all living things including the vegetable kingdom are affected by the alternative
increase and decrease of saps and vital liquids.

2.1 Release and Capture of Saps

Through food, habitat, and physical activities, a person is influenced, penetrated,
immersed in the system of humors, flavors and qualities that make up the atmosphere,
the climate, and the landscape. Rasa, "sap, flavor, chyle, unctuousness," manifests
itself as a juice formed in the living body from all the substances assimilated by
digestion. It is present in food, drugs, and plants. The sun captures the rasa and
the moon exudes or frees the rasa. The year is divided into a period of Release
(rains, autumn, winter), when the moon frees all saps, and a period of Capture
(frosts, spring, summer), when the sun takes all saps back. The first period corresponds
to the sun's movement toward the south; it is the saumya half-year (ruled by Soma,
the moon), which is wet and cold. The second period is marked by the sun's
movement northward; it is the agneya half-year (ruled by Agni, the sun), which is
hot and dry. In the period when the sun and the wind dominate and together destroy
all the unctuousness and softness of the world, human beings lose their strength.
This progressive weakening is most extreme during the summer solstice, which
also marks the beginning of monsoon time.

2.2 Two Seasonal Cycles

The traditional annual cycle consists of six seasons. Two are needed to cover the
Four Months of the monsoon period, namely, the rains and autumn in the more
commonly accepted form of the cycle.

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FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

However, in the medical treatises we find at least two different forms of the
annual cycle, both of which are shown in Figure 3.4. The second form splits the
monsoon season into two parts: priiV1:~, the outburst of the rains, and var~ii, the
rains proper. Cakrapanidatta (12), a Sanskrit commentator of the eleventh century
A.D., offers an explanation for the existence of the two forms:
In the southern part of the Ganges basin, there is so much of rains (var~d) that they
extend farther than the season of their outburst (prdvr~); north of the Ganges, there is
so much of cold that it extends over the two seasons of winter and frost. Says Kasyapa:
"It rains so much, south of the Ganges, that scholars have divided the rainy season into
two-prdvr~ and var~d-, and in the northern part of the Ganges basin, drenched with
water coming from the Himalayas (the abode of frosts), there is so much of cold that
they have made the cold season twofold-winter and frost."

These alternative arrangements might be useful to the meteorologist who is

attempting to identify the connections between what is observed and what is said
in the Sanskrit texts. Anyone who has experienced the Indian climate knows that
spring and autumn appear as fleeting, almost imperceptible, periods. There are only
three true seasons-winter, summer, and the monsoon-which are referred to as
extreme seasons in the texts. Spring and autumn, the moderate seasons, represent

(aj

f:22]

(bj

Seasons of extreme climate

Seasons of moderate climate

Figure 3.4. Two fonns of the annual cycle. Fonn (b) of the annual cycle splits the monsoon season
into two: the outburst of the rains (priivrs), and the rains proper (varsii). There are only three true
seasons in South Asia-winter, summer: and the rains--referred to as' extreme seasons in the texts.
Whether the transitional or moderate seasons are two or three in number is questionable. Physiological
consequences, and the corresponding Gregorian months for fonns (a) and (b), are indicated in Figures
3.5 and 3.6, respectively.

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

63

transitional and fleeting periods between the three strongly defined periods of rigorous
cold (in the northern Indian winter), torrid heat, and the monsoon deluges. Some
question whether the moderate seasons are two or three in number. No moderate
season appears between summer and the monsoon; actually, a clear-cut break is
observed that is represented by the summer solstice in the first form of the annual
cycle (Fig. 3.4a). However, whenpriiV1:~ is inserted between summer and the rains
proper (Fig. 3.4b), this two-month period (June-August) is referred to as a moderate
season enjoying mild weather conditions. This seems to be an artificial rearrangement
for the sake of symmetry: three hard seasons (winter, summer, monsoon) alternating
with three mild ones (spring, priiV1:~, autumn).
In addition to the cosmic alternation of Capture (by the sun in summer) and
Release (by the moon in the rains) of all saps or vital liquids, another mechanism
exists that is the succession of the three humors-Wind, Bile, and Phlegm-over
the annual cycle. Humors represent organic fluids and pathogenic entities at the
same time. Each season, according to its dominant flavor, provokes, in tum, the
accumulation, disorders, and pacification of one of the humors. For example, the
humor Wind accumulates in summer due to the acrid (Fig. 3.5) or astringent (Fig.
3.6) flavor of the season. Then it is vitiated in the rains (Fig. 3.5) or in priiV1:~
(Fig. 3.6), which brings on fits of rheumatism, and so forth. It is eventually pacified
in the autumn (Fig. 3.5) or in the rains proper (Fig. 3.6).
The first form of the seasonal cycle, the relevant portion of which is presented
in Figure 3.5, stresses the importance of the summer solstice as a clear-cut dividing
line. Before the solstice, dryness predominates and the humor Wind accumulates,
leading to rheumatic complaints, paralysis, and nervous diseases. After the solstice,
water which is now superabundant turns sour and, consequently, Bile accumulates,
which causes fevers. One should also note that the Wind disorders during the
monsoon are the delayed result of astringency and acridity suffered in summer.
Between the lower part (the cosmic mechanism) and the upper part (the physiological
consequences) of Figure 3.5, there is a time lag. Thus weakness, dryness, and
Wind disorders (all the same syndrome) in the monsoon time represent the delayed
effect of the sun's rule in the preceding seasons. Similarly, the sourness ofthe rains
produces its effect in autumn and later.
Both forms of the annual cycle establish a general framework followed in formulating
regimens and treatments, though it remains somewhat artificial and rudimentary.
Both arrangements, for example, fail to indicate that Phlegm also accumulates in
the rainy season, or that Wind is best pacified by the sweet flavor of the winter
season. Of the two, the second form presented in Figure 3.6 is better related to
therapeutics, because the three humors are evenly distributed over the six seasons,
so that accumulation and pacification, which take place in the three extreme seasons
and call for home remedies, alternate with disorders, which take place in the three
moderate seasons and call for hospitalization.

2.3 Seasonal Rhythms in Regimen and Therapeutics

The physiological characteristics of each season and the appropriate regimen and
diet are described at length in the medical treatises. For example, Caraka (13),

64

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

The moment
of greatest
weakness
The period of greatest
physiological dryness
in living bodies

Disorders

SUMMER
April/May/June
-ECE---- Capture---""~-

The
sun's
rule

RAINS

Disorders

AUTUMN

June/July/August/September/October
- O C E - - - - - - - Release---~------;;"~

The summer solstice

(June 21)

The
moon's
rule

Figure 3.5. Multiple determination of the rainy season. The lower part of the chart summarizes the
cosmic alternation of Capture (by the sun) and Release (by the moon) of all saps or rasas. The upper
part indicates its physiological effects, namely the predominance of a particular flavor in each season,
and the sequence of the three phases-accumulation, disorders, and pacification--of a given humor,
which is distributed over three different seasons. The rainy season is characterized by simultaneous
disorders of Wind and accumulation of Bile.

Sutra VI, 33-42 in a medical compendium of the beginning of our era, gives the
prescriptions appropriate for the rainy season:
The sun by capturing the saps has weakened the body, and in the monsoon time the
digestive power is low. It is further hindered by the vitiated humors like Wind, for, while
the digestive fire dies down, under the effect of moisture oozing from the earth, of
precipitations from the sky, and of the tendency of water to turn sour during the monsoon
time, the humors, first of all the Wind, get provoked. Accordingly, the general rule that
is laid down for the rainy season is moderation. One should avoid gruel diluted to excess,
day sleep, chill, river water, physical exercise, sunshine, and sexual intercourse. One
should generally use honey in preparing foods and drinks. On very cold days marked by
stormy winds and rain, one should, even in the rainy season, take unctuous articles with
pronounced sour and salty flavors, to pacify Wind. To maintain the digestive fire, the
food should consist of old barley, old wheat and winter rice, pulse soup, and meat from
dry land game; drinks should consist of a small quantity of wine or liquor, or of rainwater,

65

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

or of water from a well or a tank, if need be, but duly boiled and cooled, and added
with honey. Oil massages, dry chafings, baths, perfumes, and garlands are advisable;
one should wear light and clean clothes, and reside in a house designated for the monsoon
time and free from damp.

Most of these prescriptions are meant to alleviate Wind disorders. However,

monsoon is also a time for Bile accumulation. The vitiation of Phlegm is there as
well, since moisture and dampness are akin to Phlegm. "The moisture oozing from
the earth vitiates all the three humors," a commentator explains in Sanskrit (13),
"rainwater provokes Phlegm as well as Wind, and the tendency of water to turn
sour provokes Bile and Phlegm." That is why "honey is recommended in small
quantity; even if by nature it tends to aggravate Wind disorders; it is meant here
to overcome the dampness of the rainy season, " and to compensate for the sourness
of drinking water. It should be clear that flavors like sourness are not only sensory
qualities but abstract entities. They signify more than the trivial fact that "this
water tastes sour"; they connote instead a pathogenic property related to the humors.

Salty
Q;
.Q

Q)

Q)

::J
-,

::J
-,

'">c

""CJ
til

SUMMER

tl

::J
OD
::J

.b
::J
-,

'"
'"

tl

'"~

Ul

.....

::J
OD
::J ""CJ

Q)

""CJ

'"

CD

Q;
.Q

.8
U

'"~Ul0..
Q)

'"

Q;

Q)

.Q

'"
'"

'E

:>:::

prav!,~

vartta

The outburst

The rains

E
Q)

c
':;

til

.Q

E
Q)
>

Q;

.Q

'"
'iii
'"e.o
:2'
'"

Q)

~o

AUTUMN

of the
rains

-<c-- Capture - - - 3 ; " -

- - E E - - - - - - - - - Release - - - - - - - - ; ; . . ; 0 -

The summer solstice

Figure 3.6. The rainy season split into two. This new scheme displays a symmetrical arrangement in
the physiology of the three bodily humors, Wind, Bile, and Phlegm. Accumulation and pacification of
the humors, which take place in the extreme seasons, alternate with disorders, which take place in the
moderate seasons.

66

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

Thus sourness will provoke Bile and Phlegm; and Wind disorders are the delayed
result of astringency and acridity.
The succession of the flavors through the seasonal cycle induces physicians to
formulate particular cycles of diets and other observances. Let us consider, for
example, the prescription of unctuous substances like sesame oil and ghee (clarified
butter from milk of the buffalo or cow) which are used as vehicles, in the pharmaceutical sense of the word, and are impregnated with saps from the medicinal plants
with which they have been boiled. They are administered internally as potions and
enemas, and externally through oil baths or frictions. "It is advisable to administer
unctuous substances only in the moderate seasons," says Vahata (14), Sutra XVI,
11, "sesame oil in priivr:~, ghee in autumn, grease and marrow in spring." This
is corroborated by ethnography. For example, the physicians of Kerala, the southwestern province of the subcontinent, where the medicated oils and ghees indicated
in the ancient texts are still in vogue today, consider that June-July (Le., priivr:~)
and October-November (Le., the autumn), both of which in Kerala enjoy moderate
climatic conditions, are the best months of the year for the prescription of unctuous
substances and purifying treatments. These two seasons are when the fashionable
nursing homes accommodate a maximum of wealthy guests attracted by the prospective
beneficial effects of purifying and rejuvenating therapies.
The alternation of extreme and moderate seasons determines the choice between
the two great categories of medical therapy: !iOdhana, the purifying therapy, and
samana, the pacifying therapy. This opposition is fairly congruent with that between
clinical and pharmaceutical medicine. One case requires hospitalization and the
application of emetics, purgatives, and other evacuants. The other case requires a
simple prescription of medicines to be taken orally or externally, but always at
home. The choice between sodhana (hospitalization) and samana (home remedies)
according to the season and to the tendencies of the humors is outlined on Table
3.3. In principle, the great cures of Hindu medicine come under the category of
sodhana, and require hospitalization and the use of complex procedures. They can
be undertaken only during the moderate seasons when it is neither too hot nor too
cold, too dry nor too wet.

2.4 Qualities of the Winds

Do the classical texts provide practical information about the monsoon? Do they
give a faithful account of nature as she is observed? What is said of the prevailing
winds in a given season might provide a clue. The few brief remarks we have traced
in Sanskrit sources are put together in Table 3.4. In reading these remarks, remember
that all observations conform to the religious world view and reflect local conditions
in the Delhi Doab (see Fig. 3.1). In this context, not only does the reversal from
northerly winds in winter (January) to westerly winds in priivr:~ (July) undeniably
correspond to meteorological realities, but so do the observations of the less persistent
southerly winds in spring (March) and easterly winds in autumn (November).
There is symbolism superimposed on these observations. For example, northerlies
and southerlies blow from the Himalayas and the Vindhyas, respectively, and these
winds are viewed as healthy and fortifying. This is a classical theme which reoccurs

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

67

TABLE 3.3. The Alternation of Extreme and Moderate Seasons and Its Medical
Consequences
praV1:~,

var~a,

Summer

Outburst
of Rains

Rains
Proper

Autumn

Climatic
conditions

Extreme

Moderate

Extreme

Moderate

Mode of
treatment
advisable

Pacifying

Purifying

Pacifying

Purifying

Tendencies of
the humors

Pacification of
Phlegm
Accumulation
of Wind

Disorders of
Wind

Pacification of
Wind
Accumulation
of Bile

Disorders of
Bile

The best
pharmaceutical
vehicle

(not specified)

Sesame oil

(not specified)

Ghee

(farnana)

(fodhana)

(farnana)

(fodhana)

in folklore. (In Chapter 4, Murton introduces proverbs about the excellence of

northerly and southerly winds.) Specific medical qualities are ascribed to the various
quarters of the wind-rose in a passage from Susruta (15), Sutra XX, 23-29 which
we may summarize in the following way:
The easterly wind is sweet, unctuous, salty, and heavy. It provokes burning
sensation and aggravates raktapitta (Bile disorders with hemorrhages), poiTABLE 3.4. Reversals in the Directions of the Prevaiting Winds, as Noted in the
Classics of Hindu Medicine
Northerly winds
prevail in winter
(January)

Westerly winds
in praV1:~
(July)
arouse Wind

DELHlDOAB
(point of reference)

Easterly winds
in autumn
(November)
arouse Bile

Southerly winds
prevail in spring
(March)
References: Northerlies in winter: Su~ruta (15), SatTa VI, 22. Southerlies in spring: Su~ruta (15), Satra
VI, 28; Vaha!B- (14), Satra III, 23. Westerlies inpTavr~: Su~ruta (15), Sutra VI, 31. Easterlies in autumn:
Caraka (13), SatTa VI, 45 and Cikitsa XIV, 19.

68

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

sonings, ulcers, and diseases from Phlegm. It is beneficial to the consumptive,

and in other diseases from Wind.
The southerly wind is sweet but light, with an astringent aftertaste, and does
not give any burning sensation. It is strengthening, good for the eyes, and
pacifies raktapitta without provoking Wind.
The westerly wind is clear, dry, and piercing. It absorbs all the unctuousness
and strength, and by desiccating the Phlegm, it produces consumption and
other diseases from Wind.
The northerly wind is sweet, unctuous, and cold, with an astringent aftertaste.
It is harmless to all humors. Strengthening, it increases the bodily secretions
and cures consumption, cachexia, and poisonings.
If we gather up the threads of our analysis, they display a certain knowledge of
the alternation of westerly winds in July and easterly winds in November. In other
words, the reversal of the prevailing winds is known to the classic texts. The main
contrast is between westerlies from the Indus delta and easterlies from the Bay of
Bengal, which corresponds to an antithesis between dry lands (Punjab) and marshy
lands (Bengal) in traditional ecology. For humors and diseases, the dry lands of
the west suffer from Wind disorders, while the marshy lands of the east suffer from
Bile and Phlegm disorders. Comparing the humoral quality of the seasons with that
of their prevailing winds:
-priiV1:~,

westerlies, dry lands, disorders of Wind,

-autumn, easterlies, wet lands, disorders of Bile and Phlegm,

we see a somewhat coherent picture emerging of the climatic and physiological

characteristics of the monsoon.

3 ASTROLOGICAL AND POETICAL SYMBOLISM

Ours is an easy task in this section on symbolism, since the astrological lore related
to the monsoon will be touched on again in Chapter 4, and literary descriptions
have been presented more thoroughly in Chapter 2. Here we address the system of
signs, of manners, of moods suited to the rainy season, and more specifically, of
those that are codified in the learned Hindu tradition. First we shall consider the
rules of prognostication formulated in classic texts. Then citing examples from
literature and paintings, we shall examine the symbolic connections between animals
and birds, and plants and landscapes that characterize the monsoon time. From the
far-fetched constructions of astrology to the natural imagery of poems and paintings,
we shall find that the same set of symbols relates meteorological realities to human
activities.

69

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

3.1 The Lunar Mansions or Constellations

The native calendar ties the seasons and climates to one of the most important series
of astrological symbols, the 27 ~atras. The na~atras-constellations or asterisms-correspond to the lunar mansions, and to fixed periods of the sun's stations on the
lunar zodiac. The list of the nak~atras with the dates of the sun's entrance into
each of them is given in Table 3.5. The nak~atras define the lunar zodiac, that is,
the cycle of the moon's stations. The positions of the sun, in its course over the
ecliptic, are also defined by reference to these asterisms resulting in the 27 divisions
of the year.
It is this system of reckoning that prevails in proverbs and in the ritual forecasting
of rains. The system functions at two levels of language, in the vernacular as well

'[ABLE 3.5. Asterisms of the Lunar Zodiac and the Corresponding Months (all
n~1mes in Sanskrit)
Sanskrit Names of
the nak~atras
1. A.!'vini
2. BharalJi
3. Kr:ttika
4. RohilJi
5. Mr:ga.!'iras
6. Ardra
7. Punarvasu
8. PUfYa
9. AHe~a
10. Magha
11. Purvaphalguni
12. Uttaraphalguni
13. Hasta
14. Citra
15. Svati
16. ViMkha
17. Anuradha
18. Jye~!ha
19. Mula
20. Purva~a4ha
21. Uttarasadha
22. SraValJd .
23. Dhanistha
24. Satabhi~aj
25. Purvabhadrapada
26. Uttarabhadrapada
27. Revati

Date of the Sun's Entrance

into each Nak~atra
April 12
April 26
May 10
May 24
June 7
June 21
July 5
July 19
August 2
August 16
August 30
September 12
September 26
October 10
October 23
November 5
November 19
December 2
December 15
December 27
January 10
January 23
February 4
February 18
March 3
March 17
March 30

Corresponding Luni-Solar Months

in PurlJimanta Reckoning
Caitra
VaiMkha
Jye~!ha

A~a4ha

Srava1Ja
Bhadrapada
A.!'vina
Karttika
Marga.!'ir~a
Pau~a

Magha
Phalguna
Caitra

70

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

as in Sanskrit, in popular sayings as well as in learned treatises. This is demonstrated

in a comparison of two articles in the Glossary of the Madras Presidency (2). One
article is devoted to Caurtey, Tamil kiirtti (see Chapter 4) for Sanskrit na!qatra,
which includes a number of agricultural proverbs from South India and represents
the more popular level. In contrast, the article devoted to Mazhay, Tamil malai,
rain, cloud, in which the Br:hatsarrzhitii's (9) chapters on the pregnancy of clouds
and on the connection between rain and the celestial phenomena are printed in full,
constitutes a very sophisticated treatment.
Let us consider a few popular sayings from the Madras Glossary about na!qatras
which are not considered in Chapter 4. The farmers use these proverbs to forecast
the weather and to adjust their cultivation practices accordingly. In Krttika (May
10 to 23), the hottest part of the year, any rains that fall are the showers in advance
of the monsoon, and one can start plowing. If there is no rain in Mrgasiras (June
7 to 20), a drought is expected for the next five asterisms, until the middle of
August. Conversely, with the first showers in this asterism the sowing of paddy is
begun. The most important of the nak~atras is Ardra (June 21 to July 4) because
it marks when the monsoon usually begins in full force in North India. This critical
asterism is inauspicious for either sowing or transplanting. It is only during Punarvasu (July 5 to 18) that a second sowing of paddy is tried, if the first has failed.
The sequence of (a) Mrgasiras, (b) Ardra, and (c) Punarvasu conveys the idea of
a dialectic, which translates the weather uncertainty into alternating/alternative
prescriptions: sowing is in tum (a) possible, (b) impossible, and (c) then again
possible. Proverbs also are formulated as so many alternatives: "If there be thunder
in Ardra, the rain will fail for sixty days; but if it rains in Ardra, it will continue
for the next six asterisms.... " The figures dogmatically set forth ("for sixty
days") sum up an immemorial tradition of meteorological observations.
The classical astrological texts establish a scheme for rain forecasting in which
the nak~atras do not represent the fixed periods of the sun's stations on the lunar
zodiac (as in the proverbs of popular astrology), but the lunar mansions* proper.
Rainfall is predicted more than six months in advance by recording the symptoms
of the pregnancy of clouds under a particular station of the moon. In principle, the
rains pour down during the half-year from Jyestha through Karttika, but these rains
originated 195 days before, since the pregnancy of clouds extends over seven
sidereal revolutions of the moon (Le., 195 days). Predictions made in the conception
period (December-May) apply to the delivery period (June-November). Figure 3.3
outlines the forecasting system laid down in the Br:hatsarrzhitii (9), Chapter XXI,
verses 6-7:
The symptoms of pregnancy must be detected in the period starting from the day when
the moon reaches the asterism Purvasadha during the bright fortnight of the month of
Margasirsa. The foetus formed during the moon's stay in a particular asterism will deliver
rain 195 days after, when the moon passes through the same asterism according to the
laws of its revolution.

* The asterisms through which the moon passes; a different one for each day of the cycle of the moon.

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

71

For example, in a given year the moon reaches Purvasadha on the fourth day
of the bright fortnight of Margasirsa (i.e., November 26). The symptoms of cloud
pregnancy detected on that day are used for predicting rainfall on the third day of
the dark fortnight of next Jyestha (June 9), the day when the moon will reach
Purvasadha again after seven sidereal revolutions. Now suppose that the symptoms
of pregnancy on November 26 were very bad, and those on December 6 (when the
moon passes through Krttika) extremely promising, that is, one observes a delightful
and cool breeze from the north, the sun and the moon encircled by a glossy halo,
a red glow on the horizon at dawn, and so on. One would predict that there is no
prospect of rain on June 9, but all signs point to the outburst of the monsoon on
June 19 (the moon passing through Krttika again).
At the beginning of the rainy half of the year, short-term predictions are based
on the same scheme. The prospect of rainfall in the rainy half-year is determined
through the rain that fell in the first few days subsequent to the day when the moon
reached the asterism Purvasadha during the dark fortnight of the month of Jyestha.
For example, the moon passed through Purvasadha on June 9, but the rains started
pouring down on June 19, when the moon reached Krttika. The amount of rain
gauged on June 19 and the next few days would enable astrologers to predict the
quantity of rainfall for the entire rainy season, and whether the prospects for the
autumn harvest are good or poor. The names of the first rain-producing lunar
mansions-Krttika (June 19), Rohini (June 20), Mrgasiras (June 21), and so onhave also great predictive value, since the stars that preside over the initial rains
are deemed to remain the sources of all rainfall throughout the delivery period (9),
Chapter XXIII, verse 5:
In whichever stars there is rain at the beginning, there will generally be rain once again
under the same stars in the delivery season.

Lunar mansions indicate not only the timings but also the quantities of rainfall. For
example, Krttika is considered among the less productive stars, so where Krttika
(in an arbitrarily given year) plays the role of the first rain-producing lunar mansion,
it foretells rains not so abundant that year. A more detailed knowledge of the stars
would result in more precise forecasts.
Astrological predictions of rain require a very large amount of information on
the individual characters of the stars, and on the shapes and colors of the clouds,
the directions of the winds, and the moods of the inhabitants -humans, beasts and
birds, herbs and trees- in a given setting, for detecting the symptoms of cloud
pregnancy.
3.2 Poems and Miniatures
Besides the medical and astrological fields, two traditional disciplines also use the
cycle of the seasons as a symbolical frame for expressing beliefs and emotions.
These are the science of love (kama), and the science of poetic moods (rasa) and
musical modes (raga) which are used in Hindu music, painting, and poetry. The

72

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

Hindu treatment of musical ragas and miniature paintings is of a literary kind; they
are meant to suit and illustrate the mood of a poem in an attempted union between
sounds, images and words. Thus narrative themes, psychological moods, musical
modes, and visual imagery are combined, to project the flavor of a few most
significant seasons and sceneries. The monsoon is one of these favorite settings.
The Srhgaraprakasa (16), a treatise of poetics of the sixteenth century, associates
the monsoon with a series of love festivals and sports which provide a counterpart
to ethnographic descriptions presented above. For example, enjoying the sight of
the dance of peacocks exhilarated on hearing the rumbling noises of the clouds (a
most common symbol in poetry); mock fights with "weapons" made of the soft
twigs of the kadamba tree which blossoms in the rains; playing on the swing, a
sport which is practiced during tlj, and illustrated by miniatures of the musical
mode Hindola, "Swing."
The symbolism of seasonal plants, beasts and birds, noises and games, and
colors in the sky and over the landscape, was first established by Sanskrit poets
like Kalidasa (17) in his Round of the Seasons:
Groups of gay amorous peacocks
Rend the air with jubilant cries
To hail the friendly rain
And spreading wide their jewelled trains
They hold their gorgeous dance parade....

But a poetic genre has developed in the modern vernaculars, as in the Hindi
biirahmasa, Songs ofthe Twelve Months, in which climates are used metaphorically
to depict situations of distress, grief or suffering. Susan Wadley (18) has shown
that the barahmasa provide a psychological almanac of the meaningful parts of
the year:
The recurrent themes and images are those aspects of the yearly cycle, whether climatically
or ritually based, that are in discord with individuals whose personal situations, whatever
their cause, are bad.... Hence, the biirahmiisii provide us with a map or guide to the
potentially more difficult times of the year. . . .

The mood usually set in the context of rains is that of viraha, the torments of
separation, of estrangement, and feverish waits. The mood is symbolized by certain
human characters and narrative themes, of which we can give a few examples.
The wife of the traveler is a woman whose husband is away; she does not dress
herself the usual way; she stands on her balcony, watching for his return.
The deserted heroine is tortured by viraha (estrangement). The fickle is equated
with the cloud that wanders in the sky. All my friends sleep with their
husbands, but my own husband is a cloud in another land."
The far-off traveler, who, at pains during the storm on his way home, thinks of
his wife.

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

73

The passionate night-walkers, where lightnings guide their feet to the trysted
place.
The embrace:
By thunder and lightnings affrightened,
Every woman hugs her husband close,
Though well his guilt she knows. . . .

The characters and themes are associated with climatic features, that is, the games,
the colors and noises, the flora and fauna typical of the season. Examples are given
in Table 3.6.
To fully appreciate this symbolism, we should compare the physiognomy of the
Rains with that of another season, in particular the Summertime, since the poets
have exploited the contrasts between them to convey the feeling of suspense.
Jyestha, the hottest month, brings final decay, or final loneliness. The songs that
celebrate the monsoon may begin with a few words of prelude on Jyestha, but then
shift to storms:
In Jyestha the world is on fire,
Blows the !uh (burning wind)
Which makes clouds of dust swirl up . . .
This Jyestha bums me out,
My husband is away, I can't repair the thatch,
Viraha falls on me as so many firebrands ...
But Jyestha just has gone, and now comes Asadha,
From the south new rumbling clouds shape up....

By arranging their pictures into series based on the Twelve Months, and the
gamut of musical scales, the Rajput and Pahari miniature painters, like the poets,
have exploited the distinctions among the seasons. The schools of Hindu miniature
flourished in Rajasthan (Rajputs) and the Punjab hills (Paharis) at the end of the
eighteenth century. We can mention but a few scenes here.
First from The Watch from the Balcony: a lone young woman, standing on a
balcony at the first floor of her house, eagerly looks in the distance for the return
of her absent lover. Rambling clouds, rain, and lightnings that are like so many
white serpents, are outlined against the dark sky. Rows of white cranes are hurrying
towards their nests. A peacock stands on a terrace (19); or peacocks and waterbirds
are scattered on cultivated lands in the background (20).
A variant presents Radha and Krishna Watching a Storm. Krishna in yellow
pajamas sits with Radha who wears a mauve bodice and red skirt in the top story
of a white pavilion. Below them are two girl musicians. Outside is a mango tree
in fruit, and a night sky with lightning playing in the dark purple clouds. The
peacock on the cornice, longing for his mate, raises his head and begins shouting.
Ripe mangoes, music, lovebirds, and the lovers united: these are all elements of
the month of Sravana, July-August (21).

74

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

TABLE 3.6. Climatic Features Associated with the Rainy Season

Games:
Swing
Dice
Colors and noises:
Lightnings meet clouds, clouds fall on the earth
One cannot tell day from night
Dark clouds infuriated like mad elephants
White cranes flying across the black sky
Strong winds blow fiercely
Croaking frogs and cooing birds
Plants:
The thorny arka (Calotropis gigantea) and yaviisa (Alhagi pseudalhagi) shed leaves
The kadamba (Anthocephalus cadamba), campaka (Michelia champaka), ketaki (Pandanus
tectorius), miilati (Jasminum grandiflorum), and kiiSa (Saccharum spontaneum) are in blossom
Beasts and birds:
Dancing peacocks and elephants
Cooing of the ciitaka (hawk-cuckoo) longing for raindrops from star Svati
Proliferation of indragopas (cochineals) noticeable on account of their radiant scarlet velvet
skin

Rajput painters have also depicted more specific events, like Women Swinging
at Tij, the festival which is celebrated in Sravana. A group of merry women walk
out in procession to join their playmates pushing the swing hung from a blossoming
tree. Waterbirds and lightning outlined against the cloudy sky indicate the rainy
season. The scene is being watched by the royal couple from the terrace of the
palace (20). illustrations of Bhadrapada (August-September) present in the background
an exhilarated elephant dancing with a tiger and a lion. White cranes and whirling
clouds fill out the sky. "One should not leave home during Bhadrapada," the poet
says, giving the miniature its theme. The hero, ready to set out with his horse and
his sword, is requested by his wife not to desert her so soon (20). These are examples
from the biirahrruisii cycles of miniatures.
Another category of miniatures illustrates the musical modes of Hindustani music.
The mode Megha, "Clouds," evokes all the monsoon symbols. Dance and music
celebrate the setting in of the rains. The central character is Lord Krishna, distinguished
by his three-crested crown, dark blue complexion, and yellow garment, blowing
the conch, or dancing with a pink lotus in his right hand, amidst a batch of female
musicians. Heavy clouds, in front of which a flight of white cranes is passing by,
several peacocks fanning their tails and bursting out into joyful songs, sung in the
mode Megha, and pink lotus blossoms symbolize the season (22).

MONSOON IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE

75

4 CONCLUSION

When, at summer solstice, the sun starts receding southward, the earth comes under
the moon's rule. Rains burst out that are nourishing and refreshing but also tinged
with sourness and fevers. Travelers will settle for a while, farmers will start growing
new rice. At the end of the rainy Four Months, after the harvest of the monsoon
crop, a new agricultural year may begin. These are the traditional ideas about the
rainy season. The ideal domain of the monsoon thus defined is North India, but
the same pattern, duly adjusted to fit in with local conditions, is also relevant to
other southe.ast Asian countries. For example, in Thailand the year is theoretically
divided into three seasons of equal length: the hot season (March-June), the wet
season (July-October) and the cool season (November-February). Actually the
rains fall from May through October, so that the symmetrical arrangement of the
seasons appears to be oversimplified, but it is modeled after the conventional triad
of Hot, Rains, and Cold found in classical texts. Aranuvachapun and Brimblecombe
(23) have recently made known one Song of the Twelve Months (this is precisely
its title in the Thai language), written in the fifteenth century. This song sets the
time of rains bursting out in the beginning of May, thus providing the basis for
adjusting the conventional pattern to the facts. This Thai piece also displays poetic
devices and symbolic moods that are quite the same as in a Hindi Song of the
Twelve Months:
. . . noise fills the sky,
Heavy rain falls like drops of gold,
Since last month I cry again and again,
Separated from my only love,
Longing for her, I pine away . . .

This passage leads us to believe that the ideas presented in this chapter attributed
to Hindu culture are not unfamiliar to other countries of Southeast Asia which have
been influenced by India, and perhaps we can assume that they are widely held
throughout monsoon Asia.

REFERENCES
1. H. Yule, and A. C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, A Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial

Words and Phrases, 2nd ed., John Murray, London, 1903, p. 577.
2. C. D. Mclean, Ed., Glossary of the Madras Presidency, 2nd ed., Asian Educational
Services, New Delhi, 1982, p. 436.
3. S. Stevenson, The Rites of the Twice-Born, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1920, pp. 227,
302, 303.
4. F. Zimmermann, La Jungle et Ie Fumet des Viandes, Un theme ecologique dans la
medecine hindoue, GallimardiLe Seuil, Paris, 1982, p. 196.

76

FRANCIS ZIMMERMANN

5. J. F. Pugh, "Into the almanac: time, meaning and action in North Indian society,"
Contributions to Indian Sociology (New Series), 17,45 (1983).
6. K. L. Merrey, The Hindu Festival Calendar, in G. R. Welbon and G. E. Yocum, Eds.,
Religious Festivals in South India and Sri Lanka, Manohar, New Delhi, 1982, p. 9.
7. D. L. Eck, Banaras, City of Light, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1983, pp. 261,
264.
8. M. Gaborieau, "Les fetes, Ie temps et l'espace: Structure du calendrier hindou dans sa
version indo-nepalaise," L'Homme, Revue Franraise d'Anthropologie, 22, 11-29 (1982).
9. VaraI1arnihira, Br:hatsa,!!hitii (6th century AD); Sanskrit text and English translation by
M. R. Bhat, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, Volumes 1 and 2, 1981-1983.
10. F. B. J. Kuiper, VarulJa and Vidu~aka, On the Origin of the Sanskrit Drama, NorthHolland, Amsterdam, 1979, p. 134.
11. E. Leach, Pul Eliya, A Village in Ceylon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1971, pp. 15, 254.
12. CakrapiiJ;1idatta, Commentary in Carakasa,!!hitii, Vimiina VIII, 125; quoted in C. Vogel,
"Die Jahreszeiten im Spiegel der altindischen Literatur," ZeitschriJt der Deutschen
Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, 121, 304 (1972).
13. Carakasa,!!hitii, quoted in F. Zimmermann, "~tu-siitmya, The seasonal cycle and the
principle of appropriateness," Social Science and Medicine, 14B, 99-106 (1980). A
reliable English translation is Carakasaf!lhitii, P. V. Sharma, Ed., Chaukhambha Orientalia,
Varanasi, Volumes 1 and 2, 1981-1983.
14. Vayaskara N. S. Mooss, Ed., A~{iihgahr:dayasa,!!hitiiWith the Viikyapradfpikii Commentary
of Paramdvara, Part II, Vaidyasarathy Press, Kottayam, 1963, p. 83.
15. Susrutasa'!!hitii (beginning of our era), Yadavji Trikamji, Ed., 3rd ed., Nirnaya Sagar,
Bombay, 1939.
16. V. Raghavan, Bhoja's S~hgiira Prakiisa, Punarvasu, Madras, 1963, p. 655.
17. KaJidiisa, ~tusa,!!hiira (5th century A.D.), II, 6.
18. S. S. Wadley, "The rains of estrangement: Understanding the Hindu yearly cycle,"
Contributions to Indian Sociology (New Series), 17, 58 (1983).
19. E. Waldschmidt and R. L. Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1967, Fig. 77 and 98.
20. V. P. Dwivedi, Biirahmiisii, The Song of Seasons in Literature and Art, Agam Kala
Prakashan, Delhi, 1980, Plates 32, 59, 72, and 100.
21. M. S. Randhawa, Basohli Painting, Government of India, Delhi, 1959, Plate 34; also
in W. G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London,
1973, Basohli No. 21.
22. K. Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Ravi Kumar, Basel, 1973, Plates C32 and C33.
23. S. Aranuvachapun and P. Brimblecombe, "Tawatodsamad K1ongdun, An old Thai
weather poem," Weather, 34, 459-464 (1979).