Kanya

{{Short description|Month in Indian lunisolar calendars}}

{{Other uses}}

Kanyā is one of the twelve months in the Indian solar calendar.{{cite book|author1=Robert Sewell|author2=Śaṅkara Bālakr̥shṇa Dīkshita|title=The Indian Calendar |url=https://archive.org/details/indiancalendarwi00sewerich |year=1896|publisher=S. Sonnenschein & Company|pages=cxxi, 5–11, 23–29, 150}}{{cite book|author=Vasudeva Rao|title=Living Traditions in Contemporary Contexts: The Madhva Matha of Udupi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-utNEpTZWUkC |year=2002|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-2297-8|pages=48–53}}

Kanya corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Virgo, and overlaps with about the second half of September and about the first half of October in the Gregorian calendar. In Vedic texts, the Kanya month is called Nabhasya (IAST: Nabhasya), but in these ancient texts it has no zodiacal associations.{{cite book|author1=Nachum Dershowitz|author2=Edward M. Reingold|title=Calendrical Calculations|title-link= Calendrical Calculations |year= 2008|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-88540-9|pages=123–128}} The solar month of Kanya overlaps with its lunar month Ashvin, in Hindu lunisolar calendars.{{cite book|author=Christopher John Fuller|title=The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To6XSeBUW3oC|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-69112-04-85|pages=291–293}} It marks the start of harvests and festival season across the Indian subcontinent. It is preceded by the solar month of Siṃha, and followed by the solar month of Tulā.

The Kanya month is called Purattasi in the Tamil Hindu calendar.{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, N-Z (Vol 1 & 2)|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/533 533]|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/533}} The ancient and medieval era Sanskrit texts of India vary in their calculations about the duration of Kanya, just like they do with other months. For example, the Surya Siddhanta, dated to {{circa|400 CE}}, calculates the duration of Kanya to be 30 days, 10 hours, 35 minutes and 36 seconds. In contrast, the Arya Siddhanta calculates the duration of the Kanya month to be 30 days, 10 hours, 57 minutes and 36 seconds.{{cite book|author1=Robert Sewell|author2=Śaṅkara Bālakr̥shṇa Dīkshita|title=The Indian Calendar |url=https://archive.org/details/indiancalendarwi00sewerich |year=1896|publisher=S. Sonnenschein & Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiancalendarwi00sewerich/page/10 10]–11}}

The Indian solar month names are significant in epigraphical studies of South Asia. For example, Kanya month, along with other solar months, are found inscribed in medieval era Hindu temples.{{cite book|author=E Hultzsch|title=Epigraphia Indica|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MxE9AAAAYAAJ |year= 1906|publisher =Education Society Press|pages=7, 280}}

Kanya is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to Virgo (astrology).{{cite book|author=Bangalore V. Raman|title=Studies in Jaimini Astrology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gW2DIFHrxfgC |year=2003|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1397-7|pages=10–19}}

Kanya is also the twentieth month in the Darian calendar for the planet Mars, when the Sun traverses the eastern part of the constellation Virgo as seen from Mars.