Śrávaṇ Month

Śrávaṇ Month is the opening month of the rainy season in the poem’s account of the year. Its arrival marks the beginning of a four-month period of descending rain, and the season’s conditions shape when military action can resume.

Place in the Seasonal Cycle

The text calls Śrávaṇ Month the first of the months that see the rain clouds burst. It distinguishes this month as the season’s beginning from the rainy season as a whole, which extends for four months. The passage gives no further calendar dates, so the month is defined here by its place in that seasonal sequence and by the arrival of rain.

Consequences for Warfare

The rainy season is expressly judged no time for deeds of war. Śrávaṇ Month therefore introduces not only a change in weather but also a period in which campaigning is deferred. The four-month duration gives that interruption a defined span, making the season a temporal boundary between the impulse to fight and the opportunity to act.