Pausha

Pausha (Pauṣa), or Pushya is the tenth month of the Hindu lunar calendar and the Indian national calendar. The name of the month is derived from the position of the Moon near the Pushya nakshatra (star) on the full moon day. The month corresponds to the pre-winter (Hemanta) season and falls in December–January of the Gregorian calendar.

In the Hindu solar calendar, it corresponds to the month of Dhanu and begins with the Sun's entry into Sagittarius. It corresponds to Poush, the ninth month in the Bengali calendar. In the Tamil calendar, it corresponds to the tenth month of Thai, falling in the Gregorian months of January–February. In the Vaishnav calendar, it corresponds to the tenth month of Narayana.

In the Hindu lunar calendar, each month has 29 or 30 days. The month begins on the next day after Amavasya (new moon) or Purnima (full moon) as per the amanta and purnimanta systems respectively. A month consists of two cycles of 15 days each, Shukla Paksha (waning moon) and Krishna Paksha (waxing moon). Days in each cycle is labeled as a thithi, with each thithi repeating twice in a month.