[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s6.50 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s6.50 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s6.50 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s6.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.50) Rtu, ‘season,’ is a term repeatedly mentioned from the Rigveda¹ onwards. Three seasons of the year are often alluded to,² but the names are not usually specified. In one passage of the Rigveda³ spring (\*vasanta\*), summer (\*grīṣma\*), and autumn (\*śarad\*) are given. The Rigveda knows also the rainy season (\*prā-vṛṣ\*) and the winter (\*himā, hemanta\*). A more usual⁴ division (not found in the Rigveda) is into five seasons, vasanta, grīṣma, varṣā, śarad, hemanta-śiśira; but occasionally the five are otherwise divided, varṣā-śarad being made one season.⁵ Sometimes six⁶ seasons are reckoned, hemanta and śiśira being divided, so that the six seasons can be made parallel to the twelve months of the year. A still more artificial arrangement⁷ makes the seasons seven, possibly by reckoning the intercalary month as a season, as Weber and Zimmer⁸ hold, or more probably because of the predilection for the number seven, as Roth⁹ suggests. Occasionally the word ṛtu is applied to the months.¹⁰ The last season, according to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,¹¹ is hemanta. - [Previous: v1.c3.s6.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.49) - [Next: v1.c3.s6.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.51) - [Up: v1.c3.s6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6) ## Linked texts (1) - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s6.50) · Pramāṇa