170 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 14

the month of Kartika, on the four astakas in the winter season and
cool season, on the seventh lunar day of the bright fortnight of the
month of Magha, during the conjunction of Magha-naksatra and
the full-moon day, and on the days when the moon is completely
full, or not quite completely full, when these days are conjoined
with the naksatras from which the names of certain months are
derived. One should also perform the sraddha ceremony on the
twelfth lunar day when it is in conjunction with any of the
naksatras named Anuradha, Sravana, Uttara-phalguni, Uttarasadha
or Uttara-bhadrapada. Again, one should perform this ceremony
when the eleventh lunar day is in conjunction with either Uttara-
phalguni, Uttarasadha or Uttara-bhadrapada. Finally, one should
perform this ceremony on days conjoined with one’s own birth
star [janma-naksatra] or with Sravana-naksatra.

PURPORT

The word ayana means “‘path”’ or “going.” The six months when the
sun moves toward the north are called uttardyana, or the northern path,
and the six months when it moves south are called daksinayana, or the
southern path. These are mentioned in Bhagavad-gita (8.24-25). The
first day when the sun begins to move north and enter the zodiacal sign
of Capricorn is called Makara-sankranti, and the first day when the sun
begins to move south and enter the sign of Cancer is called Karkata-
sankranti. On these two days of the year, one should perform the
Sraddha ceremony.

Visuva, or Visuva-sankranti, means Mesa-sankranti, or the day on
which the sun enters the sign Aries. Tula-sankranti is the day on which
the sun enters the sign Libra. Both of these days occur only once within a
year. The word yoga refers to a certain relationship between the sun and
moon as they move in the sky. There are twenty-seven different degrees
of yoga, of which the seventeenth is called Vyatipdta. On the day when
this occurs, one should perform the srdddha ceremony. A tithi, or lunar
day, consists of the distance between the longitude of the sun and that of
the moon. Sometimes a tithi is less than twenty-four hours. When it
starts after sunrise on a certain day and ends before the sunrise of the
following day, the previous tithi and the following tithi both “touch” the
