Lord Surya is the chief of the nine planets. The Sun transits through the 12 zodiac signs in sequence, due to which the relative position of all the planets changes and it has auspicious and inauspicious effects on people.
Kharmas
When Lord Surya enters the zodiac sign of Jupiter i.e. Pisces and Sagittarius. Then the time interval of the Sun entering and leaving the zodiac sign of Jupiter is called Kharmas.
Since Jupiter has two zodiac signs, and the Sun enters these two zodiac signs (Pisces and Sagittarius) at different times of the year. Therefore, Kharmas comes twice in a year. According to the Hindu lunar calendar, Kharmas comes between the months of Falgun-Chaitra and Margashirsha-Paush. That is, according to the English calendar, it comes between March-April and December-January.
Why does Kharmas occur?
According to Hindu scriptures, whenever the Sun enters the zodiac sign of Jupiter, Pisces and Sagittarius, Kharmas occurs. During this period, religious activities like puja and havan can be performed but no auspicious work can be done.
What not to do in Kharmas?
Do not do any auspicious work during Kharmas, such as marriage, mundan, engagement, janeu, griha pravesh etc. In Kharmas, people do not do the auspicious work of building a new house or opening a new shop. Do not buy a new vehicle during this time.
Mythology behind Kharmas
The time of Kharmas comes twice a year, according to astrology, whenever the Sun enters Jupiter's zodiac sign Sagittarius and Pisces, then Kharmas starts. On dissecting the word Kharmas, it is known that Khar means donkey and Maas means month.
According to mythology, to convey the importance of Kharmas to every person, a story is told in which it is told that the Sun revolves around the universe sitting on his chariot of seven horses and during the revolution, the chariot of Lord Sun does not move. Do not stop anywhere even for a moment.
But the seven horses of the Sun get tired after running all over the universe for a year, so for some interval the driving of the chariot is handed over to Khar for the horses to rest and drink water, due to which the speed of the Sun increases.
According to the legend, during Kharmas the donkey i.e. Khar drives the chariot at its slow speed, as a result of which the glory of the Sun on earth decreases.
From the day of Makar Sankranti, the Sun again moves forward riding on his seven horses and gradually the brightness of the Sun increases on the earth.
