Taurus Astrological Sign at the Wisconsin State Capitol

Vṛṣabha, Vrishabha or Vṛṣa, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign ** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological ch ...

, and overlaps with about the second half of May and about the first half of June in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. The first day of the month is called Vrishbha Sankranti, and it generally falls on May 14 or 15. In Vedic texts, the month of Vṛṣabha is called Madhava (IAST: Mādhava), but in these ancient texts it has no zodiacal associations. The solar month of Vṛṣabha overlaps with the lunar month of

Jyeshtha Jyeshtha may refer to: * Jyeshtha (month), month of the Hindu calendar * Jyestha (goddess), Hindu goddess of adversity and misfortune * Jyeshtha (nakshatra), the 18th nakshatra (lunar mansion) in Hindu astronomy and Vedic astrology See also * Jye� ...

in Hindu lunisolar calendars. Vṛṣabha is preceded by the solar month of

Mesha King Mesha (Moabite language, Moabite: , vocalized as: ; Hebrew: מֵישַׁע ''Mēšaʿ'') was a king of Moab in the 9th century BC, known most famously for having the Mesha Stele inscribed and erected at Dhiban, Dibon, Jordan. In this inscrip ...

and followed by the solar month of Mithuna. The month of Vṛṣabha is called ''Vaikasi'' in the

Tamil Hindu Tamil Hindus () are the Tamil-speaking people who follow Hinduism. Hinduism was the first religion to reach the ancient Tamil kingdoms. Tamil Nadu is home to one of the largest functioning Hindu temples in the world. Tamil influence was o ...

calendar. The ancient and medieval era Sanskrit texts of India vary in their calculations about the duration of Vrsabha, just like they do with other months. For example, the ''Surya Siddhanta'' calculates the duration of Vrsabha to be 31 days, 10 hours, 5 minutes and 12 seconds. In contrast, the ''Arya Siddhanta'' calculates the duration of Vrsabha to be 31 days, 9 hours, 37 minutes and 36 seconds. The Indian solar month names are significant in epigraphical studies of

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. For example, ''Vṛṣabha'' month, along with other solar months, are found inscribed in medieval era Hindu temples, sometimes spelled as the Rishabha month. Vṛṣabha is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to

. Vṛṣabha is also the twelfth month in the

Darian calendar The Darian calendar is a proposed system of timekeeping designed to serve the needs of any possible future human settlers on the planet Mars. It was created by aerospace engineer, political scientist, and space jurist Thomas Gangale in 1985 and n ...

for the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, when the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

traverses the central sector of the constellation Taurus as seen from Mars.

References

Hindu solar months {{Hinduism-stub