The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : The shopping month is here

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Monday, Jul 13, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

The shopping month is here

Women buying gold at a jewellery shop in Visakhapatnam.

The month of Ashadam is considered inauspicious for doing good things such as marriages, upanayanam, gruhapravesam and aksharabhyasam. But it is a good time to worship god and has the same significance as worship in months like Kartika, it is said.

Other highlights of the month are taking bath and eating leaves of drum-sticks, the latter is suggested to prevent disease. Women also make it a point to apply gorintaku or henna to their hands during Ashadam. The Uttarayana punyakalam also concludes during the month. This year, it ends on July 17 when Dakshinayanam begins.

However, apart from performing good things, the only restriction appears to be that the newly arrived daughter-in-law and mother-in-law should not be present under the same roof. This means that the newlywed has to separate temporarily from her husband. It is said that this is done because union of the newly weds during the month would result in delivery of child during the hot summer that south India is noted for.

As Ashadam is inauspicious, businessmen who cannot do without sales have begun offering heavy discounts on their wares which has virtually turned the period to be a shopping month. Lot of exhibitions of consumer goods are also held during the months announcing huge discounts. Perhaps it could be a coincidence, an international consumer exhibition is now held in the city at AMCOSA Auditorium in the name `SmaSh’ – smart shopping hungama. It will last till July 19, it is said. The exhibition has consumer appliances, electronics, garments, handicrafts, furniture, food products, and also imported products from countries like China, Turkey, Malaysia, and the USA.

Of late, many have even begun to wait for the month to all the purchases, particularly gold jewellery. Purchasing gold has become a formality in the month of Sravanam and during Akshaya Tritiya. Gold is purchased during Sravanam on the occasion of Varalakshmi Vratam, celebrated on the second Friday of the month. However, bulk purchases for marriage and also for wear are done during Ashadam when the gold rates are kept low by the traders to attract sales.

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