Ritucharya (The Marathi Calendar & Changing Seasons)
Shweta-Creator of Sajuk Soul
8/9/20262 min read
Namaskar Mandali,
Welcome back to Sajuk Samvaad.
Have you ever felt the intoxicating, earthy scent of the very first rain hitting the parched ground? Have you ever felt the sudden, gentle chill of a summer evening breeze just as the sun dips below the horizon? Or that quiet, comforting pull of a cozy corner in your home during the dead of winter, whispering to you to come, sit, and slow down?
As I type these words today, my heart is overflowing with these exact feelings. For me, right now, everything is pure nostalgia. I spent the first twenty-five years of my life mostly anchored to one place, enveloped in the warmth of home. As I matured and grew in life, I nurtured a grand, romantic fantasy: I wanted to roam around every single corner of this world and physically experience how the seasons shifted in every land. Life eventually took me on a long, winding journey—across different cities and finally to a different country altogether.
But no matter how far I travel, my soul remains stubbornly rooted. I am a true pluviophile—a person who finds ultimate joy and peace in the rain. And how could I not be? I come from a hometown that experiences almost eight months of a beautiful, pouring rainy season. Yes, eight whole months! My lovely Kolhapur—evergreen, lush, and always fresh.
The Wisdom of Ritucharya
To be very frank with you, I wasn’t intimately familiar with the traditional Marathi calendar names during my early childhood. Like many, I just followed the standard calendar. But the moment I stepped into the kitchen and truly began my culinary journey, everything changed. I realized the immense importance and relevance of the Marathi months.
What a profound, breathtaking concept Ritucharya is. Our ancestors did not just map out time; they mapped out feeling. They created a 12-month blueprint that beautifully aligns the availability of nature’s resources with the exact necessity of the human body.
It actually made me wonder if other cultures shared this deep, rhythmic connection to time. And they do! From the ancient Chinese Jieqi (24 Solar Terms) that dictate harmony with nature’s shifts, to the Jewish calendar tied strictly to agricultural cycles, it seems that across the world, ancient civilizations always knew that humanity thrives only when it bows to the rhythm of the earth.
The Kitchen as my mirror to the earth.
For me, there is absolutely nothing better than the cycle of our months to explain the connection between our food, our festivals, and our ecosystem. It teaches us to respect animals, guides our gratitude toward nature, and reminds us to stay humble before the greatest power—the cycle of life itself.
It teaches us to be humble and stay grounded at all times.
I might be oceans away from the eight-month monsoons of my green Kolhapur today. I might be experiencing seasons that look very different from the ones I grew up with. But whenever I stand in my kitchen, blending the spices and preparing the recipes passed down to me, I am right back home. I am back in the harmony of the Marathi months.
Through Sajuk Soul, my goal is to pack that exact harmony and grounded love into everything I create for you.
Until our next conversation,
Shweta
Creator of Sajuk Soul
CFO PT#0507447