Krishna Paksha

After the full moon, the light begins to leave. The fifteen tithis of that fading — Purnima down to Amavasya — make up Krishna paksha, the dark fortnight, the contracting half of the lunar month. Where Shukla paksha gathers, this half releases, and the ritual calendar keeps the distinction carefully.

Its tithis repeat the standard names with the dark prefix: Krishna Pratipada, Krishna Ashtami and so on, ending with the month's final Chaturdashi and then Amavasya. In the North Indian (purnimanta) calendar this fortnight opens the month; in the South Indian (amanta) calendar it closes it. The fortnight itself is the same — only the month's name attached to it changes by region.

Worked example: a person wants to clear a lingering debt and close an unused account. The panchang shows four days of Shukla paksha remain. Tradition would hold the task: repayments and endings belong to the waning half. They wait for Krishna paksha, pick a workable tithi — avoiding the rikta 14th for anything important — and complete the closure a day or two after Purnima. The logic is sympathetic timing: release work on the Moon's descending arc.

The fortnight's biggest calendar event is Pitru Paksha, the ancestor fortnight of the Krishna half of Bhadrapada, when tarpan and shraadh offerings are made to forebears — ancestor work par excellence, scheduled deliberately into the dark half. Many monthly Amavasya observances follow the same principle.

Krishna paksha is not "bad". Festivals like Krishna Janmashtami fall here, and completions, cleanouts, exits and repayments are all well-timed in it. Practitioners also note that the Moon loses strength steadily through the fortnight, so its first tithis carry more weight than its last — the days just before Amavasya are the leanest of the whole month. The simple rule: if the goal is for something to grow, prefer the waxing half; if the goal is for something to end cleanly, the dark half is the tradition's chosen season.