Observance
Beginning of Kārtika
Dāmodara / ūrja-vrata month
Dates follow the Māyāpur (India) reckoning, the base of most published Vaiṣṇava calendars. The tradition sets each day by the tithi present at local sunrise, so your own date may fall a day earlier or later — see the calendar for your city.
Kārtika (also called Dāmodara or ūrja-vrata month) is treated in tradition as the month most favourable for devotion, and especially associated with Rādhā. The recurring image is the Dāmodara episode from the Bhāgavata — Yaśodā binding the child Kṛṣṇa to a grinding mortar, and his letting himself be bound. In the month is kept with small lamps offered each evening.
On the chart
Sources
- Padma Purāṇa (Kārtika-māhātmya); Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.9 (Dāmodara)Direct scriptural support
A study reference, not a devotional instruction. Observance varies by community and is not detailed here.