Å›rÄ«-Å›uka uvÄca
hemante prathame mÄsi
nanda-vraja-kamÄrikÄḥ
cerur haviá¹£yaá¹ bhuñjÄnÄḥ
kÄtyÄyany-arcana-vratam
Å›rÄ«-Å›ukaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said; hemante - during the winter; prathame - in the first; mÄsi - month; nanda-vraja - of the cowherd village of Nanda MahÄrÄja; kumÄrikÄḥ - the unmarried young girls; ceruḥ - performed; haviá¹£yam - unseasoned khichrÄ«; bhuñjÄnÄḥ - subsisting on; kÄtyÄyanÄ« - of the goddess KÄtyÄyanÄ«; arcana-vratam - the vow of worship.
Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said: During the first month of the winter season, the young unmarried girls of Gokula observed the vow of worshiping goddess KÄtyÄyanÄ«. For the entire month they ate only unspiced khichrÄ«.
The word hemante refers to the month of MÄrgaśīrá¹£a — from approximately the middle of November to the middle of December, according to the Western calendar. In Chapter Twenty-two of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda comments that the gopÄ«s “first ate haviá¹£yÄnna, a kind of food prepared by boiling together mung dÄl and rice without any spices or turmeric. According to Vedic injunction, this kind of food is recommended to purify the body before one enacts a ritualistic ceremony.â€
