Long nights, short days, sparkling snowflakes, and fog with cold climate and people dressed in warm clothes is the exact picture we paint whenn we think about winter season. Ayurveda has described winter in to Hemanta (pre-winter) & Shishir (late-winter) ritus .
Hemanta Ritu -
This ritu starts in mid October ends in mid December. It is a starting of winter season. This is third and the last ritu of southern solstice(Dakshinayana). In this period we transition from varsha ritu (rainy season) to hemanta ritu and so strength of body gradually goes on increasing. We also call this period “Visargakaal”.
In these ritu wind is cold which causes vasoconstriction and closure of pores. As pores are closed thermal exchange cannot takes place, so the heat ( agni) get retained in body thus leads to increased rate of metabolism (strong jathragni). So in this season food which is heavy to digest and has high nutritional values is recommended.
Our sages stated that if we do not feed our body with heavy food in this season, strong jathragni starts to eat our body tissues(Dhatu) to fulfil its strong hunger which leads to imbalance in Dosha-Dhatu-Mala (Tridosha- Body tissues- Waste products) physiology of body resulting in production of various diseases. Hence we have to keep an eye on our diet & lifestyle precisely in this season.
Shishir Ritu-
Normally we call it late winter. It starts in mid December goes upt0 mid February. Though it is the first season of northern solstice (uttarayana) the coldness in weather increases compared to hemanta ritu , also the strength of body is at peak thus all the diet and lifestyle in this season should remain same as that described in hemanta ritu.
Guidelines for diet & lifestyle of these ritu’s are as follows,
This is the ritucharya advised by ayurveda for hemanta and shishir ritu’s.
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