✦ Summer Solstice (Dakshinayana Begins) ✦
✦ Sun's northernmost point — beginning of Dakshinayana ✦
✦ What is Summer Solstice (Dakshinayana Begins)? ✦
Summer Solstice = the day of the year when the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky. In the Northern Hemisphere, this day has the longest daytime and shortest night. The date is approximately June 21 each year (sometimes June 20 or 22).
In the Vedic tradition, the Sun begins its journey "south" from this day — i.e., "Dakshinayana" begins. For the next six months, the Sun moves southward. This period is called "Pitru-kaal" or "the night of the devas".
Dakshinayana is the season for pitru-karma — shraddha, tarpan, ancestral rites. The shastras say that those who depart their body during Dakshinayana attain Pitru-loka. Compared to Uttarayana, this period is considered spiritually less auspicious — but supreme for pitru-tarpan.
Astronomically, the Sun enters Cancer (tropical) or Karka-sankranti (Vedic) on this day — though due to ayanamsha drift between sayana (tropical) and nirayana (sidereal), the Vedic date trails by about 3 weeks.
✦ Concept & Rule ✦
Astronomical basis: Earth's axis is tilted 23.5° from its orbital plane. Around June 21, the North Pole tilts maximally toward the Sun — the Sun reaches its zenith in the northern sky. Day length: ~13.5 hours in Delhi, 12.5 in Andamans, 14.5 in Leh. At the North Pole, the Sun does not set at all — 24 hours of daylight. The start of Dakshinayana coincides with the longest day — paradoxical! Yet the Sun's direction of motion is now southward.