Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Thursday, 5 August 2027
- Tuesday, 25 July 2028
- Sunday, 12 August 2029
Where Aadi Pooram falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 5 Aug
- 2028: 25 Jul, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 12 Aug, 17 days later
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Pooram nakshatra in Aadi, kept as the birth of Andal at Srivilliputhur and as the day Shakti took form in the Amman temples. Andal's garland is taken to Srirangam, and the valaikappu, the bangle ceremony, is done for the goddess as it would be for a woman expecting a child.
- Deity
- Andal, Amman
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Periyalvar, who made the garlands for the Vatapatrasayi temple at Srivilliputhur, found a baby girl under a tulasi plant in his garden and raised her as Kodhai. She grew up wearing the garlands meant for the deity before he took them to the temple, and when he found her out and made a fresh one, the Lord is said to have asked for hers; she is still called Soodikodutha Sudarkodi, the shining creeper who gave the garland she had worn. She sang the Tiruppavai and the Nachiyar Tirumozhi and was wedded to Ranganatha at Srirangam, so Aadi Pooram is kept by girls who pray for a good marriage and by women who pray for a child. In the Amman temples the same star is the goddess's own valaikappu, and the glass bangles put on her are given back to the women present, to be worn by those who hope to conceive.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Aadi Pooram: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a picture of Andal or the family Amman
- glass bangles in red and green
- turmeric and kumkum
- a jasmine or tulasi garland
- betel leaves, areca nut and fruit
- rice, moong dal, jaggery, milk and ghee for the pongal
- kuthuvilakku and camphor
- thamboolam for the women who visit
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Tamil homes offer sakkarai pongal, akkaravadisal (rice cooked in milk with jaggery and plenty of ghee, the sweet tied to Andal) and payasam, with sundal for the visitors. The Amman temples give koozh, the millet porridge of Aadi, and maavilakku, a lamp moulded from rice flour and jaggery, and pilgrims to Srivilliputhur bring back the town's paal kova.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 5 August 2027 at Chennai
Pooram nakshatra at sunrise in Aadi. Where the star is the day-star twice inside the month the second is taken, as the almanacs do: 14 August in 2026, where the first Pooram of Aadi was 18 July.
The main rite. Pooram nakshatra at sunrise in the solar month of Aadi, the day nearer the Pournami when the star comes twice. The home puja is done in the morning, and the valaikappu in the temples follows the temple's own hour.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:55 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:55, sunset 18:35, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Chaturthi from previous day 08:20 until next day 02:28 | then Shukla Panchami until 2 days later, 00:23 |
| Nakshatra | Purva Phalguni until 09:20 | then Uttara Phalguni until next day 07:33 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:50 to 15:25 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 05:55 to 07:30 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 09:05 to 10:40 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:50 to 12:40 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 08:35 | moonset 20:56 |
For Thursday, 5 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is required; many women eat only after the noon puja. Sweet pongal and payasam are offered and bangles are distributed.
What is avoided
No meat or fish in the house on the goddess's day, and no food before the noon puja for the women who keep the fast.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A Tamil day, strongest at Srivilliputhur and in the Amman temples; Kerala keeps the month as Ramayana masam instead, and the Telugu calendar has no Aadi Pooram.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Kept most grandly at Srivilliputhur, where Andal and Rangamannar ride one of the largest temple cars in Tamil Nadu, and with the valaikappu in the Amman temples from Samayapuram to the village Mariamman shrines.
The dates above are the Tamil Nadu reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
இனிய ஆடிப்பூர நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்Iniya Aadi Poora nalvazhthukkal
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Andal Temple, Srivilliputhur 490 kmVirudhunagar, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Srivilliputhur. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Pooram nakshatra in Aadi, kept as the birth of Andal at Srivilliputhur and as the day Shakti took form in the Amman temples.
Temples of Amman near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Devi Karumariamman in her three forms
- Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu · Kamakshi Devi seated in padmasana with the Sri Chakra
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu · Adhiparasakthi as the swayambhu in the anthill
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.