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
- Friday, 9 July 2027
- Thursday, 29 June 2028
- Tuesday, 19 June 2029
Where Aani Thirumanjanam · Aani Uthiram falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 9 Jul
- 2028: 29 Jun, 9 days earlier
- 2029: 19 Jun, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Uthiram nakshatra in Aani, the day of the great abhishekam to Nataraja at Chidambaram. It is one of the six festival days on which the Chidambaram Nataraja is bathed in public, and Shiva temples across Tamil Nadu repeat the rite.
- Deity
- Nataraja, Shiva
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
A human year is held to be a single day of the gods, and the six great abhishekams of Nataraja through the year are their six pujas of that day; Aani Thirumanjanam, at the close of Uttarayanam, is their evening puja, as Margazhi Thiruvathirai is their dawn. At Chidambaram it closes a ten-day festival: the chariots go round the four car streets the day before, and on Uthiram morning Nataraja and Sivakami are brought out of the Chit Sabha to the thousand-pillared hall for the abhishekam. The moment families wait for is the dharisanam that follows, when the two are carried back into the sanctum with a swaying step, as if dancing. Those who cannot go to Chidambaram watch the same abhishekam at the Nataraja shrine of their own Shiva temple.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Aani Thirumanjanam · Aani Uthiram: how it is kept
Keep ready
- milk, curd, ghee and honey for the abhishekam
- sandal paste and turmeric
- vibhuti
- the Thiruvasagam
- a lamp for the house
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The temple gives out sweet pongal and curd rice as prasadam when the abhishekam is done. At home the day is kept with a plain vegetarian meal and payasam, and many take nothing but the prasadam until the dharisanam is over.
The hour
Clock times for Friday, 9 July 2027 at Chennai
Uthiram nakshatra at sunrise in Aani; the thirumanjanam itself is done in the small hours and again in the morning.
The main rite. Uthiram nakshatra at sunrise in the solar month of Aani. The abhishekam begins in the small hours, and the dharisanam, the return of Nataraja to the sanctum, follows later in the day.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:48 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:48, sunset 18:40, 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 Shashti from previous day 16:08 until 14:04 | then Shukla Saptami until next day 12:38 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Phalguni until 23:16 | then Hasta until next day 22:51 |
| Rahu kaal | 10:38 to 12:14 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 15:27 to 17:03 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 07:25 to 09:01 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:48 to 12:40 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 10:47 | moonset 23:02 |
For Friday, 9 July 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is prescribed. Devotees take the theertham after the abhishekam and eat a plain vegetarian meal.
What is avoided
Devotees who keep the day eat no meat or fish and take nothing before they have seen the abhishekam or received its theertham and vibhuti.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A Tamil Saiva day, strongest at Chidambaram; the other traditions do not keep it.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- A Tamil Saiva day, kept above all at Chidambaram and at the Nataraja shrines of the great Shiva temples, among them the Velli Ambalam at Madurai, Kutralam and Tiruvalangadu.
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.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Thillai Nataraja Temple 197 kmChidambaram, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Chidambaram, and it is a temple of Nataraja. Uthiram nakshatra in Aani, the day of the great abhishekam to Nataraja at Chidambaram.
- Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Aani Thirumanjanam is its day.
Temples of Nataraja and Shiva 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 · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
- Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu · Vadaranyeswarar with Vandarkuzhali, and the Urdhva Tandava Nataraja
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Aani Thirumanjanam · Aani Uthiram's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
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.