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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Friday, 22 October 2027
- Wednesday, 11 October 2028
- Tuesday, 30 October 2029
Where Ahoi Ashtami falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 22 Oct
- 2028: 11 Oct, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 30 Oct, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The eighth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika, kept by mothers for the well-being and long life of their children. An image of Ahoi Mata with eight corners is drawn on the wall or hung as a picture, the story is read in the evening, and the fast is broken at the sight of the stars, or in some families at moonrise, which is late that night.
- Deity
- Ahoi Mata, Parvati
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The story read in the evening is of a moneylender's wife who went to dig clean earth to plaster her house before Diwali and, with her spade, killed a cub of the syahu, the porcupine, in its burrow; within the year her seven sons were lost to her one by one. An old woman told her to draw the syahu and its young on the wall beside Ahoi Mata, to fast and ask forgiveness on this Ashtami, and the goddess gave her sons back, which is why the drawing always carries the porcupine family and why digging is forbidden on the day. Many mothers wear the syahu mala from this evening until Diwali: a silver pendant of Ahoi Mata threaded with a silver bead for each child, a bead added when a child is born or married. At Radha Kund near Govardhan couples longing for a child bathe in the kund at midnight on this night. The vrat was kept for sons in the old telling and is kept for every child today, daughters as much as sons, the mother's quiet day eight days before the house fills with Diwali light.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Ahoi Ashtami: how it is kept
Keep ready
- geru or colours to draw Ahoi Mata, or the printed Ahoi picture
- a karwa or kalash of water
- mauli and roli
- rice, milk and flowers
- seven grains of wheat for the katha
- the syahu mala, and a new silver bead if one is due
- eight puas, puris, halwa and mathri
- a ghee lamp
- a gift for the mother-in-law
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The offering is eight puas, small sweet cakes of wheat flour and jaggery fried in ghee, with puri, halwa or kheer and mathri, and the fast is broken with the same after the stars. The dinner that follows is a simple one, cooked without onion and garlic in most homes.
The hour
Clock times for Friday, 22 October 2027 at Chennai
The Ashtami running at sunset; like Karwa Chauth it is an evening vrat, so the day is read at sunset rather than at sunrise.
The main rite. The Ashtami that runs at sunset: the fast is kept from sunrise, the drawing is worshipped and the story heard at dusk, and the fast is broken when the first stars are seen, or when the late moon rises in families who wait for it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:00 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 17:46 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:46 to 20:10 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:00, sunset 17:46, 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 | Krishna Saptami from previous day 13:43 until 11:56 | then Krishna Ashtami until next day 10:00 |
| Nakshatra | Punarvasu until 20:25 | then Pushya until next day 19:08 |
| Rahu kaal | 10:25 to 11:53 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 14:50 to 16:18 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 07:29 to 08:57 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:17 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 23:53 | moonset next day 12:59 |
For Friday, 22 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No food or water through the day for those who keep it strictly; broken after the stars or the moon are seen. Sewing and digging are avoided on the day.
What is avoided
Nothing is dug on the day, not even the garden bed, and no needle, scissors or knife is used for sewing or cutting, in memory of the cub. Mothers who keep it strictly take no water until the stars are seen.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh keep it, usually eight days before Diwali. The south has no equivalent day for children.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh keep it, about eight days before Diwali, and the midnight bath at Radha Kund near Govardhan is the largest single gathering of the night.
- Punjab
- Punjabi Hindu families who keep it often call it Hoi, and draw the goddess on the wall in the same way.
The dates above are the North India 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.
Temples of Parvati 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.