Observance Surya
Aluth Avurudu · Sinhala and Tamil New Year
The day the Sun enters Mesha, on which the solar calendars of the east and the south begin their year.
Aluth Avurudu · Sinhala and Tamil New Year 2027 falls on Wednesday, 14 April, computed for Chennai.
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
Sri Lanka calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 14 April 2027
- Thursday, 13 April 2028
- Saturday, 14 April 2029
Where Aluth Avurudu · Sinhala and Tamil New Year falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Apr
- 2028: 13 Apr, the same day of the year
- 2029: 14 Apr, the same day of the year
The Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Sri Lanka calendar
- Avurudu eve · Old year ends …
- Aluth Avurudu · Sinhala and Tamil New Year(this page) …
The dates, year by year
Sri Lanka calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The day the Sun enters Mesha, on which the solar calendars of the east and the south begin their year. Bengal opens the halkhata, the new account book, for Poila Boishakh; Assam keeps Bohag Bihu with the cattle and the husori songs; Kerala keeps Vishu, Tamil Nadu Puthandu and Odisha Pana Sankranti. The Punjab keeps Vaisakhi as the harvest and the founding of the Khalsa.
- Deity
- Surya
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Mesha is the sign in which the Sun is exalted, so the solar calendars of the east and the south begin their year with the Sun at its strongest, while the lunar calendars of the north, the Deccan and Maharashtra have already begun theirs at Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. Odisha still calls the day Maha Vishuva Sankranti, from the time, some seventeen centuries ago, when the ingress fell on the spring equinox. It is also the start of the hot season, so the gift of the day is water: a pot of cool water with a hand fan, sattu and jaggery is given away, water stands are opened by the road, and in Odisha a pot with a hole in its base is hung over the tulasi to drip through the summer. At Haridwar the Kumbh is held when the Sun is in Mesha and Jupiter in Kumbha, so in those years the Baisakhi bath at Har ki Pauri is the Kumbh's own great bath. The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is the one festival the whole island keeps together, Buddhist and Hindu, and it follows the Sun's crossing so exactly that every act of the day waits for its nakath, the auspicious time the astrologers fix and the government prints. The koha's call and the erabadu in flower tell the village that Avurudu is near, and the games and the swings of the village grounds are as much the festival as the milk rice.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Aluth Avurudu · Sinhala and Tamil New Year: how it is kept
Keep ready
- clothes in the colour the almanac names
- a new clay pot for the milk
- rice and coconut milk for the kiribath
- kavum, kokis, athirasa and aluwa
- bananas
- betel leaves and coins
- herbal oil and the leaves the almanac names for the anointing
- a rabana
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The Sinhala table is kiribath with lunu miris, kavum, kokis, athirasa, aluwa, mung kavum, asmi and bananas; Tamil homes make pongal, vadai and payasam.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 14 April 2027 at Chennai
The day the Sun enters Mesha when the ingress is before sunset, otherwise the next day. Kerala uses the stricter aparahna limit and can differ by one day.
The main rite. The instant the Sun crosses into Mesha, as the almanac gives it: the nonagathaya runs on either side of it, and the hearth is lit, the milk rice eaten, the first money exchanged and the oil anointed at the nakath that follow, the anointing usually a day or two later.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Aparahna | 13:24 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
| Sunset | 18:22 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:22 to 20:46 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:22, 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 Ashtami from previous day 17:29 until 15:24 | then Shukla Navami until next day 13:21 |
| Nakshatra | Punarvasu until 10:53 | then Pushya until next day 09:34 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:09 to 13:42 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:30 to 09:03 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:36 to 12:09 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:45 to 12:34 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 12:23 | moonset next day 01:32 |
| Sankramana | 15:28 | the instant the sidereal Sun enters the sign, for this place’s clock |
| Punya kala | 09:04 to 18:22 | 16 ghatis either side of the sankramana, the daylight part of it; almanacs narrow it by sign |
For Wednesday, 14 April 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. Each region keeps its own feast: the Bengali panta bhat and ilish, the Kerala sadya, the Tamil mangai pachadi.
What is avoided
Nothing is begun, cooked or bought in the nonagathaya, which is kept for the temple and for rest, and the first acts of the year wait for their nakath: the hearth is not lit, the milk rice not eaten and no money exchanged before the times the almanac names.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The North Indian lunar year has already turned at Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, a fortnight earlier, so the north marks this day only in passing. Vaisakhi is dated by the Nanakshahi calendar and can fall a day off the sankranti. Sri Lanka reads every hour of the crossing from the almanac: the nonagathaya, about six hours either side of it, when no work is begun and only religious observance is kept, and then the punya kalaya with its named times to light the hearth, to eat the kiribath, to be anointed with oil and to leave for work, each with its own direction and colour to wear. Sinhala and Tamil households keep it together, and the holidays can fall on the two days the crossing straddles.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps the day as Puthandu, the Tamil new year, with the kani and the new panchangam.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps it as Vishu, with the Vishukkani and the kaineettam.
- Kannada
- The Tulu coast of Karnataka keeps it as Bisu, the Tulu new year.
- North India
- The north marks the day as Baisakhi in Haryana, Himachal and Jammu, with the rabi harvest, the melas and the great bath at Har ki Pauri in Haridwar; Bihar keeps Satuan with sattu and raw mango, Mithila keeps Jur Sital, Kumaon keeps Bikhauti, and Odisha keeps Pana Sankranti, the Odia new year, with the pana and the close of the Danda Nata.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps Poila Boishakh, the halkhata and the new year feast.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps Vaisakhi, the wheat harvest and the founding of the Khalsa.
- Assam
- Assam keeps Bohag Bihu, the seven days of the spring Bihu.
- Sri Lanka (the dates above)
- The whole island stops for it, Sinhala and Tamil, city and village; Sinhala homes keep the nakath to the minute and play the Avurudu games, the kotta pora, the kana mutti and the greasy pole, while Tamil families of Jaffna, Batticaloa and the hill country bathe in maruthu neer, go to the kovil, and the elders give kai vishesham, money pressed into the hands of the young.
- Nepal
- Nepal turns the Bikram Sambat year on Baisakh 1.
The dates above are the Sri Lanka 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
සුබ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවාSuba aluth avuruddak wewa
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kollam, Kerala
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Mandalam and the Meena Vishu festival are its seasons.
- Ananthapura Lake Temple 576 kmKumbla, Kasaragod, Kerala
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Vishu is its day.
- Kollam, Kerala
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Meena Vishu and the Mandalam season are its days.
- Pathanamthitta, Kerala
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. Open in Mandala-Makaravilakku (mid-November to mid-January), the first five days of each Malayalam month and Vishu
1 more temple in this gazetteer is recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
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.