Observance Pitrus, Yama
Amavasai · Amavasya · New moon
The new moon of the lunar month, and in the south the day of tarpanam for the ancestors: the son of the house offers water and sesame facing south, at the sea, a river or a tank.
Amavasai · Amavasya · New moon 2027 falls on Thursday, 7 January, 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
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Thursday, 7 January 2027
- Friday, 25 February 2028
- Tuesday, 13 February 2029
Where Amavasai · Amavasya · New moon falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 7 Jan
- 2028: 25 Feb, 49 days later
- 2029: 13 Feb, 12 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon of the lunar month, and in the south the day of tarpanam for the ancestors: the son of the house offers water and sesame facing south, at the sea, a river or a tank. It is not a festival, and no new work, journey or purchase is begun on it; the day belongs to the departed. Aadi, Thai and Mahalaya Amavasai are the three the whole family keeps.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Yama
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
The new moon is the night the sun and the moon stand together, and the tradition holds that the pitrus gather then to receive what their descendants offer, so a man who has lost his father does not let an Amavasai pass without water and sesame. The crow is fed before anyone eats because it is taken as the messenger of the pitrus and the vahana of Sani; when a crow comes down and takes the rice, the family reads the offering as accepted. In many Tamil homes the day has its own quiet: no kolam is drawn until the tarpanam is done, and nothing new is begun, because the house is in the ancestors' keeping. The rite itself is short, a few minutes with darbha and sesame, but it is the monthly habit that keeps a family's line of names spoken aloud.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Amavasai · Amavasya · New moon: how it is kept
Keep ready
- darbha grass and a pavitram
- black sesame, ellu
- a copper or brass vessel of water and a plate
- a dhoti and angavastram
- the names and gotra of the ancestors
- cooked rice with sesame and ghee for the crows
- agathi keerai for the cow
- a lamp
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Tamil homes cook a plain meal without onion or garlic: rice, paruppu, a poriyal of raw plantain, broad beans or pumpkin, rasam, and in many homes vadai and payasam, with ellu podi mixed into the crows' rice. Kerala keeps it with the orikkal, a single meal of rice and simple curries, and Telugu and Kannada homes cook a similar plain meal and set the first portion aside for the crows.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 7 January 2027 at Chennai
The Amavasai tithi in the afternoon, the aparahna, which is the hour prescribed for tarpanam; the bath comes first.
The main rite. The Amavasai tithi in the afternoon, the aparahna, fixes the day. The tarpanam is offered after the morning bath and before any food, and in any case before the afternoon is out.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Aparahna | 13:23 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
Sunrise 06:33, sunset 17:57, 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 Amavasai from previous day 23:15 until next day 01:54 | then Shukla Prathamai until 2 days later, 04:34 |
| Nakshatra | Purva Ashadha until next day 09:13 | then Uttara Ashadha until 2 days later, 12:16 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:40 to 15:06 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 06:33 to 07:59 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 09:24 to 10:50 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:52 to 12:38 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 06:05 | moonset 17:34 |
For Thursday, 7 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The one who offers tarpanam fasts until it is done and then eats one plain meal, without onion or garlic. Many households eat no non-vegetarian food on the day.
What is avoided
No new venture, purchase, journey or ceremony is begun, and no hair or nails are cut. The one who offers eats nothing before the tarpanam and takes only one meal; many homes keep the whole day free of non-vegetarian food.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The south offers monthly tarpanam; the north keeps the Amavasya as a bathing and daan day and reserves the great tarpan for Sarva Pitru Amavasya. Somavati Amavasya, one that falls on a Monday, is held special everywhere. The Punjab calls it Masya, Nepal calls it Aunsi and keeps the Bhadra one as Kushe Aunsi for fathers and the Baisakh one as Mata Tirtha Aunsi for mothers, and the Sinhala Buddhist reckoning counts the new moon as the Ava Pasalosvaka Poya.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil Nadu goes to the water for it: the Agni theertham at Rameswaram, Kanyakumari, the Kaveri at the Amma Mandapam of Srirangam and the tank of the Veeraraghava temple at Thiruvallur all fill on the new moon.
- Kerala
- Kerala calls the new moon Karutha Vavu and keeps it with the orikkal and, for those who keep the monthly rite, a bali at the river or the temple; the Karkidakam one is the great day.
- Telugu
- Telugu homes call it Amavasya and keep it as a day for the pitrus, with no new beginning and no auspicious work; the Mahalaya Amavasya of Bhadrapada is the one every family keeps.
- Kannada
- Karnataka calls it Amavasye; tarpana is offered by those whose father has died, and the Ashadha one is Bheemana Amavasye, when wives worship their husbands and pray for a long life together.
- Maharashtra
- Marathi homes begin nothing on Amavasya; the Ashadh one is Deep Amavasya, when every lamp in the house is cleaned and lit before Shravan begins, and the Shravan one is Pithori Amavasya, the day of Bail Pola in the Deccan villages.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps the Amavasya as Kali's night: Kalighat, Dakshineswar and Tarapith hold a special puja every new moon, and Tarapith draws its largest crowds on it.
- Punjab
- The Punjab calls it Masya, and the monthly Masya gathering at the sarovar of Sri Tarn Taran Sahib is one of the largest regular gatherings of the Sikh year; Hindu Punjabi families offer water to the ancestors and give alms.
- Assam
- Assam keeps the new moon quietly: nothing new is begun, tarpan is offered where the family keeps it, and the Shakta shrines hold their night pujas.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka's Buddhists count the new moon as Ava Pasalosvaka Poya, one of the four monthly uposatha days, and the devout take the eight precepts at the temple though it is not a holiday; the island's Tamil Hindus offer tarpanam at the sea and at the springs of Keerimalai in Jaffna.
- Nepal
- Nepal calls it Aunsi and leaves it to the dead, except twice a year: on Kushe Aunsi in Bhadra sons and daughters bring sweets to their father, and on Mata Tirtha Aunsi in Baisakh to their mother, while those whose parent has died bathe at Gokarneshwar or at Mata Tirtha.
- Tulu Nadu
- A Tulu household marks the Amavasye of each lunar month, and two of them have names of their own: the Aati Amavasye and the Bontel one.
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.
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Visited for a father’s health and on amavasai.
- Srikalahasti Temple 97 kmTirupati district, Andhra Pradesh
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Rahu kalam and Amavasya are its hours
- Viluppuram, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. The Amman of the smasanam: the Mayana Kollai on the amavasai after Masi Magam is one of the fiercest nights in Tamil Nadu.
- Kollumangudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Visited where a family quarrel or a father’s displeasure is read into the chart, and on amavasai for the ancestors.
- Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Tula snanam through Aippasi, when lakhs bathe at the ghats, and amavasai tarpanam are what most come for.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai tarpanam and Maha Sivaratri are its days
39 more temples in this gazetteer are 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.
- Pitru tarpanam sankalpam
- Devatabhyah Pitribhyashcha (to the ancestors)
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
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.