Festival Annapurna, Parvati, Shiva
Annapurna Puja
The eighth day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra, kept for Annapurna, Parvati as the one who fills the rice pot, with Shiva standing before her holding out his begging bowl.
Annapurna Puja 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
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 14 April 2027
- Monday, 3 April 2028
- Sunday, 22 April 2029
Where Annapurna Puja falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Apr
- 2028: 3 Apr, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 22 Apr, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The eighth day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra, kept for Annapurna, Parvati as the one who fills the rice pot, with Shiva standing before her holding out his begging bowl. It falls inside the Basanti Puja days and is kept in the same houses; the old pujas at Barisha and Rashbehari in Kolkata are the ones people go to. Cooked rice is the offering, and nobody who comes to the house that day is sent away unfed.
- Deity
- Annapurna, Parvati, Shiva
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Bengal tells the story this way: Shiva once said that food, like everything else, was only illusion, and Parvati, the mother of all that the earth yields, left Kailash to show him otherwise; nothing grew, the pots stood empty everywhere, and Shiva himself went hungry until he found her at Kashi feeding everyone who came, and held out his bowl to her. The eighteenth-century poet Bharatchandra sang her in the Annadamangal, where the ferryman Ishwari Patni, offered any boon he liked, asks only that his children should never lack milk and rice. Families keep the day as a thanksgiving for the rice in the house, and as a promise that no guest will be turned away from it.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Annapurna Puja: how it is kept
Keep ready
- new rice
- a small brass pot and ladle
- a ghat of water with mango leaves
- flowers, bel leaves and sindur
- rice paste for the alpana
- a lamp and incense
The steps
0 of 5 done
What is cooked
Cooked rice is the offering, with moong dal, five fried vegetables, a shukto or a labra, chutney and payesh; the Kolkata houses that keep a large puja feed the whole para at midday.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 14 April 2027 at Chennai
Chaitra Shukla Ashtami at sunrise; the puja is in the morning and the anna bhog offered at midday.
The main rite. Chaitra Shukla Ashtami at sunrise; the puja is done in the morning, and the anna bhog of cooked rice is offered at midday before the house eats.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:57 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Madhyahna | 12:09 | midday, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset |
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 |
For Wednesday, 14 April 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who keep it fast until the bhog is offered. The offering is cooked rice, dal, five fried vegetables and payesh, and it is eaten by everyone afterwards.
What is avoided
The rice of the bhog is not wasted or thrown away, and no one who comes to the door is sent off without eating. Those keeping the fast take nothing until the bhog is offered.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Bengal keeps the Chaitra Ashtami; Varanasi keeps Annapurna beside the Vishwanath temple and gives out the dhaan at Diwali instead. The south keeps Annapurna without a day of her own.
In other regions
- North India
- The north keeps the same tithi as the Ashtami of Chaitra Navratri, with the kanya puja; Annapurna's own great days at Kashi come at Dhanteras and the Annakut, when her golden image is shown for a few days.
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Bengal keeps the Chaitra Ashtami in the houses that keep the Basanti Puja, and the old pujas at Barisha and Rashbehari are the ones people go to see.
The dates above are the Bengal 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
শুভ অন্নপূর্ণা পূজাShubho Annapurna Puja
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Uttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Varanasi, and it is a temple of Annapurna. Varanasi keeps Annapurna beside the Vishwanath temple and gives out the dhaan at Diwali instead.
Temples of Parvati 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
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
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.