Vratam Gowri, Parvati, Chandra
Atla Taddi
The women's vratam of Andhra and Telangana on the third day of the dark fortnight of Ashwayuja, kept by married women for the long life of the husband and by unmarried girls for a good one.
Atla Taddi 2027 falls on Monday, 18 October, 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
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Monday, 18 October 2027
- Friday, 6 October 2028
- Thursday, 25 October 2029
Where Atla Taddi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 18 Oct
- 2028: 6 Oct, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 25 Oct, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The women's vratam of Andhra and Telangana on the third day of the dark fortnight of Ashwayuja, kept by married women for the long life of the husband and by unmarried girls for a good one. Gowri is worshipped, eleven atlu (dosa-like pancakes) are offered and given away, and the night is spent on swings and songs.
- Deity
- Gowri, Parvati, Chandra
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
Atla Taddi is a girls' day as much as a wives': in the small hours the girls and young women of the street wake one another, eat a meal before dawn, and spend the morning on swings tied to the trees, singing the Atla Taddi songs from house to house. The katha usually told is of a young wife whose brothers, pitying her hunger, showed her a false moon through the trees; she ate early, her husband fell ill, and she won him back by keeping the vratam fully the next year, which is why the fast is broken only on the real moon. The atlu are the heart of it: eleven are offered to Gowri and eleven given, with turmeric and a blouse piece, to another married woman as vayanam, so that the blessing passes from woman to woman.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Atla Taddi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- gorintaku (henna) for the evening before
- new glass bangles
- turmeric for the Gowri
- kumkum and flowers
- rice flour for the atlu
- gongura pachadi and curd
- a blouse piece, betel leaves and fruit for the vayanam
- a lamp and a small vessel of water for the moon
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The meal before dawn is rice with gongura pachadi, curd and a vegetable. The offering is atlu, thin pancakes of rice flour (some homes add a little urad dal), eleven for Gowri and eleven for the vayanam, and the fast is broken on atlu with gongura pachadi and a little payasam.
The hour
Clock times for Monday, 18 October 2027 at Chennai
Ashwayuja Krishna Tadiya at sunrise. The fast is broken after the moonrise is seen, which on this tithi is late in the evening.
The main rite. Ashwayuja Krishna Tadiya at sunrise. The meal is eaten before first light, the Gowri puja is done in the evening, and the fast is broken after moonrise, late in the evening.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:00 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Moonrise | 19:53 | the Moon rising at this place, the hour a moonrise vratam is broken |
Sunrise 06:00, sunset 17:49, 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 Thritiyai from previous day 18:44 until 17:52 | then Krishna Chaturthi until next day 16:43 |
| Nakshatra | Krittika until 23:48 | then Rohini until next day 23:16 |
| Rahu kaal | 07:28 to 08:57 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 10:25 to 11:54 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 13:23 to 14:51 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:18 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 19:53 | moonset next day 09:14 |
For Monday, 18 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A hard fast: nothing from before dawn until the moon is seen, and in the strict form no water. Gongura pachadi and atlu are eaten after it.
What is avoided
In the strict form not even water is taken between the meal before dawn and the sight of the moon, and a moon seen only in a reflection or a picture does not count. No harsh word is said to the husband or the elders that day.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The Telugu counterpart of the North Indian Karwa Chauth, which falls in the same dark fortnight a day later or on the same night, on the Chaturthi the northern calendar names Kartika Krishna because its month ends at the full moon. Tamil Nadu and Kerala do not keep either.
In other regions
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra and Telangana alone keep Atla Taddi, strongest in the villages of the coast and Rayalaseema, where the swings still go up in the trees. It is the Telugu sister of the North Indian Karwa Chauth, which is kept on the same day or the next with the same moonrise fast.
The dates above are the Telugu 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 Gowri and 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.