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
- Monday, 12 April 2027
- Saturday, 1 April 2028
- Friday, 20 April 2029
Where Basanti Puja begins falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 12 Apr
- 2028: 1 Apr, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 20 Apr, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The spring Durga Puja, kept from the Shashthi to the Dashami of the bright fortnight of Chaitra. It is the older of the two: the autumn puja is the akal bodhan, the untimely waking that Rama is said to have made before crossing to Lanka, and this is the one the shastra appoints. It is kept quietly now, in family houses and a few old bonedi bari, rather than in the street pandals of Ashwin.
- Deity
- Durga, Basanti
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The Devi Mahatmya tells of King Suratha, driven from his kingdom, and the merchant Samadhi, turned out by his own family, who met at the hermitage of the sage Medhas and were taught to worship the goddess in an image of clay; Bengal holds that they did it in spring, and so counts this as the first Durga Puja of all. A forest near Durgapur is still shown as the place of that hermitage. The goddess is the same Durga with her four children, but the season is gentler, the crowds are few, and the name comes from basanta, the spring. Many families hold that a puja once begun at home must be kept at least three years running, and some old houses have kept this one for generations without a break.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Basanti Puja begins: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the pratima or a painted ghat
- a bel branch for the bodhon
- the nine plants of the nabapatrika
- a red-bordered sari
- flowers, bel leaves and durba grass
- a hundred and eight lamps and lotuses for the Sandhi Puja
- sindur for the Dashami
- a dhak and its dhaki
The steps
0 of 6 done
What is cooked
The bhog is the autumn one: khichuri of gobindobhog rice and roasted moong dal, labra, five fried vegetables, chutney and payesh, with luchi and suji in some houses.
The hour
Clock times for Monday, 12 April 2027 at Chennai
Chaitra Shukla Shashthi at sunrise for the bodhon; the puja runs on to the Dashami as it does in autumn.
The main rite. Chaitra Shukla Shashthi at sunrise, with the bodhon at dusk; the Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami follow as in autumn, with the Sandhi Puja at the join of the Ashtami and the Navami.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:21, 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 Shashti from previous day 21:40 until 19:35 | then Shukla Saptami until next day 17:29 |
| Nakshatra | Mrigashira until 13:34 | then Ardra until next day 12:13 |
| Rahu kaal | 07:31 to 09:04 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 10:37 to 12:10 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 13:43 to 15:16 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:45 to 12:35 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 10:17 | moonset 23:43 |
For Monday, 12 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 anjali of each morning. The bhog is khichuri, labra and payesh, offered and then eaten by everyone who comes.
What is avoided
Many houses that keep it keep fish and meat out of the kitchen through the days of the puja. A house in ashauch, the period of impurity after a birth or a death, does not hold the puja itself that year.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Bengal keeps Basanti Puja; the same nine nights are Chaitra Navratri in the north and Vasantha Navaratri in the Deccan, both ending at Ram Navami. Traditions vary on whether a family keeps the spring puja, the autumn one or both.
In other regions
- North India
- The north keeps the same nine days as Chaitra Navratri, with the kalash, the barley shoots and the kanya puja, ending at Ram Navami.
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Bengal keeps Basanti Puja in the family houses and a few old para pujas, and Bangladesh in its temples; it is quiet beside the autumn puja, with no pandal crowds and the dhak heard only in the lanes where it is kept.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps the Ashtami of these days as Chaite Dashain, the small Dashain of spring, with worship at the Durga temples.
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 বাসন্তী পূজাShubho Basanti Puja
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Durga 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.
- Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam)
- Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu
- Sarvamangala Mangalye
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.