Festival Buddha, Vishnu
Buddha Purnima · Vesak
The full moon of Vaishakha, on which the Buddha is held to have been born, to have reached enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and to have passed into nirvana, all three on the same tithi in different years.
Buddha Purnima · Vesak 2027 falls on Thursday, 20 May, 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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Thursday, 20 May 2027
- Monday, 8 May 2028
- Sunday, 27 May 2029
Where Buddha Purnima · Vesak falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 May
- 2028: 8 May, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 27 May, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of Vaishakha, on which the Buddha is held to have been born, to have reached enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and to have passed into nirvana, all three on the same tithi in different years. Bodh Gaya and Sarnath are circumambulated, the Bodhi tree is watered and lamps and prayer flags are put up; Hindu almanacs keep the same day as the ninth avatar of Vishnu.
- Deity
- Buddha, Vishnu
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The prince Siddhartha was born under a sal tree in the Lumbini garden, left his father's palace at Kapilavastu in search of an end to suffering, and after six years woke to the truth under the pipal at Bodh Gaya; he taught for forty-five years after that and passed away at Kushinagar. All four great places of his life, Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar, lie in or beside the Gangetic plain, so for the north this is a local memory as much as a world religion's feast. Families keep it for what he taught, the middle way and kindness to every living thing: birds and animals are fed, water and food are given out, and meat is left alone for the day even in homes that eat it. The Hindu almanac also marks Kurma Jayanti, the birth of Vishnu's tortoise form, on this full moon, and Jayadeva's Dashavatara hymn counts the Buddha among the ten.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Buddha Purnima · Vesak: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a Buddha image or picture
- white cloth and white clothes
- fresh flowers, lotus if you can find it
- candles or oil lamps
- incense
- a pot of scented water or milk-water for the Bodhi tree
- rice kheer for the offering
- prayer flags
- food and fruit for dana
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Rice kheer, for the bowl Sujata gave, is the dish of the day in north Indian homes, with plain vegetarian food and no meat at all; those who keep the eight precepts eat nothing solid after midday. Hindu households give sattu, sugar and a pot of water, as on the other full moons of the summer. Sri Lanka sets up the dansal, free food stalls, for everyone who passes.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 20 May 2027 at Chennai
Vaishakha Purnima at sunrise; the pujas run from before dawn and the lamps are lit at dusk.
The main rite. Vaishakha Purnima from before dawn: the refuges and precepts are taken and the suttas chanted at the viharas in the early morning, and the lamps are lit and the moon given arghya at dusk.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Arunodaya | 04:07 | the 96 minutes before sunrise, the hour of the oil bath |
| Sunrise | 05:43 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 18:28 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:28 to 20:52 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 05:43, sunset 18:28, 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 Pournami from previous day 16:03 until 16:29 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 17:24 |
| Nakshatra | Vishakha until 13:21 | then Anuradha until next day 14:51 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:41 to 15:17 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 05:43 to 07:18 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 08:54 to 10:30 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:40 to 12:31 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 18:30 | moonset next day 06:03 |
For Thursday, 20 May 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Buddhists keep the eight precepts for the day, with no solid food after midday in the stricter houses; Hindus who keep it fast until the moon rises.
What is avoided
No meat, fish, eggs or alcohol, and no harm to any living thing, the killing of insects included where it can be helped. Quarrels, harsh speech and lies are avoided, since the precepts of the day govern speech as much as food.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Kept as Vesak across the Buddhist world on the same full moon, though Sri Lanka, Thailand and China each reckon the month a little differently and can fall a lunation apart.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Bodh Gaya is the centre, with monks from every Buddhist country at the Mahabodhi temple, and Sarnath and Kushinagar keep it with processions, chanting and lamps; it is a public holiday. Ladakh, Sikkim and the Himalayan monasteries keep it within Saga Dawa, the holy month of the Tibetan calendar, whose full moon is usually this one.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra's Buddhists, the community that took the Dhamma with Babasaheb Ambedkar at Nagpur, keep it with processions and readings of the Buddha's life at the viharas.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka keeps the same full moon as Vesak Poya, with lanterns, thorana and dansal over two days.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it as Buddha Jayanti at Lumbini, where he was born, and at Swayambhu and Boudha in Kathmandu.
The dates above are the North India 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
बुद्ध पूर्णिमा की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंBuddha Purnima ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Vishnu 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 · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
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.
- Namo Tassa (homage to the Buddha)
- Tisarana (the three refuges)
- Karaniya Metta Sutta
- Mangala Sutta
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.