Chithirai Pournami · Chitra Pournami Festival The full moon of Chithirai, kept for Chitragupta, the keeper of the record of every deed.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Chithirai Pournami · Chitra Pournami
- தமிழ்
- சித்திரை பௌர்ணமி
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: 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
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The full moon of Chithirai, kept for Chitragupta, the keeper of the record of every deed. At Madurai it closes the Chithirai thiruvizha, the marriage of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar and the Kallazhagar festival at the Vaigai. Families light lamps and keep the Chitragupta vratam for the account of the year past.
- Deity
- Chitragupta, Meenakshi, Sundareswarar
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
The Pournami tithi running at sunset; the lamp and the puja belong to the evening.
The fast
Many keep a partial fast through the day and eat after the moon is seen. Chitragupta is offered chitrannam, the coloured rices, and the meal is vegetarian.
Where the regions differ
A Chitragupta temple day in Tamil Nadu and a bathing day at the ghats elsewhere in the south; the north keeps the same full moon as Hanuman Jayanti.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. 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.