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, 6 October 2027
- Monday, 25 September 2028
- Saturday, 13 October 2029
Where Maha Saptami falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 6 Oct
- 2028: 25 Sep, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 13 Oct, 17 days later
The days of Durga Puja
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Bengal calendar
- Mahalaya …
- Maha Shashthi · Bodhon …
- Maha Saptami(this page) …
- Maha Ashtami …
- Maha Navami …
- Bijoya Dashami …
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The seventh day, on which the puja proper begins. Before dawn the nabapatrika, nine plants bound together around a banana stem, is carried to the river, bathed, dressed in a red-bordered sari and set at Ganesha's right; the nine plants are the nine forms of the goddess as the field and the garden know her. The pran pratishtha follows and the first pushpanjali is offered.
- Deity
- Durga, Nabapatrika, Ganesha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Each of the nine plants of the nabapatrika stands for a form of the goddess: the banana for Brahmani, the kochu for Kalika, the turmeric for Durga, the jayanti for Kartiki, the bel for Shivaa, the pomegranate for Raktadantika, the ashoka for Shokarahita, the mankochu for Chamunda and the paddy for Lakshmi. Bound with the white aparajita creeper and a pair of bel fruits, they are an older layer of the puja than the clay image, the worship of the autumn fields and gardens as the mother herself. The clay pratima cannot be bathed, so this morning the priest bathes the goddess in her reflection in a mirror, the mahasnan, with waters gathered from many rivers and wells, before life is called into the image. From the first anjali of the Saptami the goddess is held to be present in the pandal, and a Bengali will say the puja has truly begun only now.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Maha Saptami: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the nine plants of the nabapatrika
- the white aparajita creeper and a pair of bel fruits
- a new red-bordered white sari
- sindur
- a mirror for the mahasnan
- flowers and bel leaves for the anjali
- a dhunuchi with resin and coconut husk
- sal leaf plates for the bhog
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The bhog is khichuri of gobindobhog rice and roasted moong dal, labra, five fried vegetables, papaya or tomato chutney and payesh, eaten sitting in rows at the pandal. Families who do not keep the days vegetarian cook fish at home in the evening and save the mutton for the Navami; traditions vary.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 6 October 2027 at Chennai
Ashwin Shukla Saptami at sunrise; the nabapatrika snan is at first light and the anjali in the morning.
The main rite. Ashwin Shukla Saptami at sunrise; the nabapatrika is bathed at first light, the pran pratishtha follows, and the first pushpanjali is offered in the morning.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 17:56, 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 Saptami from 02:33 until next day 04:14 | then Shukla Ashtami until 2 days later, 06:28 |
| Nakshatra | Mula until next day 04:29 | then Purva Ashadha until 2 days later, 07:14 |
| Rahu kaal | 11:57 to 13:27 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:28 to 08:58 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:27 to 11:57 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:33 to 12:21 (0 h 48 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 11:33 | moonset 23:03 |
For Wednesday, 6 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who keep the puja fast until the morning anjali. The bhog of khichuri, labra, chutney and payesh is offered at midday and eaten by everyone.
What is avoided
Those who offer the anjali eat nothing before it, and the flowers of the anjali are never ones that have been smelled or have fallen to the ground. Shoes are left well away from the goddess's dais, and the bhog is not tasted before it is offered.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura bathe the nabapatrika; the north and the Deccan keep the same tithi as the seventh night of Navratri without it, and Nepal receives the same nine plants from Gorkha as the phulpati. The kola bou, the banana bride, is popularly taken for Ganesha's wife, though the ritual itself calls her the nabapatrika.
In other regions
- North India
- The north keeps the same tithi as the seventh night of Navratri, the night of Kalaratri, without the nabapatrika; the Bengali pujas of Delhi and the Hindi belt bathe her as they would at home.
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Bengal bathes the kola bou at every ghat of the Hooghly at first light, with the dhakis playing on the steps, while the family pujas take theirs to the pond behind the house.
- Assam
- Assam bathes the nabapatrika the same morning in the Brahmaputra or the pond of the puja, and offers the first anjali in the pandals of Guwahati and the tea towns.
- Nepal
- Nepal brings its own nine plants from Gorkha to Kathmandu as the phulpati on the same Saptami.
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 মহাসপ্তমীShubho Mahasaptami
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Durga and Ganesha 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.
- Sarvamangala Mangalye
- Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam)
- Vakratunda Mahakaya
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.