Festival Durga, Nabapatrika
Fulpati
The seventh day of Dashain, when the phulpati, a bundle of nine plants with a banana stem, sugar cane and turmeric among them, is brought from the old royal house at Gorkha.
Fulpati 2027 falls on Wednesday, 6 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
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 6 October 2027
- Monday, 25 September 2028
- Saturday, 13 October 2029
Where Fulpati 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 dates, year by year
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The seventh day of Dashain, when the phulpati, a bundle of nine plants with a banana stem, sugar cane and turmeric among them, is brought from the old royal house at Gorkha. It is carried on foot for three days and received at Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu with a guard of honour, a gun salute and a procession, and taken into the dashain ghar, where the goddess is held to enter with it. The nine plants are the nabapatrika of the Bengali puja under another name.
- Deity
- Durga, Nabapatrika
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Fulpati is the day the goddess is brought home. The nine plants stand for nine forms of Durga, and bringing them into the dashain ghar, where the jamara has been growing since Ghatasthapana, is inviting her to live in the house for the last days of Dashain. The procession from Gorkha remembers the old royal house of the Shahs and its goddess, and the reception at Hanuman Dhoka is still the moment the capital's Dashain begins in earnest. From this day the offices close, the buses fill with families going home, and the house is readied for the tika.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Fulpati: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the nine plants of the phulpati
- a red cloth to tie them
- red tika powder, rice and flowers
- fruit
- a lamp and ghee
- incense
- water for the jamara
- the Durga Saptashati
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The Dashain cooking begins: sel roti, achar, beaten rice and curd are made ready, and families who eat meat buy the goat for the sacrifice of Ashtami and Navami. Vegetarian houses offer fruit, curd and sweets to the goddess instead.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 6 October 2027 at Chennai
Ashwin Shukla Saptami at sunrise; the phulpati is received at Hanuman Dhoka in the afternoon.
The main rite. Ashwin Shukla Saptami, the seventh day of Dashain. The family's own phulpati is brought in during the morning, and the procession from Gorkha is received at Hanuman Dhoka in the afternoon.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Aparahna | 13:09 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
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
No fast is kept on the day itself. Those keeping the Dashain vow go on with one meal a day to the Navami.
What is avoided
The jamara is not exposed to sunlight and the dashain ghar is not entered in unclean clothes. No sacrifice is made on the seventh day itself; that belongs to the eighth and ninth.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Nepal alone keeps the Gorkha phulpati and the state reception of it; Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura bathe the same nine plants at dawn as the nabapatrika, and the north and the Deccan keep the tithi as the seventh night of Navratri.
In other regions
- North India
- The north keeps the tithi as the seventh night of Navratri, for Kalaratri.
- Bengal
- Bengal bathes the same nine plants as the Nabapatrika, the kola bou, at dawn on Maha Saptami and dresses them in a red-bordered sari beside Ganesha.
- Assam
- Assam keeps the Saptami of Durga Puja with the Nabapatrika bath at the river in the morning.
- Nepal (the dates above)
- Nepal alone keeps the Gorkha phulpati and its state reception at Hanuman Dhoka; the hill families bring in their own bundle the same morning.
The dates above are the Nepal 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
बडा दशैंको शुभकामनाBada Dashainko shubhakamana
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
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.