Festival Gauri, Mahalakshmi, Parvati
Gauri Pujan
The three days on which the Gauri, taken as Mahalakshmi and as Parvati come home to her mother, are received in a Marathi house in the middle of the Ganpati fortnight.
Gauri Pujan 2027 falls on Wednesday, 8 September, 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
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 8 September 2027
- Monday, 28 August 2028
- Saturday, 15 September 2029
Where Gauri Pujan falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 8 Sep
- 2028: 28 Aug, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 15 Sep, 17 days later
The three days of Gauri
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Maharashtra calendar
- Gauri Avahan · Jyeshtha Gauri …
- Gauri Pujan(this page) …
- Gauri Visarjan …
The dates, year by year
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The three days on which the Gauri, taken as Mahalakshmi and as Parvati come home to her mother, are received in a Marathi house in the middle of the Ganpati fortnight. Two masks or metal faces are dressed in a sari and the household ornaments and set up beside the Ganpati; they are brought in on Anuradha nakshatra, fed a full meal on Jyeshtha and sent home on Moola. The married women of the street are called in on the middle day and given haldi kunku.
- Deity
- Gauri, Mahalakshmi, Parvati
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The Gauri is the married daughter come home to her mother for three days, and the house receives her as it would its own daughter: shown every room, fed the best it has, and sent back with a packet of food and a promise to come again. She is also Mahalakshmi, and the tour of the kitchen, the granary and the jewel box asks her to leave plenty behind her. The Gauris sit beside the Ganpati, so the house holds mother and son together for those days. The call and answer at the threshold, asking on what feet she has come and answering that she comes on feet of gold, is one of the first things a Marathi child learns to say. The middle day is the Gauri Pujan, when the great naivedya is offered at midday and the women of the street are called in for haldi-kunku in the evening.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Gauri Pujan: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the Gauri masks or faces with their frames
- two saris and the household ornaments
- rangoli colours for the feet
- haldi-kunku and akshata
- flowers and garlands
- a lamp and incense
- sixteen kinds of vegetables
- the vaan for the women: fruit, a blouse piece, bangles
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The first evening is a simple bhaji and bhakri. The middle day carries the largest meal of the fortnight: puran poli, the solah bhajya of sixteen vegetables, karanji, ladoo, kheer, varan-bhat and the chutneys, all offered first. The last day is curd rice. Traditions vary from house to house, and Konkan families add their own dishes.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 8 September 2027 at Chennai
The day Jyeshtha nakshatra runs at sunrise in Bhadrapad shuddha, the middle of the three days; the naivedya is offered at midday and the haldi kunku in the evening.
The main rite. The day Jyeshtha nakshatra runs at sunrise in Bhadrapad shuddha; the naivedya is offered at midday and the haldi-kunku held in the evening.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Madhyahna | 12:07 | midday, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:15, 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 Ashtami from previous day 11:29 until 12:45 | then Shukla Navami until next day 14:39 |
| Nakshatra | Jyeshtha until 18:17 | then Mula until next day 20:52 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:07 to 13:39 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:30 to 09:02 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:34 to 12:07 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:42 to 12:31 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 12:50 | moonset next day 00:19 |
For Wednesday, 8 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept. The middle day carries the largest meal of the fortnight: puran poli, sixteen kinds of vegetable and the bhaji of the season.
What is avoided
The Gauris are not left alone in the house, and the lamp before them is not allowed to go out. Nothing is cooked with onion or garlic in the house while they are there, in most families.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The three Gauri days follow the nakshatra wheel and not the tithis, so they slide against Ganesh Chaturthi from year to year. Karnataka keeps Gauri Habba the day before Ganesh Chaturthi and the Telugu country keeps Gowri Vratam on the same instinct; traditions vary from house to house on the number of faces and on the day of the visarjan. The middle day is the Gauri Pujan, when the sixteen vegetables and the puran poli are offered and the women of the street are called in.
In other regions
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Gauri Habba on the day before Ganesh Chaturthi, the Swarna Gowri Vratam, for which married daughters are sent the bagina from their mother's house.
- Maharashtra (the dates above)
- The middle day is the busiest of the three: the sixteen vegetables and the puran poli are offered, and the women of the street go from house to house for the haldi-kunku.
The dates above are the Maharashtra 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
गौरी आगमनाच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छाGauri agamanachya hardik shubhechha
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Gauri, Mahalakshmi and Parvati 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 · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
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.
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.