Festival Shiva, Varuna, Gayatri
Janai Purnima · Rakshya Bandhan
The full moon of Shrawan, on which Brahmin and Chhetri men change the janai, the sacred thread, after a bath and the Rishi Tarpani, and everyone else has a yellow doro tied on the wrist by a priest.
Janai Purnima · Rakshya Bandhan 2027 falls on Tuesday, 17 August, 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
- Tuesday, 17 August 2027
- Saturday, 5 August 2028
- Friday, 24 August 2029
Where Janai Purnima · Rakshya Bandhan falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 17 Aug
- 2028: 5 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 24 Aug, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of Shrawan, on which Brahmin and Chhetri men change the janai, the sacred thread, after a bath and the Rishi Tarpani, and everyone else has a yellow doro tied on the wrist by a priest. The doro is worn until Laxmi Puja and then tied to the tail of a cow. Kwati, a soup of nine sprouted beans, is cooked in every house, and the pilgrimage is to the lake at Gosaikunda and to Kumbheshwar in Patan, whose tank is held to be fed from it.
- Deity
- Shiva, Varuna, Gayatri
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The janai is the vow of learning worn on the body, and changing it each year on this full moon renews the promise to keep the discipline it stands for. The yellow doro that everyone else has tied on the wrist carries the protection of the same rite to the whole household, men and women, children and elders alike. It is kept until Laxmi Puja, when it is tied to a cow's tail, since the cow is held to help the soul across the river of death. The kwati, nine sprouted beans cooked together, is eaten at the turn of the monsoon to put strength back into bodies worn out by the planting, which is as much an elder's reason as any.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Janai Purnima · Rakshya Bandhan: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a new janai
- yellow doro threads
- nine kinds of beans for the kwati
- flowers, rice and red tika powder
- a lamp and incense
- dakshina for the purohit
- a copper vessel of water for the tarpan
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Kwati is the dish of the day: a thick soup of nine sprouted beans, among them black gram, green gram, chickpea, soy beans, field peas, kidney beans and cowpeas, with ajwain, ginger and garlic, the nine varying from house to house. It is eaten with beaten rice or plain rice, and the men who change the janai eat only after the rite.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai
Shrawan Purnima at sunrise; the thread is changed in the morning, after the bath and the tarpan.
The main rite. Shrawan Purnima, the full moon at sunrise. The bath and the change of the janai are in the morning, with the doro tied by the priest after it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:57 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:29, 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 10:29 until 12:59 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 15:16 |
| Nakshatra | Dhanishta until next day 02:32 | then Shatabhisha until 2 days later, 05:15 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:21 to 16:55 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:05 to 10:39 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:13 to 13:47 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:48 to 12:38 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 18:32 | moonset next day 06:32 |
For Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those changing the janai fast until the rite is finished and then eat the kwati. Most houses keep the day without meat.
What is avoided
The man changing the janai eats nothing until the rite is finished, and most houses keep the day without meat or liquor. The doro is not cut or thrown away before Laxmi Puja.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Nepal ties the doro and eats the kwati; the same full moon is Raksha Bandhan in north India, the Upakarma in the south and the Deccan, Narali Purnima on the Konkan coast and Jhulan Purnima in Bengal.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu changes the thread on the same day as Aavani Avittam, with the Gayatri japam the day after.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country calls it Jandhyala Pournami, the full moon of the sacred thread.
- North India
- North India keeps the same full moon as Raksha Bandhan, the sister tying the rakhi on her brother, with the sacred thread changed at the Shravani Upakarma in Brahmin homes.
- Maharashtra
- The Konkan coast keeps it as Narali Purnima, with a coconut given to the sea.
- Nepal (the dates above)
- Nepal keeps it as Janai Purnima: the janai changed, the doro tied, the kwati cooked, with pilgrims at the lake of Gosaikunda and at Kumbheshwar in Patan, whose tank is held to be fed from it.
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
जनै पूर्णिमाको शुभकामनाJanai Purnimako shubhakamana
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Shiva 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 · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
- Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu · Vadaranyeswarar with Vandarkuzhali, and the Urdhva Tandava Nataraja
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.