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
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Sunday, 15 November 2026
- Thursday, 4 November 2027
- Monday, 23 October 2028
Where Kandha Sashti · Soorasamharam falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 15 Nov
- 2027: 4 Nov, 11 days earlier
- 2028: 23 Oct, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The sixth day after the Deepavali new moon, the last of the six days on which Murugan fought Surapadman. At Tiruchendur the Soorasamharam is enacted on the shore on the sixth evening and the Thirukalyanam, Murugan's marriage to Deivanai, follows the next day. The Kandha Sashti Kavacham is recited through the six days.
- Deity
- Murugan, Deivanai
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Surapadman had won the boon that none but a son of Shiva could kill him, and Murugan was born for that task; on the eve of the battle Parvati gave him her own vel, the Sakthi Vel, at Sikkal, where the image of Singaravelan is still said to break into sweat on that night. On the sixth day the cornered asura turned himself into a great mango tree in the sea, and the vel split it in two: one half became the peacock Murugan rides and the other the rooster on his banner, so the enemy was not destroyed but taken into his service. That turn is why the fast is kept, for devotees ask Murugan to cut the ego in them the same way and keep what is good. Tamil families also tie the fast to children, following the old saying that links a Sashti kept with a child in the womb, and many couples keep it for that reason alone.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Kandha Sashti · Soorasamharam: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a kaappu thread from the Murugan temple
- a vel or a picture of Murugan
- red flowers such as sevvarali
- vibhuti, sandal and kumkum
- milk and fruit for the fast
- banana, jaggery, ghee and honey for the panchamirtham
- a copy of the Kandha Sashti Kavacham
- kuthuvilakku and camphor
- betel and a sweet for the Thirukalyanam
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Through the six days: fruit, milk, and at most one plain meal of rice and vegetables at noon without onion or garlic, with no rice at night. The fast is broken with panchamirtham or sakkarai pongal from the temple or the home shrine, and for the Thirukalyanam many Tamil homes make payasam, vadai and a full festive meal.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 15 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartika Shukla Sashti running at sunset, because the Soorasamharam is enacted in the late afternoon and the evening; in 2025 the Sashti ran from 06:05 on 27 October to 08:00 on the 28th and the Soorasamharam was the 27th.
The main rite. The six days run from the Prathamai after the Deepavali Amavasai to the Kartika Shukla Sashti, taken at sunrise. The Soorasamharam is in the late afternoon and early evening of the sixth day, and the Thirukalyanam follows the next day.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 17:39 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:39 to 20:03 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:08, sunset 17:39, 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 Shashti from previous day 23:24 until next day 02:02 | then Shukla Saptami until 2 days later, 04:20 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Ashadha until 23:29 | then Shravana until 2 days later, 02:17 |
| Rahu kaal | 16:13 to 17:39 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 11:53 to 13:20 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 14:46 to 16:13 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:16 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 10:57 | moonset 22:35 |
For Sunday, 15 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The strict form is six days of fasting from the day after Deepavali Amavasai: one meal a day, or only fruit and milk, with no rice at night. The fast is broken after the Soorasamharam.
What is avoided
No meat, fish, eggs, onion or garlic for the six days, no rice at night, and no alcohol or tobacco for those who have tied the kaappu. The fast is not broken before the Soorasamharam, and the kaappu is not removed until the vow is complete.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A Tamil Murugan vratam, kept at Tiruchendur, Palani and Thiruthani. The Telugu and Kannada calendars keep the same tithi in Margashira as Subrahmanya Shashti instead.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Kept hardest at Tiruchendur, where the Soorasamharam on the shore draws lakhs, and at Thiruparankundram, Palani, Swamimalai, Thiruthani, Pazhamudircholai and Sikkal; the Telugu and Kannada Subrahmanya Shashti comes a month later, in Margashira.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps the same Sashti in Thulam at the Subrahmanya temples, with a fast and a special puja, though without the Soorasamharam enactment.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lankan Tamils keep the six-day Kandha Sashti fast at Nallur and every Murugan temple of the north and east, with the Soorasamharam enacted on the sixth evening.
The dates above are the Tamil Nadu 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
கந்த சஷ்டி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்Kandha Sashti nalvazhthukkal
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Tiruttani, Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Tiruttani, and it is a temple of Murugan. A Tamil Murugan vratam, kept at Tiruchendur, Palani and Thiruthani.
- Dindigul, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Palani, and it is a temple of Murugan. A Tamil Murugan vratam, kept at Tiruchendur, Palani and Thiruthani.
- Sikkal Singaravelan Temple 265 kmNagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Where Murugan received the vel from his mother and the image is said to sweat on Soorasamharam day in Aippasi.
- Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Thiruchendur, and it is a temple of Murugan. At Tiruchendur the Soorasamharam is enacted on the shore on the sixth evening and the Thirukalyanam, Murugan's marriage to Deivanai, follows the next day.
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.
- Kanda Sashti Kavacham (opening)
- Om Saravanabhava
- Thiruppugazh (Arunagirinathar)
- Shadananam (Subrahmanya dhyana)
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Kandha Sashti · Soorasamharam's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
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.