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
- Tuesday, 24 November 2026
- Saturday, 11 December 2027
- Friday, 1 December 2028
Where Karthigai Deepam falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 24 Nov
- 2027: 11 Dec, 17 days later
- 2028: 1 Dec, 9 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Karthigai nakshatra in the month of Karthigai, the festival of lamps. Rows of agal vilakku are lit on the threshold, the steps and the wall at dusk, and at Tiruvannamalai a great fire, the Mahadeepam, is lit on the hilltop at the same hour to stand for the column of light in which Shiva showed himself without beginning or end.
- Deity
- Shiva, Murugan
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The story behind the flame is the old quarrel of Brahma and Vishnu over which of them was greater, and Shiva standing between them as a column of fire: Vishnu dug down as a boar and Brahma flew up as a swan, neither found an end, and both bowed to the light. The same star belongs to Murugan, for the six Karthigai maidens, the Pleiades, nursed the six infants of the Saravana pool before Parvati gathered them into the one Arumugam, which is why the Murugan temples keep the day as warmly as Shiva's. At Tiruvannamalai a single lamp is lit in the sanctum before dawn as the Bharani Deepam, divided into five and joined again at dusk, when the Mahadeepam is lit on the hill and Ardhanareeswara is brought out before the flagstaff for a few moments, the only time in the year. The Sangam poems already speak of the Karthigai lamps, so this is among the oldest feasts the Tamil country keeps. A family lights its own rows of lamps as its share of that light, and in many homes the sisters light theirs praying for their brothers.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Karthigai Deepam: how it is kept
Keep ready
- agal vilakku, as many as the house will take
- the kuthuvilakku of the pooja arai
- gingelly oil and ghee
- cotton wicks
- rice flour and kaavi for the kolam
- nel pori or aval pori
- jaggery (vellam)
- coconut pieces and cardamom
- rice flour, jaggery and ripe banana for the appam
- plantain leaves
- flowers and vilva leaves
- camphor
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Pori urundai of nel pori or aval pori in jaggery syrup, nei appam of rice flour, jaggery and banana fried in ghee, adhirasam and vadai; some homes add a sakkarai pongal or a vella adai. Kerala homes steam an ada of rice and jaggery in plantain leaf for Thrikarthika, and Telugu families who keep Kartika Pournami as a fast break it after the evening lamps with the prasadam of a Satyanarayana puja.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at Chennai
The nakshatra read at sunset, because the lamp is lit at dusk, not at dawn; the Mahadeepam at Tiruvannamalai is lit as the sun sets. When Karthigai is the day-star twice inside the Tamil month, as it was on 16 November and 13 December 2024, the second is taken, and the deepam was 13 December that year.
The main rite. The Karthigai star as it stands at sunset in the month of Karthigai, because the rite is the lighting of lamps at dusk; the house lamps are lit at the moment the Mahadeepam is lit on the Tiruvannamalai hill, as the sun goes down.
| 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 06:12, 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 Pournami from previous day 23:43 until 20:24 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 16:51 |
| Nakshatra | Krittika until 23:25 | then Rohini until next day 20:36 |
| Rahu kaal | 14:47 to 16:13 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:04 to 10:30 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 11:55 to 13:21 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:33 to 12:18 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 17:19 | moonset next day 06:44 |
For Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is required; many keep a light one until the lamps are lit. Pori urundai (puffed rice balls), appam and adhirasam are made.
What is avoided
The lamps are not lit before sunset, and none is blown out with the breath; a lamp is left to burn down or put out with a flower. The thazhampoo, the screwpine flower, is never offered to Shiva, since it bore false witness for Brahma in the story of the column of fire.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu lights the whole month of Karthigai; Kerala keeps the same star as Thrikarthika, and the north keeps the Kartik Purnima the following day as Dev Deepawali at the Varanasi ghats.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tiruvannamalai is the centre, with the ten-day Karthigai festival, the Bharani Deepam at dawn, the Mahadeepam on the hill at dusk and the girivalam of the crowds round it; every Tamil house lights its rows of lamps the same evening, and Vishnu temples keep their own Karthigai lamp, the Vishnu Deepam, usually the next day.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps the same star in Vrischikam as Thrikarthika, with rows of lamps at dusk before the house and the temple, above all at the Kumaranalloor Devi temple, where it is the goddess's own day.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps the full moon beside it as Kartika Pournami, with lamps floated on the tanks and rivers, the Jwala Toranam lit at the Shiva temples, and a fast broken after the evening lamp.
- North India
- The north keeps the full moon beside it as Kartik Purnima, and at Varanasi as Dev Deepawali, when the ghats are lined with lamps for the gods.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka's Tamils keep Karthigai Vilakkeedu with lamps at the door and in the kovils, and the sokkapanai burnt before the shrines of Jaffna and the east.
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
இனிய கார்த்திகை தீபத் திருநாள் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்Iniya Karthigai Deepa thirunal nalvazhthukkal
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Arunachaleswarar Temple 161 kmTiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Tiruvannamalai. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Rows of agal vilakku are lit on the threshold, the steps and the wall at dusk, and at Tiruvannamalai a great fire, the Mahadeepam, is lit on the hilltop at the same hour to stand for the column of light in which Shiva showed himself without beginning or end.
- Uttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Varanasi, and it is a temple of Shiva. Kerala keeps the same star as Thrikarthika, and the north keeps the Kartik Purnima the following day as Dev Deepawali at the Varanasi ghats.
Temples of Shiva and Murugan 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
- Vadapalani Andavar Temple 7.3 kmChennai, Tamil Nadu · Murugan as Vadapalani Andavar
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Karthigai Deepam'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.