Karthigai Deepam Festival Karthigai nakshatra in the month of Karthigai, the festival of lamps.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Karthigai Deepam
- தமிழ்
- கார்த்திகை தீபம்
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: 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
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
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.
The hour
The rule in words
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 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.
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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. 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.