Kartika Pournami Festival The full moon of Kartika, the holiest day of the holiest month for Shiva.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Kartika Pournami
- తెలుగు
- కార్తీక పౌర్ణమి
- ಕನ್ನಡ
- ಕಾರ್ತಿಕ ಹುಣ್ಣಿಮೆ
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
The full moon of Kartika, the holiest day of the holiest month for Shiva. Lamps of 365 wicks are floated on the temple tank, the Jwala Toranam is lit at the Shiva temples of Andhra, and the whole month is kept with lamps at dawn and dusk and readings of the Kartika Puranam.
- Deity
- Shiva, Vishnu, Damodara
- 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 Pournami at sunrise; the lamps are lit at dusk and floated after the evening puja.
The fast
Many keep a fast through the day and eat after the evening lamp, taking only the temple prasadam. The strict keep it without water.
Where the regions differ
Andhra and Telangana keep the whole of Kartika masam this way; Tamil Nadu keeps Karthigai Deepam on the nakshatra a day or two away, and the north keeps the same full moon as Kartik Purnima and Dev Deepawali at Varanasi.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
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.