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
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 24 November 2026
- Sunday, 14 November 2027
- Thursday, 2 November 2028
Where Kartika Pournami falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 24 Nov
- 2027: 14 Nov, 10 days earlier
- 2028: 2 Nov, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
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.
Significance
Kartika Pournami is also Tripurari Pournami, the full moon on which Shiva is held to have burnt the three flying cities of the asura Tripura with a single arrow, so the lamps of the day are lamps of victory as well as devotion. The wick of 365 strands is lit so that one flame stands for every day of the year, and whoever missed the daily lamp is held to make it good in one evening. Telugu families also take the Kartika snanam in a river or the sea before dawn, float lamps on boats of banana stem, and in many homes keep the Satyanarayana vratam on this full moon, which makes it Annavaram's busiest day. Because Vishnu wakes from his four months' sleep in this same month, the day belongs to Shiva and Vishnu together, and the tulasi and the usiri, the amla tree, are worshipped beside the linga.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Kartika Pournami: how it is kept
Keep ready
- ghee or sesame oil
- 365 cotton wicks twisted together
- prammidalu (clay lamps)
- pieces of banana stem for the floating lamps
- bilva leaves and flowers
- milk for the abhishekam
- amla fruit
- the Kartika Puranam
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The fast is broken after the evening lamp on the prasadam: the Satyanarayana prasadam of rava, milk, ghee, banana and sugar in homes that keep the vratam, or the temple's own. Telugu homes then eat a vegetarian meal of pulihora, chakkara pongali, garelu and usirikaya pachadi; Kannada homes make payasa, kosambari and chitranna.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 24 November 2026 at Chennai
The Pournami at sunrise; the lamps are lit at dusk and floated after the evening puja.
The main rite. The Pournami at sunrise. The river bath is at dawn, the lamps are lit at dusk in the pradosha hour, and they are floated after the evening puja.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:12 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| 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
Many keep a fast through the day and eat after the evening lamp, taking only the temple prasadam. The strict keep it without water.
What is avoided
Those fasting take nothing until the evening lamp, and the strict take no water; the day, like the whole month, is kept without meat, onion or garlic. No lamp of the day is blown out; each is left to burn itself down.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
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.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps Karthigai Deepam on the Krittika nakshatra of the month, a day or two from this full moon, with the great flame on the Tiruvannamalai hill.
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra and Telangana keep the whole Kartika masam with dawn baths, lamps and Monday fasts, and the Pournami is its peak: the Jwala Toranam at the Shiva temples, the sea bath on the coast, lamps floated on the Godavari at Rajahmundry, and the Satyanarayana vratam at Annavaram.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Kartika Hunnime with the deepotsava at the temples and the lamps at home that the whole Kartika month keeps, and the Shiva temples draw their largest crowds of the month.
- North India
- The north keeps Kartik Purnima with the Ganga bath, Dev Deepawali on the ghats of Varanasi and the Pushkar fair.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps Rash Purnima, the Rasa of Krishna, with the great festivals at Nabadwip and Shantipur.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps Guru Nanak Gurpurab on this full moon, with the prabhat pheris at dawn and the gurdwaras lit through the night.
The dates above are the Telugu 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
కార్తీక పౌర్ణమి శుభాకాంక్షలుKartika Pournami shubhakankshalu
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Uttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Varanasi, and it is a temple of Shiva. 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.
Temples of Shiva, Vishnu and Damodara 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 · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
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.
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
Kartika Pournami's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a satyanarayana puja around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
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.
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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.