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
Assam calendar, computed for Chennai
- Monday, 18 October 2027
- Tuesday, 17 October 2028
- Wednesday, 17 October 2029
Where Kati Bihu · Kongali Bihu falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 18 Oct
- 2028: 17 Oct, the same day of the year
- 2029: 17 Oct, 1 day earlier
The dates, year by year
Assam calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The lean Bihu, kept when the granary is empty and the paddy is still only in ear. There is no feast and no dancing in it: a saki, an earthen lamp, is lit at the foot of the tulasi in the courtyard, at the granary and at the edge of the paddy field, and a taller lamp is raised on a bamboo as the akash banti to light the way of the ancestors. Kongali means poor, and the name says what the day is.
- Deity
- Tulasi, Lakshmi
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Kati Bihu comes when the granaries are nearly empty and the paddy is green in the ear but not yet ripe, the anxious weeks of the year. There is no feasting; the lamp at the tulsi, at the granary and in the field is a prayer for the crop to come safely through. The akash banti, a lamp raised high on a bamboo, is said to light the way for the ancestors, who are held to walk the sky in this month. Families keep it quietly, and the elders say a year that begins with patience in Kati ends with plenty in Magh.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Kati Bihu · Kongali Bihu: how it is kept
Keep ready
- earthen lamps, the saki
- mustard oil and cotton wicks
- a tulsi sapling
- a tall bamboo pole for the akash banti
- a little rice and gram
The steps
0 of 6 done
What is cooked
No feast is cooked. A little rice, gram and fruit are offered at the tulsi, and the family eats plain rice with whatever greens the garden has; some houses make a simple pitha.
The hour
Clock times for Monday, 18 October 2027 at Chennai
The Tula sankranti day, the last day of Ahin; the lamps are lit at dusk and left to burn down.
The main rite. The Tula sankranti day, the last day of Ahin. The lamps are lit at dusk and left to burn down.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 17:49 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:49 to 20:13 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:00, sunset 17:49, 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 | Krishna Thritiyai from previous day 18:44 until 17:52 | then Krishna Chaturthi until next day 16:43 |
| Nakshatra | Krittika until 23:48 | then Rohini until next day 23:16 |
| Rahu kaal | 07:28 to 08:57 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 10:25 to 11:54 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 13:23 to 14:51 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:18 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 19:53 | moonset next day 09:14 |
For Monday, 18 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is prescribed, though the day is kept plain by custom. The offering at the tulasi is a little rice and the lamp.
What is avoided
No feasting or show, and no waste of the little rice left in the granary. The lamp at the tulsi and the akash banti are not allowed to go out through the night.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Assam alone keeps the three Bihus. The lamp set in the field at the lean turn of the year answers to Karthigai Deepam and the Kartik lamps of the rest of India, which fall in the same weeks.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu lights its lamps at Karthigai Deepam in the same season.
- North India
- The north keeps the whole month of Kartik with lamps at the tulsi and on the river ghats.
- Assam (the dates above)
- Assam alone keeps Kati Bihu, the lean one of its three Bihus.
The dates above are the Assam 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
কাতি বিহুৰ শুভেচ্ছাKati Bihur xubhessa
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Lakshmi 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 · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
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.
- Yanmule Sarvatirthani (Tulasi sloka)
- Lakshmi Ashtottaram (the 108 names)
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.
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.