Kojagari Lakshmi Puja Festival The full moon of Ashwin, four days after the Durga idols go into the river, when Lakshmi is worshipped in almost every Bengali house.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Kojagari Lakshmi Puja
- हिन्दी
- कोजागरी लक्ष्मी पूजा
- বাংলা
- কোজাগরী লক্ষ্মীপূজা
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 Ashwin, four days after the Durga idols go into the river, when Lakshmi is worshipped in almost every Bengali house. An alpana of her small feet is drawn from the door inward, the lakshmir jhanpi and the dhaner chhara, ears of new paddy, are set before her, and the panchali is read aloud by the women of the house. The night is kept awake, because the goddess is said to walk it asking ko jagarti, who is awake.
- Deity
- Lakshmi, Chandra
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Ashwin Purnima running at nishita, true midnight, because the puja is kept through the night; this can put it a day before the Purnima that holds the sunrise.
The fast
The women who keep it fast through the day and eat after the puja. The offering is chirer moa, narkel naru, khoi and fruit, with no cooked rice in most houses.
Where the regions differ
Bengal and Odisha keep the Ashwin Purnima this way; the Hindi belt keeps the same night as Sharad Purnima with kheer in the moonlight, Maharashtra as Kojagiri with masala milk, and Nepal as Kojagrat Purnima, the last day of Dashain.
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.