Kukur Tihar Festival The second of the five days of Tihar, kept for the dog, who guards the gate of Yama and who went with Yudhishthira to the end of the road when everyone else had fallen.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Kukur Tihar
- हिन्दी
- कुकुर तिहार
- नेपाली
- कुकुर तिहार
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 second of the five days of Tihar, kept for the dog, who guards the gate of Yama and who went with Yudhishthira to the end of the road when everyone else had fallen. Every dog is given a tika of red sindur on the forehead, a garland of marigold and a good meal, the street dogs and the police dogs along with the household ones. Nothing is asked of the dog in return, which is much of the point of the day.
- Deity
- Yama, Bhairava
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Kartik Krishna Chaturdashi at sunrise; the tika and the garland are given in the morning.
The fast
No fast is kept. The dog is fed first, with meat, egg, milk or whatever the house has.
Where the regions differ
Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim keep it; the rest of India keeps the same day as Naraka Chaturdashi and Chhoti Diwali with the oil bath instead. Bhairava's dog is given the same honour at the Kathmandu shrines on the day.
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.