Festival Pitrus, Yama, Gauri
Mahalaya Amavasya · Bathukamma begins
The new moon that closes the fortnight of the ancestors, on which tarpanam is offered to every forebear, and especially to those whose day of death is not known.
Mahalaya Amavasya · Bathukamma begins 2027 falls on Thursday, 30 September, computed for Chennai.
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
- Thursday, 30 September 2027
- Monday, 18 September 2028
- Sunday, 7 October 2029
Where Mahalaya Amavasya · Bathukamma begins falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 30 Sep
- 2028: 18 Sep, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 7 Oct, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon that closes the fortnight of the ancestors, on which tarpanam is offered to every forebear, and especially to those whose day of death is not known. In Telangana the same evening opens Bathukamma, the nine nights on which women build a conical stack of seasonal flowers, sing around it and float it on the tank at the end of each day.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Yama, Gauri
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Mahalaya is read as the great dwelling, and the whole dark fortnight before it is the Mahalaya paksham, when the ancestors are held to come down and stay near their descendants, waiting for water and food. The story told in Telugu and Kannada homes is of Karna, who gave away gold all his life and found only gold to eat in the other world, and was allowed back for this fortnight to give the food and water he had never given his forebears. The Amavasya is the day for everyone the family might otherwise miss: the forebear whose tithi is forgotten, those who died far away or without rites, the friends and teachers with no one left to remember them. In Telangana the evening turns from grief to flowers, because Bathukamma, whose name asks the mother to live, begins as Engili Pula Bathukamma with blossoms gathered the day before.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Mahalaya Amavasya · Bathukamma begins: how it is kept
Keep ready
- darbha grass and a pavitram
- black sesame
- a vessel of water
- rice, ghee and sesame for the pindams
- uncooked provisions and dakshina for the swayampakam
- a banana leaf for the crows' portion
- tangedu, gunuka, banthi, chamanthi and gummadi flowers for the Bathukamma
- a flat thambalam
- turmeric for the Gauramma
- sesame, rice flour or nookalu and jaggery for the first day's offering
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Telugu and Kannada families cook the shraddham food their custom fixes: plain rice, pappu or saaru, a vegetable of gourd, plantain or yam, garelu or vade and a payasam, all without onion or garlic, with the crows' portion set out first. In Telangana the first evening's Bathukamma offering is sesame with rice flour or nookalu, broken rice, and jaggery.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 30 September 2027 at Chennai
The Amavasya tithi at sunrise, with the tarpanam offered in the afternoon, the aparahna; Bathukamma is arranged at dusk.
The main rite. The Amavasya at sunrise, with the tarpanam or the Mahalaya shraddham offered in the aparahna, the early afternoon. In Telangana the first Bathukamma is stacked in the afternoon and played at dusk.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Aparahna | 13:11 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
| Sunset | 18:00 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:00 to 20:24 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:00, 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 Amavasai from previous day 10:56 until 08:06 | then Shukla Prathamai until next day 05:36 |
| Nakshatra | Hasta until next day 02:12 | then Chitra until 2 days later, 00:50 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:29 to 14:59 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 05:58 to 07:28 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 08:59 to 10:29 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:35 to 12:23 (0 h 48 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 05:54 | moonset 18:03 |
For Thursday, 30 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The one who offers tarpanam fasts until it is done. The meal after it is vegetarian, without onion or garlic.
What is avoided
The morning belongs to the ancestors: no greeting, no new clothes, no purchase and no auspicious start before the tarpanam, and the one who offers it eats nothing until it is done. The meal is without meat, onion or garlic, and hair and nails are not cut.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu keeps the same new moon as Mahalaya Amavasai; the north calls it Sarva Pitru Amavasya and Bengal keeps it as Mahalaya, the dawn on which the Chandi is recited and Durga is invited.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps it as Mahalaya Amavasai, with tarpanam at Rameswaram and the Kaveri ghats, and in many homes the Navaratri kolu goes up from this day.
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra families offer the tarpanam at the Godavari and Krishna ghats or at home. In Telangana the evening opens Bathukamma as Engili Pula Bathukamma, nine evenings of flowers that end on Durgashtami with Saddula Bathukamma, and the greeting of the evening is Bathukamma shubhakankshalu.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Mahalaya Amavasye with tarpana at home or at the rivers, Gokarna and the Kaveri at Srirangapatna among the favoured places, and the Navaratri of the Mysuru Dasara begins the next morning.
- North India
- The north keeps it as Sarva Pitru Amavasya, the last day of Pitru Paksha, with shraddh at Gaya and on the river banks.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Sarvapitri Amavasya with the same offerings and the crows fed before the family eats.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps it as Mahalaya, with tarpan in the Ganga at dawn and the Mahishasuramardini recital on the radio that invites Durga.
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.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kollumangudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Visited where a family quarrel or a father’s displeasure is read into the chart, and on amavasai for the ancestors.
- Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Tula snanam through Aippasi, when lakhs bathe at the ghats, and amavasai tarpanam are what most come for.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai tarpanam and Maha Sivaratri are its days
- Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai and Aadi Amavasai tarpanam on the nearby shore are what most come for.
- Erode, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Maha Sivaratri and amavasai tarpanam are its days.
- Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Aadi Amavasai tarpanam at Keerimalai is the largest ancestor rite in the north of the island.
26 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
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.
- Pitru tarpanam sankalpam
- Devatabhyah Pitribhyashcha (to the ancestors)
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.