Festival Pitrus, Vishnu, Ganga
Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya
The new moon of Magha, the day of silence and the greatest bathing day of the Magh Mela and the Kumbh at Prayagraj.
Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya 2027 falls on Saturday, 6 February, 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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 6 February 2027
- Wednesday, 26 January 2028
- Sunday, 14 January 2029
Where Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 6 Feb
- 2028: 26 Jan, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 14 Jan, 12 days earlier
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon of Magha, the day of silence and the greatest bathing day of the Magh Mela and the Kumbh at Prayagraj. Manu is held to have been born on it; kalpavasis keep the whole day without speaking, and the shahi snan of the akharas is taken before dawn at the Sangam.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Vishnu, Ganga
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Mauna is the vow of the muni, and the day takes its name from it: speech is the busiest of the senses, and holding it back for a day turns the mind inward and makes the bath, the japa and the gift that much more one's own. The belief at Prayagraj is that the Ganga at the Sangam turns to amrit on this morning, so the bath is taken before dawn and in silence, without a word to spoil it. It is the new moon at the heart of the Magh snan, the month of bathing that runs from Paush Purnima to Magh Purnima, and like every Amavasya it belongs to the ancestors, which is why the tarpan with til follows the bath. When it falls on a Monday it is a Somvati Amavasya as well, and the crowds are the largest of any day of the mela.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya: how it is kept
Keep ready
- Ganga water
- black til
- kusha grass
- a copper lota
- flowers
- a mala for the japa
- a lamp with ghee or til oil
- blankets, warm clothes or food to give away
- a copy of the Gita or the Vishnu Sahasranama
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Those who fast take nothing, or only fruit and milk, until the evening, and break it with something plain: khichdi with ghee, til laddoo and a little kheer. The kalpavasis at the Sangam eat their one meal of the day, and Tamil homes keeping the same new moon as Thai Amavasai set out the meal cooked for the ancestors for the crows first.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 6 February 2027 at Chennai
The Amavasya at sunrise; the bath is in the brahma muhurtam, before dawn, and the silence is kept from then to sunset.
The main rite. The Amavasya at sunrise. The bath is taken in the brahma muhurta, before dawn, and the silence is kept from waking at least until the bath, the tarpan and the puja are done; those who keep it fully stay silent until sunset.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Arunodaya | 04:58 | the 96 minutes before sunrise, the hour of the oil bath |
| Sunrise | 06:34 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 18:12 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:12 to 20:36 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:34, sunset 18:12, 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 19:06 until 21:26 | then Shukla Prathamai until next day 23:28 |
| Nakshatra | Shravana until 21:20 | then Dhanishta until next day 23:49 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:29 to 10:56 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:50 to 15:17 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 06:34 to 08:02 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 12:00 to 12:46 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 06:15 | moonset 18:01 |
For Saturday, 6 February 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Many keep the day without food and in silence, breaking both after the evening lamp. Sesame, blankets and food are given away.
What is avoided
Do not speak while the vow lasts, and do not keep it in resentment, since silence held in anger is no mauna at all. No meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic or alcohol, and, as on every Amavasya, nothing new is begun.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Prayagraj, Haridwar and the Ganga ghats keep it; the south keeps the same new moon as Thai Amavasai, a tarpanam day rather than a mela day.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- The Tamil calendar keeps the same new moon, as a rule, as Thai Amavasai, a day of tarpanam for the ancestors at Rameswaram, Kanyakumari and the river ghats rather than a day of silence.
- North India (the dates above)
- Prayagraj makes it the greatest bathing day of the Magh Mela, and in a Kumbh year the akharas go down to the Sangam in procession for the Amrit Snan before dawn; Haridwar and Varanasi draw their own crowds, and the kalpavasis of the Sangam keep the day in full silence.
The dates above are the North India 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
- Om Namo Narayanaya (Ashtakshara)
- Gayatri mantra
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.