Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya Festival The new moon of Magha, the day of silence and the greatest bathing day of the Magh Mela and the Kumbh at Prayagraj.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Mauni Amavasya · Magha Amavasya
- हिन्दी
- मौनी अमावस्या
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 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.
The hour
The rule in words
The Amavasya at sunrise; the bath is in the brahma muhurtam, before dawn, and the silence is kept from then to sunset.
The fast
Many keep the day without food and in silence, breaking both after the evening lamp. Sesame, blankets and food are given away.
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.
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.