Festival Nagas, Subrahmanya
Nagula Chavithi · Nagara Chaturthi
The fourth day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, when milk, eggs and sesame are poured at the anthill or the snake mound and the naga is asked to keep the family free of skin disease, childlessness and the fear of snakes.
Nagula Chavithi · Nagara Chaturthi 2026 falls on Friday, 13 November, 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
- Friday, 13 November 2026
- Tuesday, 2 November 2027
- Saturday, 21 October 2028
Where Nagula Chavithi · Nagara Chaturthi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 13 Nov
- 2027: 2 Nov, 11 days earlier
- 2028: 21 Oct, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The fourth day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, when milk, eggs and sesame are poured at the anthill or the snake mound and the naga is asked to keep the family free of skin disease, childlessness and the fear of snakes. Women fast for their children and circle the mound.
- Deity
- Nagas, Subrahmanya
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The naga in the anthill is held to guard the family's line, and Nagula Chavithi is kept above all by mothers, for children yet to come and for the health of those already born. At the putta, the anthill, the women pour milk into the openings and say the old Telugu verses that ask the snake to forgive a foot that steps on it unknowingly, and many touch a little of the anthill's earth to their children's ears as a charm against ear trouble. The naga is also Subrahmanya, called Subbarayudu in the Telugu villages, so the naga stones under the peepal and the neem are washed and decked as his. Coming just after Deepavali, it is also the evening the children finish the last of their crackers.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Nagula Chavithi · Nagara Chaturthi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- milk in a small vessel
- eggs where the family offers them
- black sesame
- turmeric and kumkum
- flowers and cotton-thread garlands
- chalimidi
- chimmili
- bananas
- a lamp or camphor
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Chalimidi, moist rice flour pounded with jaggery and cardamom, and chimmili, sesame pounded with jaggery, are the offering, with bananas and the milk poured at the anthill; the fast is broken on them. The meal after it is simple and vegetarian, often with vadapappu, panakam and pulihora.
The hour
Clock times for Friday, 13 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartika Shukla Chaturthi at sunrise; the offering is made in the early morning at the anthill or the temple naga stone.
The main rite. Kartika Shukla Chaturthi at sunrise. The milk is poured at the anthill or the naga stone in the early morning, and the fast is kept until it is done.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:07 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:07, sunset 17:39, 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 | Shukla Chaturthi from previous day 18:10 until 20:43 | then Shukla Panchami until next day 23:24 |
| Nakshatra | Mula until 17:17 | then Purva Ashadha until next day 20:25 |
| Rahu kaal | 10:27 to 11:53 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 14:46 to 16:13 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 07:33 to 09:00 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:16 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 09:24 | moonset 20:52 |
For Friday, 13 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A fast until the offering, broken with chalimidi (rice flour and jaggery) and the milk offered to the naga.
What is avoided
The earth is not dug or ploughed, no snake is harmed or chased away, and the fast is not broken before the anthill offering. Homes that do not offer eggs keep the whole day vegetarian.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Andhra and Telangana keep Nagula Chavithi in Kartika; Karnataka and the north keep Nag Panchami in Shravana instead, and Tamil Nadu keeps the monthly Ayilyam day for the nagas.
In other regions
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra keeps Nagula Chavithi in Kartika at every village anthill and at the Subrahmanya temples, Mopidevi in Krishna district above all; Telangana families more often keep Nagula Panchami in Shravana, and many keep both.
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.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
నాగుల చవితి శుభాకాంక్షలుNagula Chavithi shubhakankshalu
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Srikalahasti Temple 97 kmTirupati district, Andhra Pradesh
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. Vayu, air, and the classic kshetram for Rahu-Ketu and Sarpa dosha nivarana pooja, booked for the same morning.
- Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. The Ketu sthalam, near Poompuhar, where Ketu worships Sivan with a serpent body and a human face.
- Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. The delta sthalam where Rahu and Ketu are given human faces and worshipped together, and the serpents are said to have been freed of a curse.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. visited for Kala sarpa, Naga dosham and delayed marriage.
- Ghati Subramanya Temple 308 kmBengaluru Rural, Karnataka
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. Bengaluru’s Sarpa dosha temple, where Subramanya faces east and Narasimha west in the same idol.
- Krishna, Andhra Pradesh
This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. The Sarpa dosha kshetram of coastal Andhra, where the Lord is said to have come out of an anthill in a field.
11 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.
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.