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
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Friday, 19 February 2027
- Thursday, 13 January 2028
- Tuesday, 2 January 2029
Where Poosam · Pushya falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 19 Feb
- 2028: 13 Jan, 37 days earlier
- 2029: 2 Jan, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Pushya nakshatra, the most auspicious star of the twenty-seven for a purchase or a beginning, and the star of Guru and of Murugan. Falling on a Thursday it is Guru Pushya and on a Sunday Ravi Pushya, and those two days are the ones on which gold, a vehicle or a new business is bought without looking any further.
- Deity
- Murugan, Guru, Brihaspati
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
The lord of Pushya is Brihaspati, the guru of the gods, and its name means the one that nourishes, which is why the almanacs call it the best of the stars for a beginning. The one thing it is not used for is a wedding: the muhurta texts leave Pushya out of marriage, and a family fixing a wedding will be told so however good the day otherwise looks. Ayurveda keeps Pushya as a day to begin a medicine, and the swarna prashana given to children, a drop of gold ash in ghee and honey, falls on it every month. For the devotees of Murugan it is the star of Thai Poosam, and the monthly Poosam is a small reminder of it.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Poosam · Pushya: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the almanac, to confirm the nakshatra at sunrise
- the account book or the article being bought
- yellow flowers or yellow cloth for Brihaspati
- a measure of channa dal, the Guru grain
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
There is no food that belongs to the day. Those marking it for Brihaspati offer channa dal and jaggery at the Guru shrine, and a yellow dish is cooked at home, kadalai paruppu sundal or a plain moong dal payasam.
The hour
Clock times for Friday, 19 February 2027 at Chennai
The nakshatra running at sunrise; the whole day carries it, and no separate hour is kept.
The main rite. The Pushya nakshatra at sunrise; the whole day carries it, and a purchase or a beginning is made at any good hour within it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:30 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:30, sunset 18:16, 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 Trayodasi from previous day 14:28 until 11:15 | then Shukla Chaturdasi until next day 08:00 |
| Nakshatra | Pushya until 18:36 | then Ashlesha until next day 16:08 |
| Rahu kaal | 10:55 to 12:23 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 15:19 to 16:47 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 07:58 to 09:26 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:59 to 12:46 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 16:45 | moonset next day 05:46 |
For Friday, 19 February 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. Murugan devotees take a temple visit and offer milk.
What is avoided
Weddings are not fixed on Pushya, whatever the weekday. Those who visit Murugan keep the day vegetarian.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu and Kerala mark it monthly; the Thai Poosam of Thai is the great one. The north keeps Guru Pushya and Ravi Pushya as buying days too, and the Deccan calls the star Pushyami.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil Nadu marks Poosam monthly at the Murugan temples, and the Sathya Gnana Sabhai of Ramalinga Swamigal at Vadalur holds a jothi darshan on the Poosam of the month, with the full darshan kept for Thai Poosam.
- Kerala
- Kerala calls the star Pooyam, and Ayurvedic physicians give swarna prashana to children on it each month; the Thaipooyam kavadi of the Subrahmanya temples is its great day.
The dates above are the Tamil Nadu 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.
Temples of Murugan near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Vadapalani Andavar Temple 7.3 kmChennai, Tamil Nadu · Murugan as Vadapalani Andavar
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Shanmuganathar (Murugan) on the hill
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu · Kandaswamy (Murugan) of the battlefield
- Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu · Subramanya Swamy with Valli and Deivanai
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Poosam · Pushya's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a gold around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
Buying gold or jewellery. Poosam is the star for buying gold, and Akshaya Tritiya (Vaishakha Shukla Thritiyai) and Dhanteras (Krishna Trayodasi before Deepavali) are the two days the whole country buys on, whatever else the day carries. No lagna rule is applied here, so the day is graded as a whole.
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.