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
- Saturday, 20 February 2027
- Thursday, 10 February 2028
- Wednesday, 3 January 2029
Where Ayilyam · Ashlesha falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 Feb
- 2028: 10 Feb, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 3 Jan, 38 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Ashlesha nakshatra, the star of the nagas. Milk, turmeric and sesame are poured at the naga stone under the peepal tree, and those with naga dosha or sarpa dosha in the horoscope keep the day; the Ayilyam of the month of Aadi and the one in Thai are the two kept hardest, and Mannarasala and Nagercoil fill on them.
- Deity
- Nagas, Subrahmanya
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Ashlesha is the star of the sarpas, the serpents, and the monthly Ayilyam is the day the naga is given its due: the snake that guards the land, the family line and the water beneath it. In Kerala many old homes still keep a sarpa kavu, a grove left uncut for the serpents in a corner of the compound, and the Ayilyam offering is made there. Families told of a sarpa dosha in a child's horoscope, or waiting for a child, keep the day most carefully, since the nagas are held to govern both. Harming a snake or clearing a serpent grove is still believed by many to show itself as skin trouble or a childless house until it is made good.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Ayilyam · Ashlesha: how it is kept
Keep ready
- milk
- turmeric and kumkum
- raw sesame
- rice flour for the noorum palum
- a lamp and oil for the naga stone
- red chethi flowers
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The offering at the naga stone is milk, turmeric and a little sesame, and in Kerala the noorum palum of rice flour, turmeric and milk with a bunch of plantains. Those who keep it eat one vegetarian meal.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 20 February 2027 at Chennai
The nakshatra running at sunrise; the offering at the naga stone is in the morning.
The main rite. The Ashlesha nakshatra at sunrise; the offering at the naga stone or the serpent grove is made in the morning.
| 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 Chaturdasi from previous day 11:15 until 08:00 | then Shukla Pournami until next day 04:54 |
| Nakshatra | Ashlesha until 16:08 | then Magha until next day 13:51 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:26 to 10:54 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:51 to 15:19 (1 h 28 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 06:30 to 07:58 (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 | 17:46 | moonset next day 06:33 |
For Saturday, 20 February 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who keep it take one meal and avoid non-vegetarian food; milk, ghee and turmeric are poured on the naga stone.
What is avoided
No snake is harmed or driven off, no anthill dug up, and no tree cut in a serpent grove. Those keeping it take one meal and no non-vegetarian food.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu and Kerala keep the monthly Ayilyam; the same instinct shows in Nag Panchami in the north and Nagula Chavithi in the Telugu country, which are annual rather than monthly.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil Nadu keeps Ayilyam at the naga stones under the peepal and the neem, pouring milk into the snake anthill, the puttru, at the Amman temples; the Nagaraja temple of Nagercoil is its centre.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps Ayilyam at the sarpa kavu of the house and at Mannarasala and Vettikode, where the Ayilyam puja is made and the Pulluvar sing the serpent songs, the Pulluvan pattu.
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.
- 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.
- Ghati Subramanya Temple 308 kmBengaluru Rural, Karnataka
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. Sarpa Samskara and Ashlesha Bali are done here
- Krishna, Andhra Pradesh
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Nagas, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Sarpa and Kala sarpa. Ashlesha and Shashti are its days
- 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.
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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Ayilyam · Ashlesha's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
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.