Naraka Chaturdasi Festival The day Krishna and Satyabhama killed Narakasura and freed the sixteen thousand he had taken.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Naraka Chaturdasi
- తెలుగు
- నరక చతుర్దశి
- ಕನ್ನಡ
- ನರಕ ಚತುರ್ದಶಿ
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 day Krishna and Satyabhama killed Narakasura and freed the sixteen thousand he had taken. It is the morning of the oil bath: the household rises before dawn, is rubbed with sesame oil, bathed, given new clothes, and the first crackers of the year are lit before the sun is up.
- Deity
- Krishna, Satyabhama, Yama
- 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 Chaturdashi running at arunodaya, the hour and a half before sunrise, which is when the abhyanga snanam is done; the calendar reads the tithi at that instant.
The fast
No fast; the day begins with the bath and the first sweet. In some families a light meal is kept until after the evening lamps.
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu keeps this morning as Deepavali itself, and the Lakshmi puja on the following evening; the north keeps it as Chhoti Diwali and the great night the day after.
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.