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
- Wednesday, 12 January 2028
- Friday, 30 March 2029
Where Pournami · Purnima · Puranmashi · Full moon falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 Feb
- 2028: 12 Jan, 39 days earlier
- 2029: 30 Mar, 77 days later
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of the lunar month. It is kept as a vratam in most southern households: the house is cleaned, the lamp lit at dusk and the Satyanarayana puja or the Lakshmi puja done in the evening, and many walk the girivalam at Tiruvannamalai or go round the temple that night. Each month's Pournami carries its own name and its own festival.
- Deity
- Chandra, Satyanarayana, Lakshmi, Shiva
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The full moon is the night the moon is whole, and since the moon is held to rule the mind, families keep it as a monthly day of settling: the house cleaned, a lamp lit, a vow renewed. It also names the months, for each lunar month takes its name from the star the full moon stands in, Chitra for Chaitra, Vishakha for Vaishakha, Krittika for Kartika, which is why so many southern festivals, Chithirai Pournami, Vaikasi Visakam, Karthigai Deepam, Maasi Magam and Panguni Uthiram among them, sit on or beside a Pournami. The Satyanarayana puja is the usual household way of keeping it, often promised in advance as thanks for a wish granted, a new house or a safe return. At Tiruvannamalai the hill is Siva himself as fire, so walking round Arunachala on the full-moon night is walking round the god.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Pournami · Purnima · Puranmashi · Full moon: how it is kept
Keep ready
- kuthuvilakku with gingelly oil or ghee and cotton wicks
- a kalasam with mango leaves and a coconut
- raw rice and a plantain leaf
- tulasi and flowers
- betel leaves, areca nut and bananas
- camphor and incense
- a book of the Satyanarayana katha
- milk for the moon
- rice flour for the kolam
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The Satyanarayana prasadam is the heart of it: Tamil homes make rava kesari or sakkarai pongal with payasam, Andhra and Telangana the wheat-rava prasadam of the Annavaram kind, rich with ghee, sugar and banana, and Karnataka sajjige with banana. Bengal offers sinni, an uncooked mix of flour, milk, banana and sugar, the Punjab gurdwaras give karah prasad, and Maharashtra makes sheera. Those keeping the vratam take no rice at night.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 20 February 2027 at Chennai
The Pournami tithi at sunrise for the vratam; the puja is in the evening, when the moon is up.
The main rite. The Pournami tithi at sunrise marks the vratam. The Satyanarayana puja and the lamp belong to the evening, after moonrise, and the girivalam is walked while the Pournami is running, which sometimes means setting out the night before.
| 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 keeping it eat one meal, usually after the evening puja, and avoid rice at night. Milk, fruit and payasam are the offering.
What is avoided
Those keeping the vratam eat no rice at night and nothing non-vegetarian all day. The Satyanarayana prasadam is never refused or left uneaten, since the katha itself tells what befell those who neglected it. On the girivalam no footwear is worn and the path is walked without hurry or noise.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The north calls the same day Purnima and keeps the Satyanarayana katha on it; Kerala calls it Pournami and Karnataka Hunnime. The Punjab calls it Puranmashi and many gurdwaras hold an evening diwan of kirtan on it, Bengal, Assam and Nepal keep it as Purnima, and Sri Lanka keeps every full moon as a Poya and a public holiday. The day itself is the same everywhere, since it is fixed by the moon.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil Nadu keeps it most visibly at Tiruvannamalai, where lakhs walk the fourteen kilometres round Arunachala through the full-moon night, and at the Amman temples, where women sit in rows for the Thiruvilakku puja.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps Pournami at the Devi temples, many of which hold a special Pournami puja with lamps, and households read the Lalita Sahasranama at dusk.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country calls it Pournami or Punnami, and it is the usual day for the Satyanarayana Swamy vratam that a family promises at Annavaram, often kept after a wedding or a housewarming.
- Kannada
- Karnataka calls it Hunnime and keeps the Satyanarayana puje at home with sajjige; several carry names of their own, such as Banada Hunnime in Pushya, when the Banashankari jatre at Badami begins.
- Maharashtra
- Marathi homes call it Pournima and keep the Satyanarayan puja for a vow fulfilled, a new job or a new house; the named Pournimas of the year, from Vat Pournima to Kojagiri, carry festivals of their own.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps Purnima with a Satyanarayan puja at home, the Satyapir of the older Bengali telling, and the sinni is shared out after the panchali, the katha in verse, has been read.
- Punjab
- The Punjab calls it Puranmashi: many gurdwaras hold a special evening diwan of kirtan and katha, and Hindu Punjabi homes keep the Satyanarayan katha.
- Assam
- Assamese households keep the full moon with naam-kirtan at the namghar and, in many homes, a Satyanarayan puja in the evening.
- Nepal
- Nepal calls it Purnima and the Newars Punhi, and several are feasts in their own right: Janai Purnima, when the sacred thread is changed, Yomari Punhi with its sweet rice-flour dumplings, and Buddha Jayanti.
- Tulu Nadu
- A Tulu household marks the Punname of each lunar month beside the solar date its panchanga is printed in, and the Jaarde Punname carries a nema of its own.
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.
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Every pournami is a mass gathering
- Arunachaleswarar Temple 161 kmTiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Tiruvannamalai. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. It is kept as a vratam in most southern households: the house is cleaned, the lamp lit at dusk and the Satyanarayana puja or the Lakshmi puja done in the evening, and many walk the girivalam at Tiruvannamalai or go round the temple that night.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Monday and pournami are its days
- Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Ekadasi and pournami are its days.
- South Goa, Goa
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Magha Purnima is its Jatra
- Priol, South Goa, Goa
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Magha Purnima and the Jatra are its days.
5 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.
- Satyanarayana katha
- Navagraha stotram: Chandra
- Sindurarunavigraham (Lalita dhyana)
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Pournami · Purnima · Puranmashi · Full moon's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a satyanarayana puja around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
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.