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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 5 January 2027
- Sunday, 9 January 2028
- Friday, 12 January 2029
Where Pradosh vrat falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 5 Jan
- 2028: 9 Jan, 4 days later
- 2029: 12 Jan, 3 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The Trayodashi evening of each fortnight, kept for Shiva. The vrat is named for the weekday it falls on: Soma Pradosh on Monday is for a wish, Bhauma Pradosh on Tuesday for health, and Shani Pradosh on Saturday for a son and for relief from Shani. The Shiva Purana story of the churning of the ocean is read at the evening puja.
- Deity
- Shiva, Nandi
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The north keeps Pradosh mostly at home, as a vrat with its own katha, and the story most often read is of a poor Brahmin widow who took in an orphaned prince of Vidarbha, Dharmagupta, and raised him beside her own son; on the advice of the sage Shandilya the two boys kept the Pradosh fast, and the prince won back his kingdom and married a gandharva princess, Anshumati. Because the vrat is named by its weekday, the almanacs give each weekday its own purpose, and traditions differ in the details: Ravi Pradosh for health and long life, Budh Pradosh for learning and a wish, Guru Pradosh for victory over enemies, and Shukra Pradosh for the marriage and the comfort of the house, besides the Som, Bhaum and Shani Pradosh the whole north knows. Many keep a vow of eleven or twenty-six Pradosh fasts and close it with an udyapan, a puja and a meal given to Brahmins.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Pradosh vrat: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a lingam or a picture of Shiva and Parvati
- a kusha mat
- Gangajal and raw milk
- curd, ghee and honey
- bel patra with the three leaflets whole
- dhatura and aak flowers
- white sandal paste and unbroken akshat
- red flowers and sindoor for Parvati
- a rudraksha mala
- the Pradosh vrat katha
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The phalahar of the day is fruit, milk, makhana and sabudana, with sendha namak or with no salt at all in the stricter houses. The bhog is kheer or a white milk sweet such as barfi, and the fast is broken with a sattvik meal of puri, kheer and a potato sabzi.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 5 January 2027 at Chennai
Pradosh kaal, the hour and a half either side of sunset; the Trayodashi running at sunset fixes the day.
The main rite. The Trayodashi running at sunset fixes the day, and the puja belongs to pradosh kaal, the stretch round sunset; those keeping the vrat bathe again just before it and finish the puja within it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 17:56 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:56 to 20:20 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:33, sunset 17:56, 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 | Krishna Trayodasi from previous day 18:16 until 20:40 | then Krishna Chaturdasi until next day 23:15 |
| Nakshatra | Jyeshtha until next day 03:07 | then Mula until 2 days later, 06:08 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:05 to 16:30 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:23 to 10:49 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:14 to 13:40 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:51 to 12:37 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 04:23 | moonset 15:50 |
For Tuesday, 5 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A fast from sunrise, broken after the evening puja. Bel patra, water, milk and bhang are offered on the lingam.
What is avoided
No grain, meat, onion or garlic for those keeping the vrat, and quarrels and harsh words are kept out of the evening. Bel leaves are offered with all three leaflets whole and the rice unbroken, since nothing broken is given to Shiva.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The same day as the southern Pradosham. Traditions vary on whether the fast is broken the same night or the next morning.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Across the Hindi belt Pradosh is a home vrat first and a temple visit second; Kashi Vishwanath and Mahakal at Ujjain hold a special evening puja, and Som and Shani Pradosh draw the largest numbers.
The dates above are the North India 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 Shiva 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.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
- Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu · Vadaranyeswarar with Vandarkuzhali, and the Urdhva Tandava Nataraja
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
Pradosh vrat'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.