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
- Saturday, 20 February 2027
- Thursday, 10 February 2028
- Tuesday, 30 January 2029
Where Purnima · Full moon falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 Feb
- 2028: 10 Feb, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 30 Jan, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon that closes the purnimanta month. It is the standing day for the Satyanarayana vrat and katha at home, for a bath in a river, and for the monthly fast many keep for the moon. The named Purnimas (Guru, Buddha, Sharad, Kartik, Holika) are the ones with a festival attached.
- Deity
- Chandra, Satyanarayana, Vishnu
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
In the north the full moon closes the month, so Purnima is a day of settling accounts with the gods before the name of the month changes the next morning. The Satyanarayan katha, which families trace to the Skanda Purana, belongs to it because it asks so little: a poor Brahmin of Kashi, a woodcutter, a merchant and a king each keep it in the story, and anyone can keep it with a banana-stem mandap and a handful of panjiri. Its thread is satya, truthfulness: the merchant who lied to the god in disguise saw his cargo turn to leaves, and his daughter, who hurried off without her prasad, lost her husband to the river until she went back for it. The dawn bath in the Ganga or any river, and the daan that follows it, are the other half of the day, and at Haridwar, Prayag and Varanasi the ghats fill every full moon.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Purnima · Full moon: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a wooden chowki and a yellow cloth
- four banana stems for the mandap
- a kalash with mango leaves and a coconut
- a picture of Satyanarayan
- panchamrit of milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar
- tulsi leaves, roli and yellow flowers
- panjiri and bananas
- a book of the Satyanarayan katha
- a copper lota
- Gangajal
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The prasad is panjiri, wheat flour roasted in ghee with sugar and dry fruit, given with panchamrit and sliced bananas. The phalahar of the day is fruit, milk, makhana or sabudana, and the meal after the moon is kheer with puri and a potato sabzi, without onion or garlic.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 20 February 2027 at Chennai
The Purnima tithi at sunrise; the katha and the puja are in the evening.
The main rite. The Purnima tithi at sunrise fixes the bath and the daan, which are done in the early morning. The katha is read in the evening and the fast is broken after the moon is given water; when the full moon begins in the afternoon, some almanacs keep the vrat that evening and the bath the next morning, and print the two days separately.
| 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
A fast through the day for those who keep it, broken after the evening puja and the sighting of the moon. The prasad is sheera, of semolina, ghee, sugar and banana.
What is avoided
No meat, eggs, liquor, onion or garlic in the house on the day. Since the katha is about truthfulness, families take care over their word, and the prasad is never refused, left behind or thrown away.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The north ends the lunar month here, the south ends it at the new moon; the day itself is the same instant of the moon for both.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- The Hindi belt keeps every Purnima with a river bath and a katha: the ghats of Haridwar, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Garhmukteshwar fill at dawn, and many women keep the monthly Purnima fast for the family.
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.
- 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.
- Saptashrungi Devi Temple 1,038 kmVani, Nashik, Maharashtra
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Chaitra Purnima and Navaratri are its days.
- Ranchhodrai Temple, Dakor 1,312 kmKheda, Gujarat
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Every Purnima, and Falgun Purnima above all, is its day.
- Bahuchara Mata Temple, Becharaji 1,447 kmMehsana, Gujarat
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Chaitra Purnima and both Navaratris are its seasons
- Salasar Balaji Temple 1,724 kmChuru, Rajasthan
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. The Shekhawati Hanuman, whose Chaitra and Ashwin Purnima melas fill the town.
1 more temple in this gazetteer is 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
- Shantakaram Bhujagashayanam
- Navagraha stotram: Chandra
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
Purnima · 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.