Sashti viratham Vratam The sixth day of the bright fortnight, kept monthly for Murugan.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Sashti viratham
- தமிழ்
- சஷ்டி விரதம்
- മലയാളം
- ഷഷ്ഠി വ്രതം
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 sixth day of the bright fortnight, kept monthly for Murugan. Devotees fast and go to one of the Arupadai Veedu or the local Murugan temple, recite the Kandha Sashti Kavacham and offer milk and panchamirtham. The one after Deepavali, in Aippasi, is the great Kandha Sashti of six days.
- Deity
- Murugan, Subrahmanya
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
The hour
The rule in words
The Shukla Sashti at sunrise; the temple visit and the abhishekam are in the morning or the evening.
The fast
One meal a day, usually after the temple visit; many keep it on fruit and milk. No non-vegetarian food on the day.
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu and Kerala keep the monthly Sashti; the Telugu and Kannada calendars mark only the annual Subrahmanya Shashti in Margashira.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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. 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.