Sharad Purnima · Kojagari Festival The full moon of Ashwina, the brightest of the year, on which the moon is held to have all sixteen kalas and to drop amrit on what is left out under it.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Sharad Purnima · Kojagari
- हिन्दी
- शरद पूर्णिमा
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 full moon of Ashwina, the brightest of the year, on which the moon is held to have all sixteen kalas and to drop amrit on what is left out under it. Kheer is set on the terrace in the moonlight and eaten at midnight or the next morning; Bengal and Odisha keep it as Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, staying awake because Lakshmi asks who is awake.
- Deity
- Chandra, Lakshmi, Krishna
- 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 Purnima running at nishita, true midnight, because the kheer is set out in the moonlight of that night; this can put it a day before the Purnima that holds the sunrise.
The fast
Many keep the day on fruit and milk and break the fast with the moonlit kheer. In Braj the Sharad Purnima is the night of the Maha Raas.
Where the regions differ
Kojagari Lakshmi Puja in Bengal and Odisha, Kaumudi Utsav in the east, Raas Purnima in Braj and Gujarat, and the day the Ayyappa season is looked forward to in the south. The south keeps it lightly.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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. 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.