Festival Varuna, Brahma, Gayatri
Shravana Pournami · Jandhyala Pournami · Raksha Bandhan
The full moon of Shravana: the sacred thread is changed at the Upakarma, the year's Vedic study is begun again, and the rakhi is tied by a sister on her brother's wrist.
Shravana Pournami · Jandhyala Pournami · Raksha Bandhan 2027 falls on Tuesday, 17 August, computed for Chennai.
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
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 17 August 2027
- Saturday, 5 August 2028
- Friday, 24 August 2029
Where Shravana Pournami · Jandhyala Pournami · Raksha Bandhan falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 17 Aug
- 2028: 5 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 24 Aug, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Telugu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of Shravana: the sacred thread is changed at the Upakarma, the year's Vedic study is begun again, and the rakhi is tied by a sister on her brother's wrist. In coastal Andhra fishermen keep the same day as Narali Pournami and offer a coconut to the sea before the fishing season opens.
- Deity
- Varuna, Brahma, Gayatri
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Jandhyam is the Telugu word for the sacred thread, and the day takes its Telugu name from the new one put on at the Upakarma, the rite by which the Vedic student begins the year's study again with an offering to the rishis who first heard the hymns. The old thread goes into water, the new one is blessed with the Gayatri, and many men who wear it only on such days still change it on this one. The same full moon is Hayagriva Jayanti, the birthday of the horse-headed form of Vishnu who is held to have brought back the Vedas stolen from Brahma, which is why learning and the thread belong together on it, and why the Madhva homes of Karnataka offer him the sweet named after him. For the rest of the family it has become Rakhi Pournami, when the sister ties the rakhi and the brother answers with a gift and his promise to stand by her.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Shravana Pournami · Jandhyala Pournami · Raksha Bandhan: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a new jandhyam (sacred thread)
- darbha grass
- raw rice for the tarpanam
- a panchapatra and uddharini
- rakhis
- kumkum and akshintalu
- a harathi plate with a lamp
- sweets
- gifts for the sisters
- chana dal, jaggery and coconut for the hayagriva
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The Upakarma meal is plain and vegetarian: Telugu homes make garelu, payasam and pulihora, and many add bobbatlu for the rakhi. Madhva homes in Karnataka cook hayagriva, chana dal with jaggery, coconut and ghee, as the naivedyam, with payasa and kosambari; the sweet the sister feeds her brother is whatever the family loves best.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai
The Pournami at sunrise. The Upakarma is done in the morning, before midday; the rakhi is tied during the day, avoiding the Bhadra hour that some almanacs name.
The main rite. The Pournami at sunrise. The Upakarma and the change of thread are done in the morning, before midday; the rakhi is tied during the day, outside the Bhadra hour where the almanac names one.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:57 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Madhyahna | 12:13 | midday, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset |
Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:29, 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 Pournami from previous day 10:29 until 12:59 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 15:16 |
| Nakshatra | Dhanishta until next day 02:32 | then Shatabhisha until 2 days later, 05:15 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:21 to 16:55 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:05 to 10:39 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:13 to 13:47 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:48 to 12:38 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 18:32 | moonset next day 06:32 |
For Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those doing the Upakarma fast until the rite is finished. The meal is vegetarian; payasam and garelu are made.
What is avoided
Those doing the Upakarma eat nothing until it is done, and the meal is without onion or garlic. The old thread is not thrown out with the rubbish but put in water or under a tree, and the rakhi is not tied in the Bhadra hour.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Telugu families call it Jandhyala Pournami, Kannada families Upakarma, Tamil families Aavani Avittam, and the north Raksha Bandhan. Rigvedins and Samavedins keep the Upakarma on other days, so one extended family can keep three.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps the thread-changing as Aavani Avittam, usually on this same full moon, with the Gayatri japa the next morning.
- Telugu (the dates above)
- Andhra and Telangana call it Jandhyala Pournami for the thread and Rakhi Pournami for the rakhi, and most homes keep both; Rigvedi and Samavedi families change the thread on their own days, and the fishing villages of the coast offer a coconut to the sea.
- Kannada
- Karnataka calls it Shravana Hunnime or Upakarma; Madhva homes keep it as Hayagriva Jayanti, with the hayagriva sweet and the books set before the god, and the rakhi is tied in most towns.
- North India
- The north keeps the day as Raksha Bandhan, and the rakhi is its whole centre.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Narali Pournima: the Koli fishermen of the coast offer a coconut to the sea as the monsoon eases and the boats go out again, and the rakhi is tied too.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps Janai Purnima, changing the janai and tying the yellow raksha thread on the wrist, with kwati, a soup of nine sprouted beans.
The dates above are the Telugu 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.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
రాఖీ పౌర్ణమి శుభాకాంక్షలుRakhi Pournami shubhakankshalu
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
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.