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
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Friday, 3 September 2027
- Tuesday, 22 August 2028
- Tuesday, 11 September 2029
Where Haritalika Teej falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 3 Sep
- 2028: 22 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 11 Sep, 19 days later
The dates, year by year
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The third day of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada, kept by women of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Nepal for Shiva and Parvati. Sand or clay images of the two are made and worshipped through the night with songs; the name remembers Parvati's friends carrying her away into the forest so that she could choose Shiva herself.
- Deity
- Parvati, Shiva
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The katha of the day says Himavan had promised Parvati to Vishnu on Narada's word, so her friends carried her off into the forest, where she shaped a Shiva lingam from river sand on this Tritiya and kept the whole night awake without food or water until Shiva came and accepted her. That is why the images are still made of sand or clay by the women themselves, and why the fast is waterless and the night is spent awake: each woman does what Parvati did. Married women keep it for akhand saubhagya, an unbroken married life, and girls for a husband of their own choosing, which is the part of the story that the name, harita alika, carried off by a friend, remembers. In Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh it is simply Teej, and custom holds that once a woman begins it she keeps it every year. Nepal keeps the same Tritiya as Teej, the great women's festival of the hills, over three days: the dar khane feast the night before, the waterless fast danced out in red at Pashupatinath, and Rishi Panchami two days later to close it.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Haritalika Teej: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a red sari and blouse
- pote (green bead necklace) and tilhari
- red glass bangles and sindoor
- bel leaves, flowers and incense
- an oil lamp for the night
- fruit and sweets for the offering
- datiwan sticks and red mud for Rishi Panchami
- the food for the dar
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The dar is the richest meal of the year for many families: sel roti, puri, kheer, achar, sweets and, in homes that eat it, meat, eaten late into the night at the maiti. The Tritiya is kept without food or water, the fast is broken lightly on the Chaturthi, and the Rishi Panchami meal uses only what grows without the plough.
The hour
Clock times for Friday, 3 September 2027 at Chennai
Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya at sunrise; the puja is at night and the fast is given up the next morning.
The main rite. Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya holding the sunrise; the main puja is done in the pradosha after sunset with the images made that day, and the watch runs through the night to the Chaturthi morning, when the fast is given up.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:58 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:19, 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 Thritiyai from previous day 16:51 until 14:20 | then Shukla Chaturthi until next day 12:26 |
| Nakshatra | Hasta until 15:54 | then Chitra until next day 14:50 |
| Rahu kaal | 10:36 to 12:08 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 15:14 to 16:46 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 07:30 to 09:03 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:44 to 12:33 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 08:11 | moonset 20:13 |
For Friday, 3 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
One of the hardest fasts kept: no food and no water from the previous evening through the whole day and night, broken only after the morning puja of the Chaturthi.
What is avoided
No food, no water and no sleep from the start of the fast to the morning puja where the custom is kept whole; the sick and the pregnant keep a lighter form, as traditions allow. A vrat once begun is not dropped in a later year without a reason and a proper closing, the udyapan, and quarrels and black clothes are avoided.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Nepal keeps it as Teej with the red saris at Pashupatinath; the Deccan keeps the same tithi as Gauri Habba and Hartalika with a lighter fast; the far south does not keep it. Nepal keeps Teej in red: the dar khane feast the night before, the fast without water through the day, the red saris and the dancing at Pashupatinath, and Rishi Panchami two days later to close it.
In other regions
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the same Tritiya as Gauri Habba, bringing Swarna Gauri home and exchanging the bagina among married women, with Ganesha following next morning.
- North India
- Kept hardest in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where it is called simply Teej or Teeja, with thekua and the night-long jagran; Rajasthan keeps it after its Kajari Teej of the dark fortnight.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra and Goa keep Hartalika on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, with small sand or shadu clay images and a lighter fast than the north.
- Nepal (the dates above)
- Nepal keeps Teej in Bhadra: dar khane on the Dwitiya, the nirjala fast and the red-clad dancing at Pashupatinath on the Tritiya, and the Rishi Panchami bath that closes it; married daughters come home to the maiti for it, and it is a public holiday for women.
- Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh
- Chhattisgarh keeps it as Teeja and it is the largest women’s day of its year: the married daughters are called home for it a week before, the karu bhaat of bitter greens is eaten the night before, the fast is nirjala, and the state gazettes the day.
The dates above are the Nepal 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
हरितालिका तीजको हार्दिक शुभकामनाHaritalika Teejko hardik shubhakamana
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Parvati and 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
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
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.
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.