Festival Nataraja, Shiva, Parvati
Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam
Thiruvathirai nakshatra in Margazhi, the birth star of Shiva as Nataraja and the night of the cosmic dance.
Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam 2028 falls on Tuesday, 11 January, 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
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 11 January 2028
- Saturday, 22 December 2029
- Wednesday, 8 January 2031
Where Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2028: 11 Jan
- 2029: 22 Dec, 345 days later
- 2031: 8 Jan, 348 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
Thiruvathirai nakshatra in Margazhi, the birth star of Shiva as Nataraja and the night of the cosmic dance. At Chidambaram the Nataraja is bathed and brought out before dawn for the Arudra Darshanam, and the household makes thiruvathirai kali, a sweet of rice and jaggery, with a seven-vegetable kootu.
- Deity
- Nataraja, Shiva, Parvati
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Nataraja's dance, the Chidambaram story says, was first seen by the sages Patanjali and Vyaghrapada, who had waited for it in the Thillai forest, and Thiruvathirai is kept as the morning he danced for them. The kali has its own story: Sendanar, a poor woodcutter of Chidambaram, had nothing but a coarse kali of rice and jaggery to give the guest who came to his hut, and the next morning the priests found grains of that kali in the sanctum; hence the old saying that even the poorest house eats a mouthful of kali on Thiruvathirai. The ten mornings before it are the Tiruvempavai days, when Manikkavasagar's songs are sung at dawn and girls keep the Pavai nonbu, and the star is their close. At Uthirakosamangai near Ramanathapuram the emerald Nataraja, kept under sandal paste all year, is washed and seen bare only on this day.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam: how it is kept
Keep ready
- raw rice (pacharisi)
- moong dal (paasi paruppu)
- jaggery (vellam)
- grated coconut
- ghee, cardamom and cashews
- seven country vegetables for the kootu
- tamarind
- coriander seeds, dal and red chillies for the paste
- a picture of Nataraja
- kuthuvilakku, camphor and vibhuti
- vilva leaves and flowers
- plantain leaves
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Thiruvathirai kali of roasted rice and moong dal cooked in jaggery with coconut and ghee, and the ezhu kari kootu of seven vegetables, the two always eaten together. Kerala keeps its Thiruvathira without rice: the ettangadi of roasted tubers, plantain and pulses in jaggery, and koova payasam of arrowroot.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 11 January 2028 at Chennai
The nakshatra running at sunrise in Margazhi; the darshan is in the small hours, the coldest and longest night of the Tamil year.
The main rite. The Thiruvathirai star running at sunrise in Margazhi; the Arudra abhishekam and the darshan of Nataraja are in the small hours before dawn, and the kali is offered after it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:34 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:34, sunset 17:59, 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 15:37 until 12:46 | then Shukla Pournami until next day 09:33 |
| Nakshatra | Ardra until 21:58 | then Punarvasu until next day 19:22 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:08 to 16:33 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:25 to 10:51 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:17 to 13:42 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:54 to 12:39 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 17:13 | moonset next day 06:32 |
For Tuesday, 11 January 2028 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Many keep a fast through the night and eat the kali and kootu after the morning darshan. No rice at night in the strict form.
What is avoided
No rice meal on the night before, and for those fasting nothing at all until the darshan is over. The day is kept vegetarian, and the kali is not refused to anyone who asks for it.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu keeps it for Nataraja; Kerala keeps the same star in Dhanu as Thiruvathira, a women's vratam with the thudichu kali dance and the ettangadi of eight tubers.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Chidambaram is the centre, with the ten-day Margazhi festival, the chariot on the eve and the Arudra Darshanam at dawn; the other four sabhas of the dance, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tiruvalangadu and Kuttralam, keep it with their own Nataraja, and Uthirakosamangai shows its emerald one.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps the same star in Dhanu as Thiruvathira, a women's day for Shiva and Parvati: the kaikottikali danced round the lamp, a night awake, no rice, and the first Thiruvathira of a new bride, the Poothiruvathira, kept with particular care.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka's Tamil Shaivas keep the ten days of Tiruvempavai at the Shiva kovils of Jaffna and the east, closing with the Nataraja's procession on the star.
The dates above are the Tamil Nadu 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
ஆருத்ரா தரிசன நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்Arudra Darisana nalvazhthukkal
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Thillai Nataraja Temple 197 kmChidambaram, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
The entry for this day names Chidambaram. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. At Chidambaram the Nataraja is bathed and brought out before dawn for the Arudra Darshanam, and the household makes thiruvathirai kali, a sweet of rice and jaggery, with a seven-vegetable kootu.
- Panruti, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Thiruvathirai is its day.
Temples of Nataraja, Shiva and Parvati 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.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
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.
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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.