Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam Festival Thiruvathirai nakshatra in Margazhi, the birth star of Shiva as Nataraja and the night of the cosmic dance.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam
- தமிழ்
- திருவாதிரை (ஆருத்ரா தரிசனம்)
- മലയാളം
- തിരുവാതിര
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
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.
The hour
The rule in words
The nakshatra running at sunrise in Margazhi; the darshan is in the small hours, the coldest and longest night of the Tamil year.
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.
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.
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.