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
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 17 April 2027
- Thursday, 4 May 2028
- Tuesday, 24 April 2029
Where Thrissur Pooram falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 17 Apr
- 2028: 4 May, 18 days later
- 2029: 24 Apr, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The pooram of the Vadakkunnathan temple at Thrissur, the largest temple festival of Kerala. Ten caparisoned elephants face ten more across the Thekkinkadu maidan while the kudamattam, the exchange of silk parasols, goes on above them, with the panchavadyam and the melam played by hundreds of drummers; the fireworks run through the night into the morning.
- Deity
- Vadakkunnathan, Shiva, Bhagavathi
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Sakthan Thampuran, the ruler of Kochi, gave the pooram its present form in the late eighteenth century; the common telling is that the temples around Thrissur, delayed by rain, had been refused entry at the Arattupuzha pooram, and he gave them a festival of their own. He grouped them into two sides, Thiruvambadi and Paramekkavu, and made the Vadakkunnathan temple the host, whose Shiva watches the festival rather than going out in it. On the eve the elephant of the Neythalakkavu Bhagavathy pushes open the southern gate of Vadakkunnathan, and through it the next morning come the eight smaller temples, the cherupoorams, Kanimangalam Sastha first. The two sides vie with each other in everything, the elephants, the melam, the new parasols kept secret until the kudamattam and the fireworks, and the town talks of it for a year afterwards.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Thrissur Pooram: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a place on the maidan taken early
- water and something to shade the head
- ear protection for the vedikkettu
- nothing carried that cannot be held for hours
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Nothing is cooked for the pooram. Thrissur eats from the stalls around the maidan through the two days, and the temples and the sides give out payasam and rice to those who come. Houses in the town keep an open kitchen for relatives who have travelled in, with a sadya at noon on the pooram day.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 17 April 2027 at Chennai
Pooram nakshatra in Medam, read at sunset because the festival runs through the afternoon and the night. Where the star comes twice in the month the day nearer the Pournami is taken.
The main rite. Pooram nakshatra in Medam, taken as the calendar reads it at sunset. Kanimangalam Sastha comes in at dawn, the madathil varavu and the Ilanjithara melam fill the late morning and afternoon, the kudamattam is at dusk on the Thekkinkadu maidan and the great fireworks go off in the small hours; the next morning the two goddesses take leave of each other at the upacharam cholli piriyal.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 18:22 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:22 to 20:46 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 05:55, sunset 18:22, 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 Ekadasi from previous day 11:22 until 09:28 | then Shukla Dwadasi until next day 07:43 |
| Nakshatra | Magha until 07:08 | then Purva Phalguni until next day 06:06 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:02 to 10:35 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:42 to 15:15 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 05:55 to 07:29 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:44 to 12:34 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 15:15 | moonset next day 03:44 |
For Saturday, 17 April 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. The day is a public festival, and the temple gives out payasam.
What is avoided
There is no fast and no rite at home. In the crowd, keep clear of the elephants and never feed, touch or startle them, stay behind the barriers during the fireworks, and throw nothing into the path of the processions.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A Thrissur festival above all; the other Kerala poorams (Arattupuzha, Peruvanam) fall in the same season on their own stars. Nothing outside Kerala corresponds to it.
In other regions
- Kerala (the dates above)
- Thrissur's own, kept by the whole town whatever its faith. The Arattupuzha and Peruvanam poorams nearby are older, and the pooram season of central Kerala runs through Kumbham, Meenam and Medam, each temple on its own star.
The dates above are the Kerala 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.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kerala
The entry for this day names Thrissur. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. The pooram of the Vadakkunnathan temple at Thrissur, the largest temple festival of Kerala.
Temples of 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
- Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu · Vadaranyeswarar with Vandarkuzhali, and the Urdhva Tandava Nataraja
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.