Festival Indra, Agni
Uruka
The day before Pongal and Sankranti, when what is worn out is burnt.
Uruka 2027 falls on Thursday, 14 January, computed for Chennai.
- Calendar Assam
- Dates to 2036
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
Assam calendar, computed for Chennai
- Thursday, 14 January 2027
- Saturday, 15 January 2028
- Sunday, 14 January 2029
Where Uruka falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Jan
- 2028: 15 Jan, 1 day later
- 2029: 14 Jan, 1 day earlier
The four days of Pongal
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Assam calendar
The dates, year by year
Assam calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The day before Pongal and Sankranti, when what is worn out is burnt. Old mats, broken furniture and the year's rubbish go on a bonfire before dawn, the house is whitewashed and the kolam redrawn. In the Telugu country the bhogi pallu, a mixture of regi pandu (jujube), coins, flower petals and sugar cane, is poured over small children's heads to keep the evil eye away.
- Deity
- Indra, Agni
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Bhogi is named for Indra, the lord of the rain clouds, and the day thanks the rains that brought the harvest in, a day before the Sun is thanked on Pongal. It is also the last day of Margazhi, so the month of the Tiruppavai closes with Andal's wedding to Ranganatha, kept that evening in many Vishnu temples. The Tamil saying about the old going out and the new coming in is the whole idea of the day: the fire takes what is worn out, the house is washed and whitewashed, and the kaappu of neem, avaram and poolai flowers is tucked into the eaves to guard the house for the year ahead. Children beat the small bhogi drum round the fire before dawn, and that sound is what most Tamils remember of the morning. In Assam the same night is Uruka, the eve of Magh Bihu, when the harvest is in and the whole village cooks and eats together in the bhelaghar built in the empty field, keeping the fire through the night until the meji is burnt at dawn. It is the most communal night of the Assamese year, and the shared feast rather than any puja is its rite.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Uruka: how it is kept
Keep ready
- bamboo, straw, hay and banana leaves for the bhelaghar
- firewood for the meji
- polo and jakoi, the bamboo fish traps
- bora saul (glutinous rice) for the pitha
- black sesame and jaggery
- coconut for the laru
- chira, muri and akhoi
- doi (curd) and gur (jaggery)
- tamul-paan (areca nut and betel leaf)
- rice, fish and meat for the feast
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The Uruka feast is rice with the fish of the community catch and, as each community keeps, duck, pork, chicken or mutton, cooked in the open; the pitha are til pitha and ghila pitha of glutinous rice, the laru of coconut and sesame, and the Magh Bihu morning begins with a jolpan of chira, muri or akhoi eaten with curd and jaggery.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 14 January 2027 at Chennai
The bonfire is lit at dawn, in the last hour before sunrise; the bhogi pallu is in the evening.
The main rite. The last evening of Puh, the night before Magh Bihu: the feast is at nightfall, and the meji is lit at first light after the bath.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Arunodaya | 04:59 | the 96 minutes before sunrise, the hour of the oil bath |
| Sunrise | 06:35 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:35, sunset 18:01, 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 Shashti from previous day 13:02 until 13:59 | then Shukla Saptami until next day 14:14 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Bhadrapada until 23:19 | then Revati until next day 23:51 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:44 to 15:09 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 06:35 to 08:01 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 09:26 to 10:52 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:55 to 12:41 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 10:41 | moonset 23:14 |
For Thursday, 14 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept. The kitchen is cleaned out along with the house and the new harvest rice is set aside for the next morning.
What is avoided
The meji is not lit before the dawn bath and the prayer, and it is lit by the village together, not by one house alone. Nothing but straw, bamboo and wood goes on the fire, and the fire in the bhelaghar is never left unwatched through the night.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu and the Telugu country keep it as Bhogi, the Punjab keeps the same evening as Lohri, and Assam as Uruka, the feast night of Magh Bihu. Assam keeps Uruka as the feast night before Magh Bihu: the meji and the bhelaghar are built in the harvested field, the village cooks and eats together in the bhelaghar and stays the night there, and the meji is burnt at dawn.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Bhogi is the first of the four Pongal days in Tamil Nadu, kept everywhere with the dawn fire, the whitewash and the kaappu; in the cities the fire has shrunk to a small symbolic one as the rules on smoke have tightened.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps Bhogi as the first day of Sankranti: the bhogi mantalu of old wood at dawn, the muggulu drawn with gobbemmalu, and in the evening the bhogi pallu of regi pandlu, flower petals and coins poured over the small children.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Bhogi on the eve of Sankranti, most of all in the north of the state, with an oil bath and a meal of sajje rotti with sesame.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Bhogi the day before Makar Sankranti with the bhogichi bhaji of the season's vegetables and bajra bhakri sprinkled with sesame.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps the same evening as Lohri: a bonfire in the yard, rewri, peanuts and popcorn thrown into it, the songs of Dulla Bhatti, and the first Lohri of a new bride or a new baby kept with special fuss; Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Delhi keep it too.
- Assam (the dates above)
- Assam keeps Uruka on the last night of Puh: the young men build the bhelaghar and the meji in the harvested field days ahead, the village fishes the beels together that morning, and the feast is cooked and eaten in the bhelaghar, where many stay the night round the fire before the meji is burnt at dawn on Magh Bihu.
The dates above are the Assam 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
ভোগালী বিহুৰ শুভেচ্ছাBhogali Bihur shubhechha
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.