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
- Saturday, 9 October 2027
- Wednesday, 27 September 2028
- Tuesday, 16 October 2029
Where Vijayadasami falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 9 Oct
- 2028: 27 Sep, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 16 Oct, 18 days later
Navaratri to Vijayadashami
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Tamil Nadu calendar
- Navaratri begins …
- Durgashtami …
- Saraswati Puja · Ayudha Puja · Sri Panchami …
- Vijayadasami(this page) …
The dates, year by year
Tamil Nadu calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The tenth day, the day of victory, when Durga killed Mahishasura and when the Pandavas took back their weapons from the shami tree. The books and the tools laid down on Navami are picked up again, and it is the day of Vidyarambham: a child is made to write the first letters in rice, guided by an elder's finger.
- Deity
- Durga, Saraswati, Rama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
After nine nights of battle the goddess won on the tenth, and that victory is what makes the day right for every beginning: many Tamil families hold it auspicious from sunrise to sunset, needing no further muhurtham for a first lesson or a new venture. The books and the tools come back from Saraswati that morning as if newly given, and the first word read and the first note played are counted as her gift. In the temples the goddess or Murugan goes out in the evening to the vanni tree, the shami, for the ambu podudhal, an arrow shot at a banana stem or into the air, which closes the festival. At Kulasekarapatnam on the Thoothukudi coast the Mutharamman Dasara is the Tamil country's largest: devotees who have vowed it dress as Kali and other forms and beg alms for ten days, and the goddess slays Mahishasura on the shore at midnight.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Vijayadasami: how it is kept
Keep ready
- raw rice or paddy on a brass plate
- a new slate or notebook and pencil for the child
- betel leaves, fruit, a new cloth and dakshina for the teacher
- flowers, sandal and kumkum
- a sweet for the child
- kuthuvilakku and camphor
- boxes and old cloth for packing the kolu dolls
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Tamil Nadu makes a sweet for the first letters, sakkarai pongal, kesari or payasam, with the last of the Navaratri sundal and vadai. Kerala gives payasam after the Vidyarambham; Bengal makes narkel naru and nimki and carries sweets from house to house for Bijoya; Nepal feasts the visiting family with sel roti and meat after the Dashain tika.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 9 October 2027 at Chennai
Shukla Dasami running at aparahna, the fourth of the five parts of the day, which is the classical rule and the one the Tamil Nadu holiday list follows: 12 October 2024 and 20 October 2026, where the tithi at sunrise would give the day after. Kerala keeps the udaya Dasami instead and is then a day later. Vidyarambham is done in the morning, in the Muhurta the temple announces.
The main rite. Shukla Dasami at sunrise, the udaya tithi, which is the rule the Tamil calendar follows. The punar puja and the Vidyarambham are done in the morning, in the muhurtham the temple or the family priest announces.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:59 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Aparahna | 13:08 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
Sunrise 05:59, sunset 17:54, 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 Navami from previous day 06:28 until 09:02 | then Shukla Dasami until next day 11:41 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Ashadha until 10:18 | then Shravana until next day 13:26 |
| Rahu kaal | 08:57 to 10:27 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:26 to 14:55 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 05:59 to 07:28 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:32 to 12:20 (0 h 48 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 13:51 | moonset next day 01:36 |
For Saturday, 9 October 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 for beginning: a new book, a new instrument, a new lesson, and a sweet after the first letter is written.
What is avoided
No meat in homes that keep the puja, no scolding of a child on the day learning begins, and no putting off of a first lesson or a new work planned for the day. Books and tools are not used before the punar puja releases them.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The south begins the year's learning on this day; the north burns the effigies of Ravana in the afternoon and reads the Dashami running at aparahna instead of at sunrise, which can put Dussehra a day before the southern Vijayadasami.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu (the dates above)
- Tamil Nadu keeps it as the day of first letters and new lessons, the kolu's last night and the vanni ambu in the temples, with the great Dasara of the Tamil country at Kulasekarapatnam.
- Kerala
- Kerala makes Vidyarambham its heart: the child writes Hari Sri in rice with a finger and has it written on the tongue with a gold ring, at home, at the temples and at Thunchan Parambu, the home of Ezhuthachan.
- Telugu
- Andhra and Telangana keep Dasara with the jammi puja, the shami tree worshipped and its leaves given to elders as gold, and a sighting of the palapitta, the Indian roller, counted a good omen; the Kanaka Durga temple at Vijayawada closes its Navaratri.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps Mysuru Dasara, with the Jamboo Savari procession of Chamundeshwari on an elephant, and leaves of the banni tree exchanged as gold.
- North India
- The north keeps Dussehra: the Ram Lila ends and the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad are burned at dusk, the Dashami being read in the afternoon, which can put it a day before the Tamil Vijayadasami.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps Dasara with the seemollanghan, the crossing of the village boundary, and apta leaves given to elders and friends as gold; it is one of the three and a half most auspicious days of the year.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps it as Bijoya Dashami: the Durga pratima is immersed, married women play sindoor khela, and the young touch the feet of their elders and embrace their equals with Bijoya greetings.
- Punjab
- Punjab burns the effigies of Ravana on the Dussehra grounds of every town, as the rest of the north does.
- Assam
- Assam, like Bengal, immerses the Durga pratima and visits the elders with sweets.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lankan Tamil temples close the Navaratri with the maanambu, the arrow shot at a plantain, and many children are started on their letters.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it as Vijaya Dashami, the great day of Dashain: the elders put the tika of rice, curd and vermilion and the green jamara shoots on the heads of the younger members, and families travel across the country to receive it.
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
இனிய விஜயதசமி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்Iniya Vijayadasami nalvazhthukkal
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Thursday is Baba’s day, and Ram Navami, Guru Purnima and Vijayadashami are its three festivals.
- Sri Badrinath Temple 1,965 kmChamoli, Uttarakhand
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. One of the Char Dham and the last of the 108 Divya Desams, open from Akshaya Tritiya to Vijayadashami.
Temples of Durga and Rama 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 · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- 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
Vijayadasami's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a education around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
Vidyarambham or aksharabhyasam, the first letters. Vijayadashami and Vasant Panchami are the classic days and need no further checking. Otherwise Wednesday and Thursday, the days of Budhan and Guru, are the best, Rikta tithis are left out, and the hour is usually the morning.
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.