Vishu Festival Medam 1, the day the Sun enters Mesha and the Malayali agricultural year opens.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Vishu
- தமிழ்
- விஷு
- മലയാളം
- വിഷു
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
Medam 1, the day the Sun enters Mesha and the Malayali agricultural year opens. The whole day turns on the Vishukkani, the first sight: the previous night the mother of the house arranges the konna flowers, a mirror, rice, a golden cucumber, coins, a lamp and the image of Krishna in an uruli, and leads each member of the family to it with their eyes closed at dawn. The elders then give the Vishukkaineettam, a coin, to the young.
- Deity
- Krishna, Vishnu, Surya
- 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 kani is seen in the brahma muhurtam, before sunrise, so the day is the first SUNRISE after the Sun enters Mesha: when the sankramana falls after sunrise, Vishu is the next morning even though the Malayalam month Medam has already begun (Medam 1 is the ingress day when the Sun enters before aparahna). In 2026 the Sun entered Mesha at 09:32 on 14 April and Vishu was the 15th.
The fast
No fast is kept. The Vishu sadya follows, with the bitter veppampoo rasam and the sweet mampazha pulissery at the same meal.
Where the regions differ
Kerala's stricter aparahna rule can put Vishu a day after the Tamil Puthandu, which uses sunset. The same sankramana is Poila Boishakh in Bengal, Bohag Bihu in Assam and Vaisakhi in the Punjab.
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.