Karthigai Deepam: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Karthigai Deepam is the Tamil festival of lamps. It is kept in the Tamil month of Karthigai, on the day the Moon is in the Krittika (Karthigai) nakshatra, which in most years is at or near the full moon. At dusk, families light rows of small clay lamps (agal vilakku) on the doorstep, the windows, the walls and the kolam at the door, until the whole house glows.

The greatest celebration is at Tiruvannamalai, where Shiva is worshipped as Arunachala, the hill of fire. At dusk on Karthigai Deepam a great flame, the Maha Deepam, is lit on top of the hill and can be seen for miles. Families who see it, in person or on a screen, bow to it as Shiva in the form of light. Temples of Shiva and of Murugan light lamps and bonfires, and Tamil families around the world light their lamps at home.

Why it is kept

The endless column of fire. The Linga Purana (1.17) tells how Brahma and Vishnu once argued about which of them was greater. As they quarrelled, a pillar of light appeared between them, wreathed in a thousand flames, with no beginning, middle or end. Vishnu said they should find its source. He took the form of a boar and dug down, and Brahma took the form of a swan and flew up. For a thousand years each searched, and neither found an end. They came back, humbled, and bowed together before the pillar, and from it came the sound Om. The light was Shiva. Other tellings differ: in the Shiva and Skanda Puranas, Brahma falsely claims that he reached the top, with a ketaki flower as his witness, and Shiva rebukes him. Tamil tradition places this at Tiruvannamalai, where the column of fire became the hill of Arunachala. The flame on the hilltop on Karthigai Deepam recalls that light.

The six mothers of Murugan. The Krittikas, the six stars of the Pleiades, are also part of the day. In the telling that W. J. Wilkins records (1882), sparks of fire from Shiva's eyes fell into the lake Saravana and became six babies, who were nursed by the Krittikas. When Parvati embraced them, the six became one child with six faces: Murugan, also called Karthikeya, "the son of the Krittikas". In the Mahabharata the six mothers ask to be his mothers and he accepts them. So Karthigai Deepam is a day for Murugan too, and his temples light lamps for it.

A festival like Deepavali. V. Nagam Aiya's Travancore State Manual (1906) describes Kartikai as a festival like Dipavali on the full moon of Karthigai, when the Moon is in Krittika, with gifts to daughters and sons-in-law and lights on the fronts and roofs of houses. W. Francis's South Arcot Gazetteer (1906) notes the niches on each side of an ordinary house's doorway for lamps, used most of all in the month of Karthigai, when the great festival takes place at the Tiruvannamalai temple.

The texts behind the story

• Linga Purana 1.17.5–52, the apparition of the Linga of flame between Brahma and Vishnu. J. Muir (tr.), Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. 4, 2nd ed. (London: Trübner, 1873), "Apparition of the Linga", pp. 388–391. Muir died 1882: public domain. Read on the page images; summarised in our own words. (pp. 388–391, leaves n407–n410)
• Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by W. J. Wilkins (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink; London: W. Thacker, 1882) ("Kartikeya", p. 282, leaf n301 (the sparks in the lake Saravana, the six infants nursed by the Krittikas, Parvati's embrace))
• The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated into English prose (K. M. Ganguli), published by Protap Chandra Roy: Sabha Parva and Vana Parva (Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1884) (Section CCXXX (Markandeya-Samasya Parva), pp. 695–696, leaves n940–n941 (the six mothers; Krittika given its place in the sky))
• The column of fire as the hill of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai, and the Maha Deepam on the hilltop: Tamil Shaiva temple tradition. Summarised in our own words.

When it is kept

Karthigai Deepam is the day in the Tamil solar month of Karthigai (the Sun in Vrishchika) on which the Krittika nakshatra is present in the evening, at pradosh, when the lamps are lit at your location. If Krittika comes twice in the month, the later day is taken, the one near the Karthigai full moon. The Tamil month itself begins by the Tamil rule: if the Sun enters Vrishchika before sunset, the month begins that day; otherwise the next day.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Karthigai Deepam 2027: Karthigai Deepam falls on Saturday, December 11, 2027 in Washington DC (Tamil rule, computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Tamil (Tiruvannamalai and Shaiva temples): Krittika in the evening in the month of Karthigai (engine id karthigai-deepam)
• Some Tamil almanacs: Krittika at sunrise (engine alternative udaya)
• Kerala: Thrikkarthika, the same Krittika day, with lamps for the Goddess
• Vaishnava temples: many light their Karthigai lamps on the day after

Why the day can differ

Almanacs differ on which moment decides the day. The engine takes Krittika in the evening, when the lamps are lit; some Tamil almanacs take Krittika at sunrise, which can give the next day. The app shows both when they differ. Because the nakshatra changes at the same moment everywhere but the evening comes at different times, a city abroad can also differ from Tamil Nadu by a day.

Karthigai Deepam and Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the lunar month of Kartika, fall on the same day in some years and apart in others, because one follows the solar month and the nakshatra and the other the lunar month. In Tiruvannamalai the Maha Deepam is lit on the temple's own day, at the end of its ten-day festival. Families abroad usually light their lamps on the evening the app gives for their city.

How to keep it at home

1. During the day, clean the house and draw a kolam at the door. Clean the clay lamps (agal vilakku) and the brass lamps, and set out wicks and oil or ghee. Many families buy a few new clay lamps each year and add them to the old ones.
2. At dusk, light the lamp in the prayer place first. Offer flowers, light incense, and offer the sweets you have made to Shiva and to Murugan. Say "Om Namah Shivaya" or the Shiva prayers your family knows, such as the Shiva Panchakshara Stotram or the Lingashtakam, and a prayer to Murugan.
3. From that flame, light the other lamps and carry them out: to the doorstep, the kolam, the windows, the steps and the garden. Many families keep the lamps burning on the two or three evenings around the day as well.
4. If you can, watch the lighting of the Maha Deepam at Tiruvannamalai, which many families follow on a live broadcast, and bow to the flame. Keep lamps away from curtains and children, and never leave them burning in an empty room.

Fasting

Some devotees of Shiva and Murugan fast during the day and eat after the evening lamps are lit; many families keep no fast at all. This is a choice, not a rule. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

The best-known Karthigai sweet is pori urundai, balls of puffed rice bound with jaggery. Many families also make nei appam (sweet rice fritters fried in ghee), adai, vadai and sweet pongal.

For children

Once, Brahma and Vishnu argued about who was the greatest. Suddenly a tall pillar of light appeared between them. It was so tall that no one could see the top or the bottom. Vishnu became a boar and dug down, down, down. Brahma became a swan and flew up, up, up. They searched for a very long time, but the light never ended. So they stopped arguing and bowed to the light together. The light was Shiva. On Karthigai Deepam, families light rows of little lamps to remember that light.

Something to do together

With a grown-up, count out lamps for every step and window, and help put them in a row on the kolam. Make pori urundai together: press warm puffed rice and jaggery into small balls (a grown-up handles the hot syrup).

Sources

• Panchang engine rule karthigai-deepam (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources it lists, its note on the sunrise rule, the engine's alternative udaya and its pre-1931 record nagam-aiya-1906-festivals (packages/panchang/src/festivals/extras.ts).
• J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. 4, 2nd ed. (London: Trübner, 1873), pp. 388–391 (Linga Purana 1.17). Public domain.
• The Travancore State Manual, by V. Nagam Aiya, vol. II (Trivandrum: Travancore Government Press, 1906) ("Kartikai", p. 309, leaf n348; the list of fasts, p. 306, leaf n345)
• W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: South Arcot, vol. I (Madras: Government Press, 1906), p. 90 (lamps in the niches on each side of the doorway in Kartigai, and the great feast at Tiruvannamalai). Read on the page image. (p. 90, leaf n111)
• Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by W. J. Wilkins (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink; London: W. Thacker, 1882) (pp. 276–282, leaves n295–n301)

Related guides

• Kartik Purnima
• Skanda Sashti (Soorasamharam)
• Maha Shivaratri
• Diwali (Deepavali)