Tulā Saṅkrānti

When it falls

The day the sidereal Sun enters Tulā (Libra), about 17 October every year.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

At Talakāverī in Coorg the river Kāverī rises in a small tank, and once a year at the moment of this saṅkrānti the water is held to surge up in it (tīrthodbhava). Kodava families collect it in bottles and keep it through the year; a drop is put in the mouth of the dying. The Kāverī was born of the sage Agastya's water pot, and the legend places her birth today.

In Odisha the day is Garbhaṇā Saṅkrānti, when the paddy plants are heavy with grain and the Goddess is worshipped in the fields as Lakṣmī; in Bengal the month it opens is one of the ancestors' offerings; in Tamil Nadu it is the start of Aippasi and the northeast monsoon.

How the day is kept

• Pilgrims gather at Talakāverī and Bhāgamaṇḍala from the night before; the moment of the saṅkrānti is announced by the temple.
• Kodava households worship a cucumber or a coconut dressed as the Goddess (Kani Pūje) and cook rice from the new harvest.
• Farmers of Odisha and Bengal offer the first ears of paddy; the month opens the harvest festivals of the east.

More solar turning points