Kartik Purnima
Dev Deepawali, the ghats set with lamps.
When it falls
Sunday, 14 November 2027
By the sunrise at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
- The rule
- Kartika Shukla Purnima, tithi 15 of the waxing fortnight of Kartika
- Which day
- Sunrise (udaya-vyapini)
- The day on which the tithi is running at sunrise. When the tithi turns overnight, the evening lamps and the morning snan can fall on different Gregorian dates, and the page will say so.
- Weight
- One of the year's great days
- Returns
- Once a year
What it is
Kartik Purnima is the full moon that closes Kartika and the month of Kartik Snan with it. It is kept as Dev Deepawali, the evening the ghats are set with lamps from the water's edge upward. It is one of the two or three largest bathing days of the north Indian year. When the full moon falls with Krittika nakshatra the day is held to be stronger. Whether it does in a given year is a matter of computation, and the page will say which it is.
Where it is kept
Five of the six waters. Kartika is a northern month; the Kaveri's own day is Tula Sankramana.
Ganga
Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
Purnimanta reckoning
Har Ki Pauri on Kartik Purnima is the picture most people carry of this day, the whole flight of steps under lamps and the water carrying them downstream.
Triveni Sangam
Sangam, Prayagraj
Purnimanta reckoning
At the Sangam the day closes the Kartika bathing month and opens the run towards Magha.
Yamuna
Vishram Ghat, Mathura
Purnimanta reckoning
Vishram Ghat keeps it as the last of the Kartika lamp evenings.
Shipra
Ram Ghat, Ujjain
Purnimanta reckoning
Ram Ghat comes to it through Vaikuntha Chaturdashi and the Harihar Milan of the night before, which are Ujjain's own.
Godavari
Ram Kund, Nashik
Amanta reckoning
Ram Kund keeps the full moon. The lamp custom here is quieter than in the north.
The windows
Brahma Muhurat
about 48 minutes
From sunrise
- Definition
- Two muhurtas of the night before sunrise, until one muhurta before it. A night muhurta is a fifteenth of the night, about 48 minutes at the equinox and longer in winter.
Brahma Muhurat falls before sunrise, so it belongs to the panchang day that opened at the previous sunrise, and the Gregorian date beside it is the next day. The calendar keeps the two apart.
Pratah Snan
about 96 minutes
From sunrise
- Definition
- Sunrise, until two muhurtas of the day after it. A day muhurta is a fifteenth of the daylight, about 48 minutes at the equinox and longer in summer.
This window sits after sunrise, so its panchang day and its Gregorian date agree.
Godhuli Muhurat
about 24 minutes
From sunset
- Definition
- Sunset, until half a muhurta of the night after it: about 24 minutes, a little longer in winter.
Godhuli is better known as a wedding muhurta. The evening snan rests on the sandhya rather than on that use.
Every time is given at the ghat first, and in your own zone beside it. How the clock is read
Where the timing comes from
- Source
- Computed here, checked against Drik Panchang
- Ayanamsa
- Lahiri (Chitrapaksha)
- Ghat coordinates
- Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar: 29.9457, 78.1642
Textual basis
Kartika Purnima snan and the Dev Deepawali lamp custom are described in the Kartika Mahatmya literature and in the living usage of the Ganga ghats. A citable edition and passage is still to be added.
Every date here is computed: the tithi at the ghat's sunrise, the month named by the sankranti it holds, and the sun's entry into each sign under the Lahiri ayanamsa. Tithi, nakshatra, sunrise and windows were checked against Drik Panchang for Haridwar on eight days between September 2026 and March 2027, to the minute. The dates roll forward each morning.