Indha page innum Tanglish-la ezhudhala, adhanaala English-la irukku.
Thai 1 · the Sun enters Makara
Fri, 15 Jan
Pongal 2027 runs four days, from Bhogi on Thursday, 14 January to Kaanum Pongal on Sunday, 17 January; Thai Pongal, the main day, is Friday, 15 January. The Sun enters Makara at 9:10 PM on Thu 14 Jan, after sunset, so Thai 1 — and the pongal — is the next morning. In Chennai the Pongal pot time is 6:34–8:00 AM.
2028: Saturday, 15 January 2028
Also called Thai Pongal, Surya Pongal. Those are the same observance and the same date, so they share this page rather than competing with it from a second URL.
Four days · Chennai
The first nalla neram of the Thai Pongal morning in each city: the first favourable part of the Gowri Panchangam after sunrise, clear of Rahu Kalam and Yamagandam, from that city's own sunrise and sunset. The pot goes on the fire in it and the pongal is offered to the Sun.
| City | Sunrise | Pongal pot time |
|---|---|---|
| Chennai | 6:34 AM | 6:34–8:00 AM |
| Madurai | 6:38 AM | 6:38–8:05 AM |
| Coimbatore | 6:44 AM | 6:44–8:11 AM |
| Tiruchirappalli | 6:37 AM | 6:37–8:04 AM |
| Salem | 6:41 AM | 6:41–8:07 AM |
| Tirunelveli | 6:37 AM | 6:37–8:05 AM |
| Puducherry | 6:34 AM | 6:34–8:01 AM |
| Bengaluru | 6:45 AM | 6:45–8:11 AM |
| Hyderabad | 6:49 AM | 6:49–8:13 AM |
| Mumbai | 7:14 AM | 7:14–8:37 AM |
| New Delhi | 7:14 AM | 7:14–8:33 AM |
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Friday, 15 January 2027
Pongal is the Tamil harvest festival of four days. Its main day, Thai Pongal, is Thai 1, the first day of the Tamil solar month Thai: the day the Sun enters Capricorn (Makara) in the sidereal zodiac, kept by the rule Makar Sankranti is kept by. Bhogi is the day before it, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal the two after, so all four move with that instant, which is computed below.
The ingress falls after sunset. The rule used here is the widely-published one: punya kaal belongs to the day of the ingress unless the Sun crosses after sunset, in which case it is kept the following day. That is why the date above is a day later than the instant.
The Tamil calendar opens Thai by the same rule: on the day of the Sun's entry when it comes before sunset, and on the next day when it comes after. So the day above is Thai 1, Tamil Nadu's Thai Pongal, and Bhogi, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal follow from it. The computed instant is the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of it.
Pongal is the Tamil harvest festival of four days, from Bhogi to Kaanum Pongal. Its main day, Thai Pongal, is the first day of the Tamil month Thai, when the Sun enters Makara; in Chennai it falls on Friday, 15 January 2027. Families boil new rice with milk and jaggery in a new pot until it froths over, at the first nalla neram of the morning, 6:34 AM to 8:00 AM, and offer it to the Sun with sugarcane and turmeric.
| Muhurat | Time in Chennai | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Pongal pot time (pongal vaikka nalla neram) | 6:34 AM to 8:00 AMThe first nalla neram of the Thai Pongal morning: a favourable part of the Gowri Panchangam between sunrise and midday, clear of Rahu Kalam and Yamagandam. | The time to set the new pot on the fire and let the pongal boil over: the first nalla neram of the Thai Pongal morning in the Gowri Panchangam, after sunrise and clear of Rahu Kalam and Yamagandam. In Chennai it is 6:34 AM to 8:00 AM. As the milk rises over the rim, the household calls out Pongalo Pongal. |
| Every nalla neram of the morning |
| The favourable Gowri parts from sunrise to midday, without Rahu Kalam and Yamagandam: 6:34 AM to 8:00 AM; 9:26 AM to 10:52 AM. A family that cannot be ready for the first can boil the pongal in a later one; the offering to the Sun is still made in the morning light. |
| Sunrise (Surya Pongal) | 6:34 AMThe upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction. | Thai Pongal is also called Surya Pongal: the pongal is cooked in the open, facing the east, and offered to the Sun. The Sun rises in Chennai at 6:34 AM; the kolam at the door is drawn before it. |
| Brahma muhurta (the kolam and the bath) | 4:54 AM to 5:44 AMThe 14th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, ending one muhurta before sunrise. | The muhurtas before dawn, when the kolam is drawn in rice flour at the threshold and the family bathes, so that the pot can go on the fire soon after sunrise. |
| Sankranti punya kaal (bath and daan) | 6:34 AM to 6:01 PMThe Sun entered Capricorn at night, so the punya kaal is the next day, sunrise to sunset. | The Sun's entry into Makara makes this day Makar Sankranti as well. Its punya kaal, for a holy dip and for daan, is 6:34 AM to 6:01 PM, and its most valued part, the maha punya kaal, 6:34 AM to 8:29 AM. |
| Sankranti maha punya kaal | 6:34 AM to 8:29 AMFrom sunrise, for five ghatis (a sixth of the day). | The first five ghatis of the punya kaal, a sixth of the day: the time families who also keep the Sankranti bath aim the first daan of rice, jaggery and sugarcane at. |
| Rahu Kalam (kept clear)Kept clear of | 10:52 AM to 12:18 PMRahu's eighth of the daylight, fixed by the weekday: a puja, a purchase or a journey is not begun in it. | The pot is not set on the fire in Rahu Kalam, 10:52 AM to 12:18 PM in Chennai that day. The pot time above already leaves it out. |
| Yamagandam (kept clear)Kept clear of | 3:09 PM to 4:35 PMYamaganda, the weekday's eighth of the daylight held inauspicious: new work is not begun in it. | Yamagandam, 3:09 PM to 4:35 PM, is kept clear in the same way; the Tamil panchangams name these two when they print the pongal vaikka nalla neram. |
Every time above is computed for Chennai around Friday, 15 January 2027, from the sunrise, sunset and the positions of the Sun and Moon for this city. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the evening before; a time on another date carries that date.
On Bhogi, the day before Thai Pongal, the house is cleaned and freshly painted or washed, and old mats, worn clothes and things no longer needed are given up. At dawn a small bonfire is lit and the family gathers around it. Burn only dry leaves, wood and natural waste, never plastic, rubber or tyres, which the pollution control boards ask households to keep out of the fire.
Before sunrise on Thai Pongal, draw a kolam of rice flour at the entrance, often with a pongal pot, sugarcane and the Sun in it, and colour it if you like. The rice flour also feeds the ants and the birds, which is part of the custom.
Take a new clay or brass pot. Tie a fresh turmeric plant and a piece of ginger around its neck, mark it with sandal paste and kumkum, and set it on a hearth in the courtyard or on the terrace, in the open and facing the east if you can. In a flat, a stove by a window serves.
At the pot time (6:34 AM to 8:00 AM in Chennai), light the fire, pour in milk and water and let it come to the boil. When it froths over the rim, everyone calls out Pongalo Pongal, and the way it overflows is taken as a sign of plenty for the year. Then add the new rice, moong dal, jaggery, ghee, cardamom, cashews and raisins and cook the sakkarai pongal; a second pot of ven pongal is often made beside it.
Spread a banana leaf, serve the first pongal on it with sugarcane, bananas, coconut and turmeric, light a lamp and camphor, and offer it to Surya with folded hands. Many families chant the Gayatri or a Surya verse. Then the family eats together, the elders served first.
On the next day, bathe the cows and bullocks, paint and polish their horns, put bells, garlands and turmeric on them, apply kumkum, feed them pongal, sugarcane and bananas, and wave camphor before them. Families without cattle visit a goshala or feed a cow they pass. Be gentle, and keep children at a safe distance from the animals.
On the fourth day, visit relatives and elders, take their blessings and go out together. In many homes the women set out coloured rice, kanu pidi, on a turmeric leaf for the crows and the birds, praying for their brothers' well-being.
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om bhur bhuvah svah
Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitr, the Sun that moves all things; may he inspire our minds. It is a verse of the Rigveda's third book, of the sage Vishvamitra.
When and how: At sunrise on Thai Pongal, facing east, before the pot goes on the fire: 11, 21 or 108 times.
एहि सूर्य सहस्रांशो तेजोराशे जगत्पते ।
अनुकम्पय मां भक्त्या गृहाणार्घ्यं दिवाकर ॥
Ehi Surya sahasramsho tejorashe jagatpate
Anukampaya mam bhaktya grihanarghyam Divakara
Meaning: Come, O Surya of a thousand rays, mass of radiance, lord of the world; be gracious to me and accept this arghya offered with devotion, O Divakara.
When and how: While offering water and the first pongal to the Sun, three times; Om Suryaya Namah serves just as well.
जपाकुसुमसङ्काशं काश्यपेयं महाद्युतिम् ।
तमोऽरिं सर्वपापघ्नं प्रणतोऽस्मि दिवाकरम् ॥
Japakusuma-sankasham kashyapeyam mahadyutim
Tamo'rim sarvapapaghnam pranato'smi Divakaram
Meaning: I bow to Divakara the Sun, red as a hibiscus blossom, Kashyapa's brilliant son, foe of darkness, called the remover of every sin.
When and how: With folded hands when the pongal is offered on the banana leaf, once or three times.
ॐ ह्रां ह्रीं ह्रौं सः सूर्याय नमः
Om Hraam Hreem Hraum Sah Suryaya Namah
Meaning: Om, the seed syllables of Surya, and salutation to Surya.
When and how: 108 times on a mala on the Pongal morning, facing east; it is the Sun's planetary mantra.
A story told for Mattu Pongal is of Shiva and his bull Nandi. Shiva sent Nandi to tell people to bathe every day and eat once a month; Nandi said it the wrong way round, to eat every day and bathe once a month. Since people would now need far more grain, Shiva told Nandi to stay on earth and help them plough. So the cattle that work the fields are honoured the day after Thai Pongal.
Another is of Krishna and Indra. Krishna asked the cowherds of Gokul to worship the hill Govardhan rather than Indra, and when Indra sent storms, Krishna held up the hill to shelter them, until Indra asked his forgiveness. Bhogi, a name of Indra as the giver of rain, is remembered on the first day for the rains that brought the harvest.
The Sangam poems speak of the month of Thai as a time when young women bathed at dawn and kept vows for the good of the land (Thai niradal), and the Tamil saying 'Thai pirandhal vazhi pirakkum', when Thai is born a way will open, is still said on its first day.
Pongal is a thanksgiving: to the Sun, whose warmth ripened the crop; to the cattle that ploughed the fields; and to the family and the community, with whom the harvest is shared. Pongal means boiling over, and the overflowing pot is the wish for a year of plenty.
Thai Pongal is also the first day of Uttarayana in the Tamil calendar, the Sun's northward half-year, which tradition holds auspicious for beginnings; many families fix weddings, a griha pravesh and new ventures in the month of Thai.
Offer the first ladle of pongal to the Sun before anyone eats. It is the heart of the festival: gratitude before enjoyment.
Give a cow sugarcane, bananas or a little pongal. Families without cattle do it at a goshala or a temple.
Give rice, jaggery and new clothes to those who work on the land or in your home, and to anyone in need. It is believed that what is shared at the harvest comes back as plenty; give what you can, quietly.
Visit someone you have been distant from and take a sweet. The day is for meeting, and that is its blessing.
Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.
| Year | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Monday, 15 January 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Tuesday, 14 January 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | Wednesday, 14 January 2026 | past |
| 2027 | Friday, 15 January 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Saturday, 15 January 2028 | upcoming |
Every row is computed for Chennai from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.
There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.
So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.
Pongal 2027 is four days: Bhogi on Thu 14 Jan, Thai Pongal on Fri 15 Jan, Mattu Pongal on Sat 16 Jan and Kaanum Pongal on Sun 17 Jan. Thai Pongal is Thai 1, the first day of the Tamil month Thai, the day the Sun enters Makara.
In Chennai, 6:34–8:00 AM on Fri 15 Jan: the first nalla neram of the morning in the Gowri Panchangam, clear of Rahu Kalam and Yamagandam. The morning's next good time is 9:26–10:52 AM. Other cities are in the table above.
Bhogi is the first day, Thu 14 Jan: the house is cleaned, old things are given up and a bonfire is lit at dawn, before sunrise at 6:34 AM in Chennai. It is the same day as Lohri in Punjab.
On Sat 16 Jan, the day after Thai Pongal: the cattle are bathed, their horns painted, garlanded and fed pongal. Their pongal goes on the fire at the morning's nalla neram, 8:00–9:26 AM in Chennai.
On Sun 17 Jan, the fourth and last day: a day to visit family and elders and to go out together. In many homes the women set out coloured rice for the birds, kanu pidi, for their brothers' well-being.
The same day, not the same festival. Makar Sankranti is the Sun's entry into Makara, kept across India with a bath and daan in the punya kaal (6:34 AM to 6:01 PM); Pongal is Tamil Nadu's four-day harvest festival, and its Thai Pongal, Thai 1, is that same day.
Because Thai 1 follows the Sun's entry into Makara. The Sun enters Makara at 9:10 PM on Thu 14 Jan, after sunset, so Thai 1 — and the pongal — is the next morning. In 2026: The Sun enters Makara at 3:07 PM on Wed 14 Jan, before sunset, so Thai begins that day.
It is the Tamil thanksgiving for the harvest: to the Sun, whose warmth ripened the crop, on Thai Pongal; to the cattle that ploughed the fields, on Mattu Pongal; and to the family and the community, on Kaanum Pongal. Bhogi before them clears out the old year.
Pongal means boiling over. It is the name of the dish of new rice cooked in milk until it froths over the pot, and of the festival at which it is cooked; the overflow is the wish for a year of plenty.
Pongal is the festival of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and of Tamil communities in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and around the world. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka keep the same season as Sankranti, with Bhogi and a day for the cattle of their own.
Because the cattle ploughed the fields and give the milk the pongal is cooked in. On Mattu Pongal they are bathed, their horns painted, garlanded and fed pongal and sugarcane; the story of Nandi, sent by Shiva to help people plough, is told with it.
Kaanum means seeing: it is the day to visit relatives and elders, take their blessings and go out together, to the beach, a park or a temple. Many women set out coloured rice, kanu pidi, for the birds, praying for their brothers.
Sakkarai pongal is the sweet one, rice and moong dal cooked with jaggery, ghee, cardamom and cashews; it is the dish offered to the Sun on Thai Pongal. Ven pongal is savoury, with pepper, cumin, ginger and ghee, and is often cooked beside it.
A rice-flour kolam at the threshold, drawn before sunrise: on Thai Pongal it often shows a pot boiling over, sugarcane and the Sun, and on Mattu Pongal the cattle. Dotted (pulli) kolams are common, coloured or plain.
Yes, in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where the government's list for each year names the Pongal days it closes on; check that year's list for the exact days, which follow the dates on this page.
Yes. The open courtyard and a wood fire are the tradition, but in a flat families boil the pongal on the stove, by a window facing the east if they can, and offer it to the Sun at the window or on the balcony.
