Tamil New Year 2028 (Puthandu)
Tamil New Year, Puthandu, in 2028: Chithirai 1, the first day of the Tamil solar year, by the Tamil sunset rule at Chennai, with the moment of the Mesha Sankranti.
Tamil New Year at Chennai
Friday, 14 April
Tamil New Year is in 544 days. The same date holds for every city.
Indian time.
How the day is kept
Tamil New Year (Puthandu) is the first day of the Tamil solar month of Chithirai, the Sun’s stay in sidereal Mesha. By the Tamil rule, an ingress between sunrise and sunset begins the month that day, and an ingress after sunset or before dawn begins it at the next sunrise. The Indian Calendar, Art. 28, p. 12
In 2028, the Sun enters Mesha at 21:44 on Thursday, 13 April, after Chennai’s sunset at 18:20, so Chithirai begins at the next sunrise, on Friday, 14 April. The date is reckoned at Chennai and holds for every city.
The day
Warren’s account calls it the beginning of the solar sidereal year, kept by bathing in the sacred rivers, giving alms and offering to the ancestors, and also a day of recreation. Kala Sankalita p. 402
The texts’ rite for the Meṣa saṅkrānti is the bath and gifts in its puṇyakāla. Dharmasindhu pp. 2, 31
Popular practice: the mango pachadi, the kolam and temple visits.
Mesh Sankranti 2028: the day for the bath and gifts, and the puṇyakāla, in your city. Other years: Tamil New Year 2027, Tamil New Year 2029. All Tamil New Year dates.
Questions
The Tamil rule from Sewell and Dikshit’s The Indian Calendar (1896), with Warren’s Kala Sankalita (1825).
When is Tamil New Year 2028?
On Friday, 14 April 2028, for every city: Chithirai 1 by the Tamil rule, reckoned at Chennai for every city. The Indian Calendar, Art. 28, p. 12
How is the date fixed?
By the Tamil rule for the solar months: when the Sun enters sidereal Mesha between sunrise and sunset, the month of Chithirai begins that day, and when it enters after sunset or before dawn, at the next sunrise. Tamil New Year is the first day of Chithirai, reckoned at Chennai for every city. The Indian Calendar, Art. 28, p. 12
Is Puthandu the same as Vishu?
They begin with the same entry of the Sun into Mesha but follow different rules, so their days can differ. Tamil New Year is Chithirai 1 by the Tamil rule at Chennai; Vishu is the first sunrise after the ingress, as kept in Kerala, which is popular practice. In 2028 both fall on Friday, 14 April. The Indian Calendar, Art. 28, p. 12
Is the date the same outside Tamil Nadu?
Yes. The day is reckoned at Chennai and holds for every city, in India and abroad.
How the day is found
Read the methodology- The day
- The first day of Chithirai: the day of the Mesha ingress when it comes before Chennai’s sunset, and the next day when it comes after sunset or before dawn (The Indian Calendar, Art. 28, p. 12). One date for every city.
- The ingress
- The Sun’s sidereal entry into Mesha, by the Lahiri ayanamsa, in Indian time.
- No times
- No time is given for any rite.
Sunrise and sunset at the centre of the Sun’s disc, with refraction · Lahiri ayanamsa · Indian time (IST), reckoned at Chennai for every city · Swiss Ephemeris · Method