Kārttikai Dīpam, on the Kṛttikā nakṣatra of the Tamil month Kārttikai, is Tamil Nadu's principal festival of lights. It commemorates Śiva's manifestation as an infinite column of fire at Arunācala, told in the Śiva Purāṇa, where Brahmā and Viṣṇu disputed their supremacy and Śiva challenged them to find the column's ends. Viṣṇu, descending as a boar, honestly admitted he could not, while Brahmā, ascending as a swan, falsely claimed the top with a ketakī flower as witness, so Śiva blessed Viṣṇu and cursed Brahmā's worship to cease. The Annāmalaiyār temple at Tiruvannamalai is the Agni shrine among the Pañca Bhūta Sthalams, and every lamp lit this evening recalls that pillar of light. How the day is fixed: The festival is the day in the solar month Kārttikai on which Kṛttikā nakṣatra prevails at sunrise. Keep in mind: The day usually comes in November or December and often coincides with or lies close to the full moon. Kārttika Pūrṇimā lamps elsewhere follow the lunar month, so in some years they come on a different day. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. The mahādīpam: At dusk a great beacon of ghee is lit in a large cauldron atop Arunācala hill and can be seen for miles. Temple cars, processions and the burning of the sokkappanai mark the same evening in Śiva temples across Tamil Nadu. Lamps at home: Households draw kolams, set rows of agal lamps at the doorstep, verandah and tulasi platform, and offer pori, appam and sweets. The lamps are lit from Godhūli through Sāyāhna sandhyā, avoiding Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai. Girivalam: Many devotees walk barefoot around Arunācala hill on this night. The circumambulation is held to be especially meritorious because the hill itself is revered as Śiva. Worth remembering: The day also recalls the six Kṛttikā maidens who nursed Murugan, so some homes light a lamp for him and recite Kanda Ṣaṣṭi Kavacham, though the public centre stays the Arunācala jyoti. It is distinct from Kārttika Pūrṇimā, known in other regions as Tripurī Pūrṇimā or Dev Dīvālī. Each home and region keeps the lamps in its own way. Tamil homes prepare pori urundai and adai, Kerala homes light the nilavilakku for Thr̥kkārttika, and Telugu and Kannada devotees travel to Arunācala for the beacon and the girivalam. Follow the practice that the elders of your own house have kept.
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