Tulā Saṅkramaṇa is the moment the Sun enters Tulā, the seventh rāśi, and it opens the solar month of Tulā. In Karnataka it is above all a Kāverī day: at Talakāveri the river is believed to well up as sacred water in the Brahmakuṇḍikā at the moment of ingress, an event called tīrthodbhava. Devotees bathe at Kāverī tīrthas such as Bhagamandala and Talakadu and give charity within the saṅkrānti window, which tradition holds to be especially meritorious. For the Kodavas the day belongs to Kāverī, their family goddess and mother. How the day is fixed: This is not a tithi festival. The pañcāṅga fixes it by the moment the Sun enters Tulā, the seventh rāśi, and the observance follows the puṇyakāla around that moment. Keep in mind: The civil date and the exact puṇyakāla can shift with the astronomical tables and the local pañcāṅga, and the time of tīrthodbhava at Talakāveri changes every year. Treat published times as approximate unless a local pañcāṅga confirms them. This year: The 2027 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. Kāverī snāna: Devotees bathe in the Kāverī at tīrthas such as Talakāveri, Bhagamandala and Talakadu during the saṅkrānti window. At Talakāveri thousands wait through the night to see the tīrthodbhava and carry the sacred water home. Dāna: Within the brief puṇyakāla around the ingress, grain, food and clothes are given in charity. Such gifts are traditionally held to bring much greater merit at saṅkrānti, though the exact claims vary by source. Pūjā at home: Some families keep a simple pūjā at home before or after the river bath. Sacred water brought back from Talakāveri is sprinkled over every member of the household. Worth remembering: Makara Saṅkrānti and Meṣa Saṅkrānti follow the same solar-ingress logic, but their customs are entirely different and they are separate days. The mark of Tulā Saṅkramaṇa is the Kāverī bath and dāna. The day carries very different weight from region to region. Kodava and Kāverī-country families plan the whole year around the tīrthodbhava, Tamil households near the river bathe through the month of Aippasi, and elsewhere the ingress may pass with only a quiet prayer. Whatever the custom, it is best to follow the way the elders of one's own house have kept it.
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