Tripurari Purnima 2026: the full moon of lamps
Tripurari Purnima, the full moon of Kartik, is kept for Shiva as Tripurari, the one who ended the three cities. Lamps are lit on temple towers and in homes, and in Kashi the same night is Dev Deepawali.
When it falls next
Tripurari Purnima in each region
What Tripurari Purnima is
The tradition tells of three cities, Tripura, built by the sons of Tarakasura, that flew through the sky and could be ended only by one arrow when they stood in a line. Shiva loosed that arrow, and so he is called Tripurari or Tripurantaka.
Kartik is the month of lamps, and its full moon ends the month's lamp-lighting. It is also remembered as the day of Vishnu's first avatar, Matsya, and as the birthday of Guru Nanak.
How families keep it at home
At dusk families light lamps in the puja ghar, at the tulsi, at the door and along the window sills, and many light a tripur, a lamp with three or more wicks, for Shiva.
Families visit a Shiva temple in the evening, where the deepmal, the stone tower of lamps, is lit, and many offer a lamp floating on a river or tank.
Some keep a holy dip at dawn, the Kartik snan, and the day is a favoured one for giving lamps, food and clothes.
In Maharashtra many women make the tripur wicks of cotton soaked in ghee and offer them at the Shiva temple in the evening.
How it differs by region
In Maharashtra the deepmals of Shiva temples are lit, and the Kartik month's early-morning kakad aarti ends in many temples.
In Kashi the ghats of the Ganga are lined with lamps for Dev Deepawali, and in Pushkar the great fair of the month reaches its height.
In the south Kartik Deepam is kept with lamps in every home, and on the hill at Tiruvannamalai a great flame is lit.
How its date is set
Tripurari Purnima is the purnima of Kartik, kept on the day the purnima holds at dusk, when the lamps are lit.
The full moon also closes the Kartik snan, the month of early baths begun at the full moon of Ashwin, and the season of Tulsi vivah begun on the ekadashi before it.
Read the Shiva aarti and the Mahamrityunjaya mantra.