Karthigai Deepam 2026 Date
Karthigai Deepam 2026 is on Thursday, 24 December 2026.
Dates are for India (IST). Tithi timings for your city are on the Karthigai Deepam page.
About Karthigai Deepam
On Karthigai Pournami a giant cauldron of ghee and camphor is lit atop Arunachala hill in Tiruvannamalai, visible for kilometres. It marks the night Shiva appeared as an endless pillar of fire to settle a quarrel between Brahma and Vishnu over who was supreme.
The Tiruvannamalai temple runs a ten-day Brahmotsavam that opens with the flag-hoisting (Dwajarohanam) on Uttaradam nakshatra. On the final day, priests light the Bharani Deepam inside the sanctum around 4 a.m. That same flame is then carried up Arunachala — the hill whose name means 'holy fire hill' — and used to light the Maha Deepam at sunset, as crowds below shout 'Annamalaiyarku Arohara'. A second strand of lore ties the day to Murugan: he was born as six infants in the Saravana pond, each tended by one of the six Krittika star-mothers, until Parvati joined them into the six-faced Aarumugan. In Tamil homes the festival shows up as rows of small clay agal lamps lining doorsteps, balconies and temple walls.
