Kurma Jayanti 2027 Date
Kurma Jayanti 2027 is on Thursday, 20 May 2027, on Pournami tithi.
Dates are for India (IST). Tithi timings for your city are on the Kurma Jayanti page.
About Kurma Jayanti
Marks Vishnu's descent as a tortoise on Vaishakha Purnima — the form he took to steady Mount Mandara during the churning of the milk ocean. The day's main shrine is Sri Kurmam in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, said to be the only swayambhu (self-manifested) temple in the world worshipping Vishnu in this form.
The familiar story comes from the Padma Purana: sage Durvasa gifts Indra a Parijata garland, Indra's elephant Airavata tramples it, and the slighted sage curses the gods to lose their fortune — setting up the churning to recover it. But Kurma has older roots. The Shatapatha Brahmana already speaks of a cosmic tortoise, and the Linga Purana gives a different story altogether — Vishnu becomes a tortoise to lift the sinking Earth back from the netherworld. Even the avatar's rank shifts: the Bhagavata Purana counts Kurma as the eleventh incarnation, while the Narasimha Purana lists him second. In icons he is usually shown mixed — tortoise below, a four-armed Vishnu above. At Sri Kurmam the deity faces west, so the temple unusually carries two dhwaja stambhas (flagstaffs).
