Lord Vishnu (Kalla Azakar) entering Vaigai River in Madurai (Chitra Festival)

Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,673

Date uploaded in London –29 April 2026

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

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The Hindu festival going by the name Chitra Pournami is observed on the full moon day in the month of Chithirai or Chaitra corresponding to the English month April – may , when the asterism/star Chitra holds sway.

In Madurai Goddess Meenakshi (Parvati) weds Lord Siva called Sundaresan just before the full moon day. It is followed by a Rath Yatra in the streets of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. On the Chitra full moon day Lord Vishnu enters Vaigai River in Madurai  and spends several days in the city. Lord Vishnu temple  is in Alagarkoil and his local name is Kalla Azakar which is Sundara Rajan in Sanskrit. This festival attracts lakhs of people from surrounding villages and towns.

Four hundred years ago the great Nayak King renovated and rebuilt several towers of the temple and made it one of the 100 wonders of the world.

All the full moon days are Hindu Festival days. Chitra Full moon day tops the list because it is happening in the summer ; people travel everywhere without fear.

Around Tiruvannamalai Shiva Shrine several thousand do Giri Pradakshina which means Going round the hill. In villages Grama devatas are worshipped with Fire Walking ceremonies. In fact, there is no Tamil temple without something special during this season.

Chitra Gupta, accountant of Yama, God of Death.

Kanchipuram has scores of Siva and Vishnu Temples. In addition, it has a temple for Chitra Gupta, accountant of Yama, God of death. He is worshipped on this day.

Chitra gupta in Sanskrit means hidden picture ;the meaning is all our deeds, words and thoughts (Mano Vak Kayam- mano vaak kaayam–) make pictures around us. It is a hidden picture=Gupta Chitram). Hindu saints can see it; on the day of our death Chitra Gupta who is like a Super Computer- present our Audio- Video recordings in a USB pen drive to Yama. Hindu God of Death’s popular name is Dharma Raja. Brahmins worship him with this name thrice a day in their Sandhya Vandana. He is called Dharma Raja, because he shows no favours for a king nor hatred towards the poor. He gives us  rewards or punishments according to the recordings in the USB pen drive. Since we could not see during our existence on earth it is called Gupta Chitra= Chitra Gupta= Hidden Pictures.  Hindu saints can see it if they want to.

He has one temple in Kanchipuram and another in Kodangipatti near Theni in Tamil Nadu.

Chitra Gupta idol in Kanchipuram temple, holds a styli and notebook in his hands to record our Mano Vaak Kaaya activities, i.e. Thoughts, Words and Deeds. Those who always think good gets pass mark and Visa free direct ticket to paradise; others go to hell.

Inscriptions on Chitra Festival

On a pillar in the upper rock cut cave on the hill at Trichy is a record of the Choza king Rajakesarivarman 985-1013 CE dated in his sixteenth year relating to a gift of land to feed brahmins and devotees in the nine days of Chitra Festival .

On the west wall of the Ganesh shrine in the temple of

Nedungalanathar in Tiru Nedungulam in Trichy district is another inscription of the same king Rajakesarivarman recording a gift of land for feeding 500 Sivayogins during the Chitra Festival.

Siva and Parvati (Meenakshi Sundareswarar)

Story behind Chitra Festival

Brihaspati, spiritual guru of devas, threw up his appointment since Indra, king of devas,  failed to show proper respect to him. In the absence of advice from his preceptor, Indra became a great sinner by his commissions and omissions. After sometime Brihaspati relented and returned to duty. He forgave Indra and pointed out to him how he may be purged of all his sins by visiting holy places. Indra acted accordingly came to a forest where he found that all was well with him and felt that all his sins removed. Looking about to him to find out the cause of his happy deliverance, he found a lingam near a tank. Being convinced that the influence radiating from it was the cause of the joy of his heart, he at once sent for Visvakarma, the celestial architect, and with his aid a splendid shrine for Siva linga erected. He also caused another shrine erected near containing Siva’s wife .

Indra then wanted to worship the god and goddess but found no flowers. He then prayed to them and there suddenly appeared beautiful golden lotuses on the surface of a pond. Indra did worship with those golden flowers. All this happened on the full moon day of Chitra month. Even now people believe that Indra visits the place every Chitra Pournami day.

The story of Indra worshipping the Linga is in Tiru Vilaiyadal Purana as well. When a businessman, by name Dhanapathy Chettiyar, crossed the forest after sunset saw brilliant lights and he saw Indra worshipping with his paraphernalia. Very next day he reported the wonder that he saw in the forest to the pandya king of Madurai. He built the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple for Siva and his wife Meenakshi/Parvati.

The miracle boy saint Tiru Gnan Sambandar visited Madura around 600 CE and cured the disease of a Pandya king with the Vibhuti (holy ash) of the Siva Temple. The detailed story is in Periya Purana. His Tevaram poems praise Siva and his consort Meenakshi whose Tamil name is Angayakanni. His poems clearly say that he could see the towers of the Madurai Temple from a long distance. Lord Siva is called Chokkar (handsome)  in Tamil.

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Ratha Yatra in Madurai.

Following is from my earlier post:

Tamil calendar is solar calendar, i.e. based on the movement of sun. When it enters a zodiac sign the months begin. But other South Indians calculate the beginning of the month from the New Moon day called Amavasyai. When Sun enters the first Zodiac sign, first Tamil month begins. That is the Tamil New Year Day

Strangely the names of the months are lunar based. When the full moon is seen with a prominent star in Zodiac, then the month is named after it. Chitra is named after Star Chitra. That means the full moon happens in star Chitra.

(though stars are thousands of light years away from moon or earth, one can easily see the star and the moon together in the sky)

Tamils have some beliefs about each month; may be they were correct 2000 years ago, when transport facilities, medical facilities and communication facilities were scarce; and the weather condition was also different. If we go through each belief, we can easily find the scientific reason behind it.

Tamils believe that if a male child is born in this month, the father of the child will suffer a lot and there will be clashes between father and child. Unless we get some statistics to prove this belief, we may ignore it. This is my opinion.

For instance, if a person gets married in a month the woman may become pregnant immediately. Then they calculate her delivery time and see what facilities would be available at that time in her area. Then they form a common opinion and that becomes a belief or a proverb. In short all are based on experience. Now that the world has changed, all types of facilities are available in most parts of the world, the beliefs may be considered irrelevant.

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1.Chitra (Tamil Month Chiththirai)

The first sign in the zodiac chart is Aries- Mesha Rasi. The travelling period of sun in this sign is called the month of Chiththirai. This is the first month of Tamil year. First day of this month falls on 14^th of April. That is the New Year Day for the Tamils. Many communities celebrate that day in India and South East Asia.

All full moon days are festival days for Hindus. Full moon days during non -rainy season are more important. Electric lights were not there in the world a few hundred years ago. So Hindus used natural light of sun and moon to celebrate big festivals.

Chitra Pournami or Purnima is one of the famous festival days in Hindu calendar. Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple Chitra festival attracts million people. Many temples in Tamil Nadu have their important festivals during Chithrai.

Sri Shankara Jayanthi, birth day of the greatest Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara, Rama Navami, Narasimha Jayanthi and Ramanuja Jayanthi are celebrated in this month.

Jayanthi or Thiru Nakshatram means birth day.

–subham—

Tags- Tamil month Chithirai, Chitra Festival, Chitra Gupta temple, Madura, Kanchipuram Alaga Koil, Tirumalai Nayak, Indra, Pournami, Poornima , Rajakesari Varman, Choza, Pandya, Sambandar