Huthri 2026

About Huthri

Huthri, or Puthari, is the rice-harvest festival of Kodagu in Karnataka, kept by Kodava and Kodagu Gowda families who cut the first sheaves of paddy at night and carry them home calling "Poli poli deva". In 2026 it falls around Wednesday, 25 November 2026; the exact night and the minute of the first cutting are announced by the Padi Igguthappa temple a few weeks before.

Huthri is the night Kodagu brings in its new rice. After dark, families walk to a paddy field with a lit lamp, cut the first stalks at a minute fixed by the Padi Igguthappa temple, fire a shot into the air and carry the sheaves home calling "Poli poli deva". The Kodagu district administration translates the cry as a prayer to God for a bountiful harvest.

Puthari comes from the Kodava words pudiya ari, new rice. Huthri, Huttari and Puttari are spellings of the same name, and in Kodava the day is Puthari namme, the Puthari festival. It belongs to Igguthappa, the Kodava god of rain, harvest and rice, whose temple at Padi, in Kakkabe near Napoklu, sets the festival's hour for the whole district.

How the date and the hour are fixed

Huthri falls in Birchiyar, the Kodava month that runs while the sun is in Vrischika (Scorpio), roughly mid-November to mid-December. Within that month it is held on the evening the moon is in Rohini nakshatra. A moon in Rohini sits almost opposite a sun in Scorpio, so the night is always near full moon, though the rule follows the star, not the Purnima tithi. In 2018 the full moon ended that morning, Rohini began at 4:42 pm, and the cutting was set for 8:15 pm.

In recent years the festival has fallen as early as 23 November (2018) and as late as 14 December (2024).

1. The meetingA few weeks before, the temple committee, the heads of the thirteen takkas (traditional family heads) and elders meet at the temple.
2. The reckoningAn astrologer of the Kaniyara family of Ammangeri works out the times, as the family has done in every recent year.
3. The announcementThree times are published: nere kattuva, the first rite; the cutting of the kadiru, the new paddy; and prasadam.
4. The rest of KodaguHomes follow 20 to 35 minutes after the temple. In 2024 the temple cut at 8:30 pm, households at 8:50 pm.

The day before, the temple holds its own Kalladcha festival. Ahead of the festival, a restriction called kattu binds the temple's families and the takkas: no weddings or other auspicious ceremonies, no alcohol and no meat until Huthri is over. In 2018 it began two weeks ahead.

The night of the harvest

A week ahead, families clean and paint the house and hang marigolds and mango leaves at the ain mane, the clan's ancestral home. Customs vary by village; a typical evening runs like this.

1. Before leaving
   Food for the ancestors

   Everything cooked is first offered to the meedi, the ancestors. Some families drink a yam, jaggery and coconut drink before setting out.

2. Nere kattuva
   The first rite

   Held about an hour before the cutting, at the temple and then at home.

3. To the field
   The procession

   The eldest hands a sickle to the head of the family. A woman leads with a lit lamp, and girls carry the thaliyatakki bolcha, a bronze tray with rice, betel leaves, areca nut and a lamp.

4. The fixed minute
   The cutting

   A shot is fired, which Kodagu's district site says summons Igguthappa. The family head cuts the first kadiru while everyone calls "Poli poli deva".

5. Coming home
   The sheaves go up

   Sheaves are tied over the front door, by the main lamp and in the prayer room, with peepal and other leaves. In villages some are tied to the post of the kala, the threshing yard.

6. The feast
   Thambittu and dinner

   Thambittu is served on a peepal leaf before the nellakki, the prayer spot in the central hall, and the grain is welcomed as Dhanya Lakshmi.

7. The week after
   Dancing at the mand

   Young people dance Puthari kolata at the village ground and visit homes. The money they are given pays for a village dinner.

Families without a paddy field still take part. In Madikeri, sheaves from the Omkareshwara temple field go to homes in town, and Samajas in Mysuru cut a token crop for members.

Food, dress and dances

Thambittu is the dish of the night: roasted rice flour mixed with ripe banana, jaggery, coconut, sesame, cardamom and ghee. Families also make kadambuttu, steamed rice balls, with pandi curry (pork), and boil kalinji, a local tuber.

Men dress in the kupya, a wraparound robe, with the chele, the peeche kathi dagger and the mande thuni headdress. Women wear the sari in the Kodava style, with the pleats at the back and the loose end pinned at the right shoulder, often in red. The dances include Puthari kolata, Ummathaat, Bolakaat and Kathiyaat, played to valaga music.

Who keeps Huthri

Huthri is kept by the Kodavas and by the Kodagu Gowdas, the district's Arebhashe-speaking community, each with its own Samajas. Kodava Samajas from Virajpet and Kushalnagar to Mysuru hold celebrations, and the UAE Kodava Committee has held one in Dubai. It is not a festival for all of Karnataka. For most Kannadigas, the big November date is Karnataka Rajyotsava, a few weeks earlier.

New-rice festivals exist across India. Bengal's Nabanna, the "new feast", marks its rice harvest, the Garo people give thanks for the harvest at Wangala, and Pongal cooks the new rice in January.

What to write for Huthri

Puthari / Huthri

New rice; from the Kodava pudiya ari. Huttari is the Kannada spelling

Poli poli deva

The cry at the cutting; a prayer to God for a bountiful harvest

Kadiru

The new paddy cut on the festival night

Nere kattuva

The first rite of the evening, about an hour before the cutting

Ain mane

The ancestral house of a Kodava clan

Nellakki

The prayer spot in the central hall of a Kodava house

Takka

A traditional head of families, consulted when the temple fixes the date

Thambittu

Sweet of roasted rice flour, ripe banana and jaggery

Mand

The village ground where dances are held

How to wish someone on Huthri

A Huthri wish is about the new rice coming home, the family gathered at the ain mane, and the cry of "Poli poli deva", which asks God for a full harvest. Wish a full granary, health for the elders and a good year ahead. Kodavas away from Kodagu often miss the night at home, so a message that names the field, the thambittu or the dancing means a lot. Keep it warm and simple; don't reduce the day to guns, pork or drinking.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Kodava + Kannada.

When is Huthri in each year?

Huthri is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 17 days later than in 2026. Huthri runs 2 days.

Frequently asked questions