Thaipusam 2027

About Thaipusam

Thaipusam is the Tamil Hindu festival of Murugan, held when the Pusam star rises in the month of Thai, and in 2027 it falls on Friday, 22 January 2027. Tradition says it marks the day Parvati gave Murugan the vel, the lance he used against the demon Surapadman. Devotees keep a vow, often for 48 days, and fulfil it by carrying a kavadi or a pot of milk to his temples, above all Palani in Tamil Nadu and Batu Caves in Malaysia.

The name is the date. Thai is the tenth Tamil month, the one that opens with Pongal, and Pusam is the star the Sanskrit calendar calls Pushya. Thaipusam is the day the two meet, and it belongs to Murugan, the god Tamils also call Kandan, Kartikeya, Subrahmanya and Velan, the one who holds the vel.

Why the vel

In the telling of the Kanda Puranam, the demon Surapadman had won boons that made him all but unbeatable, and he drove the gods out of their heavens. Parvati gave her son a lance carrying her own power, and with it Murugan split Surapadman in two. The halves became the peacock he rides and the rooster on his flag. Thaipusam is kept as the day he received that vel. The battle itself is marked separately, at Skanda Sashti in the month of Aippasi.

Devotees read the vel as the Jnana Vel, the lance of knowledge, sharp at the tip like a clear mind. Many shrines worship the vel on its own.

Palani and the six abodes

Tamil devotion places Murugan in six homes, the Arupadai Veedu, named in the Sangam poem Thirumurugatrupadai and in Arunagirinathar's Thiruppugazh. Five sit on hills and one by the sea.

Palani is where Thaipusam is biggest in India. Murugan stands on Sivagiri hill as Dandayudhapani, a shaven young renunciant with only a staff. The temple runs a ten-day festival in Thai. On Thaipusam the deity is taken to the Shanmuga river for a bath and thousands pull the temple car. In the days before, groups in saffron and yellow walk barefoot along the highways from Madurai, Theni, Sivaganga and the rest of Dindigul district. They take home panchamirtham, the banana, jaggery, ghee and honey prasadam that in 2019 became the first temple offering in India to get a Geographical Indication tag.

The vow and the kavadi

A kavadi is a vow made visible. Someone prays for a child, a cure or a safe return, and promises to carry a burden to Murugan's shrine. Palani's own story explains the shape. The sage Agastya's disciple Idumban was carrying two hills slung from a pole across his shoulders when Murugan stopped him at Palani. Murugan then made him guardian of the hill, and pilgrims still pray at the Idumban shrine before they climb.

The preparation is the hard part. Devotees commonly keep a vratham of about 48 days: one vegetarian meal a day, no alcohol or tobacco, celibacy, sleeping on the floor, and a full fast on the eve. Many shave their heads on the morning itself.

Paal kudam

A pot of milk carried on the head and poured over the deity; the simplest and most common offering

Thol kavadi

An arch of wood or steel on the shoulders, decorated with peacock feathers, with milk pots hung at each end

Alagu kavadi

A large frame held up by hooks or small spears pierced into the skin of the chest and back

Alavu

A small vel passed through the tongue or cheeks

Ratha kavadi

A small chariot drawn by hooks set in the devotee's back

Piercing is a minority practice, and not every devotee approves of it. An essay on palani.org, a long-running Palani devotees' site, argues that the vel was never meant to wound a body in which Murugan lives. Most people on the road carry milk, and their vow is no smaller for it.

Beyond Tamil Nadu

Thaipusam travelled with Tamil migrants in the nineteenth century, and some of its largest gatherings are now outside India.

At Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur, the cave shrine was consecrated in 1891 through K. Thamboosamy Pillay, the Tamil trader behind the city's Sri Maha Mariamman temple. A silver chariot leaves the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in the city on the eve and reaches the caves the next day. Devotees climb 272 steps, past a 42.7-metre gold-painted Murugan statue unveiled in January 2006. Thaipusam is a holiday in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Penang, Perak, Johor and Negeri Sembilan.

In Singapore, Nattukottai Chettiar merchants set up a vel on Tank Road in 1858, where the Sri Thendayuthapani temple now stands. The procession walks about four kilometres there from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple on Serangoon Road, and since 2017 live nadhaswaram, tavil and urumi music has been allowed back on the route. Thaipusam is not a public holiday there. In Mauritius, Thaipoosam Cavadee is a national public holiday.

In Kerala the festival is Thaipooyam. At the Koorkenchery Sree Maheswara temple in Thrissur, kavadiyattam groups dance with ambalakkavadi, temple-shaped frames up to ten feet tall, and flower-covered pookkavadi to chenda drums until dawn. The Subrahmanya temple at Haripad holds its own Thaipooyam festival. At Vadalur, followers of the saint Vallalar gather at his Sathya Gnana Sabai for the jothi darisanam, when seven coloured screens are drawn back one by one to reveal a lamp.

How the date is set

Thai is a solar month: it runs while the Sun is in Makara. Pusam lies in the opposite sign, Karka, so the Moon reaches it at or near the full moon. Thaipusam is the day Pusam prevails, which is why many calendars describe it as the Thai full moon. When the star and the full moon split across two days, calendars can disagree, so India, Malaysia and Mauritius occasionally mark it a day apart. Drik Panchang's Chennai calendar follows the star.

Tamil Nadu made it a state public holiday only recently. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced it on 5 January 2021, and the first holiday was 28 January that year. The state has kept it on the list since. The year's other festival dates are on the calendar.

What to say

Thaipoosa thirunaal nalvazhthukkal

Good wishes on the sacred day of Thaipusam; the usual Tamil greeting

Vetrivel Muruganukku Arohara

Victory to Murugan of the conquering vel; the cry raised on the road and at the shrine

Muruga saranam

Murugan, I take refuge in you

Vratham

The vow and the period of discipline kept before the festival

In Free Malaysia Today, the journalist A. Kathirasen argued that "Happy Thaipusam" misses a day of discipline and surrender, and suggested "Have a blessed Thaipusam" instead.

How to wish someone on Thaipusam

A Thaipusam wish should honour the vow, not just the day. Many devotees have fasted, slept on the floor and given up meat and alcohol for weeks, and some walk for days to Palani. Write to their discipline and to Murugan's grace. "Thaipoosa thirunaal nalvazhthukkal" is the usual Tamil greeting, and "Vetrivel Muruganukku Arohara" is the cry heard on the road. Many Tamils prefer "Have a blessed Thaipusam" to "Happy Thaipusam". Keep messages to someone fasting free of food jokes.

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, Tamil.

When is Thaipusam in each year?

Thaipusam is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 10 days earlier than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions