Pratipada Tithi: The First Day of the Lunar Fortnight

Pratipada is the first tithi of the lunar fortnight. The word is usually explained as the first step or the first footing, and that suits it: it is the day on which the Moon, newly separated from the Sun, takes its first small stride into the sky. In the Hindu calendar it appears twice in every lunar month, once as the first day of the bright half (Shukla paksha) and once as the first day of the dark half (Krishna paksha).

In the Shukla half it comes straight after the new Moon, so the Moon is a thin crescent that sets soon after the Sun and is often too faint to see on that evening. In the Krishna half it comes straight after the full Moon, so the Moon is a night old, still almost round, and rises a little after sunset. The same name therefore covers two very different skies, which is one reason the calendar always says which paksha it means.

The tithi at a glance

How the tithi is measured

A tithi is the time the Moon takes to gain twelve degrees on the Sun, measured along the ecliptic. Pratipada is the first of those twelve-degree steps, so it runs from zero to twelve degrees of separation. In the Shukla half the count starts at the new Moon, in the Krishna half it starts at the full Moon, when the Moon stands a hundred and eighty degrees from the Sun and begins to close the gap again.

Because the Moon does not move at a steady speed, Pratipada does not last a fixed number of hours. Some Pratipadas are over in a little under a day, others stretch to a little over a day. The guide to the thirty tithis explains why, and why a tithi can begin and end at any hour of the clock.

Group and deity

Pratipada belongs to the Nanda group of tithis, together with Shashthi and Ekadashi. Nanda means joy or delight, and the group is traditionally linked to festivity and the starting of cheerful, communal undertakings. The grouping is a classification used in muhurat texts, not a statement that the day is lucky or unlucky by itself.

A common list gives Agni, the fire, as the deity of Pratipada, which fits a day of beginnings: the household lamp and the sacrificial fire are what a ritual starts with. Lists of tithi deities are not the same in every text, so if your family follows a different list, follow it. What the lists agree on is that each tithi has a presiding principle, and Pratipada is the one of kindling.

Festivals on Shukla Pratipada

Pratipada in the bright half carries more new-year and new-season festivals than any other tithi. Shukla Pratipada of Chaitra is the first day of the lunar year in much of India: it is celebrated as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and it is also the day on which Chaitra Navratri begins with the setting up of the sacred pot.

Shukla Pratipada of Ashvin begins the nine nights of Sharad Navratri, and the household ritual of establishing the pot is described in Navratri Ghatasthapana. Shukla Pratipada of Kartika is the day of Govardhan Puja, and for many Gujarati families it is the first day of the new year after Diwali, known as Bestu Varas. The Vikram Samvat year changes on that day in the Gujarati calendar, while most of north India changes it in Chaitra.

Festivals on Krishna Pratipada

The Krishna Pratipada that follows the Phalguna full Moon is the day of colour in Holi: the bonfire is lit on the full Moon evening and the throwing of colour usually takes place the next day, on Pratipada. Elsewhere Krishna Pratipada has no major festival of its own, though in some families it is the day for a small offering after the Purnima observances, including the Satyanarayan puja when it has been kept on the full Moon.

A practical point is worth knowing. When Purnima ends in the middle of the day or the night, Krishna Pratipada can start before the festival evening is over. The calendar then has to decide which civil day to name, and the rule that applies is the tithi at sunrise or at the particular time of day the observance needs.

What muhurat practice says

Muhurat texts usually welcome Shukla Pratipada for religious beginnings of a general kind, such as starting a vow, a study or a household ritual, and the festivals above show how old that habit is. For marriage, many almanacs do not count Pratipada among the days they prefer, and it is often left out of the lists of days recommended for a housewarming. These are common almanac practices, and individual traditions differ.

Krishna Pratipada is treated more cautiously. Many astrologers prefer the bright half for new undertakings and keep the dark half for finishing things, so a Krishna Pratipada start is rarely chosen when a Shukla day is available. This is a preference rather than a prohibition, and it does not apply to observances that are fixed by the calendar, such as Holi.

In every case the tithi is only one of the factors. The weekday, the nakshatra, the Moon’s position in the birth chart and the lagna of the moment all count, and a family astrologer weighs them together. A list of good tithis is a starting point, not a verdict.

A simple way to observe the day

There is no single vrat of Pratipada, so what families do is mostly seasonal. On the new-year Pratipadas people clean the house, put up fresh mango leaves at the door, and begin the day with a bath and a lamp. Some begin the year by reading the new panchang aloud, which is the origin of the custom of hearing the year’s forecast on Ugadi.

If you simply want to mark the day, light a lamp at the time you usually pray, offer a flower and water, and set one calm intention for the fortnight ahead. Nothing more is required, and nothing here is a promise of results.

Reading the tithi in the calendar

Because Pratipada begins the moment the Moon passes zero or a hundred and eighty degrees, its start can fall at any time, including in the middle of the night. The civil day that carries the name is normally the one on which Pratipada is in force at sunrise. Where an observance needs the tithi at another time of day, as with some Navratri rituals that are done in the morning, the calendar states that rule separately.

Sometimes Pratipada is cut short: it begins and ends between two sunrises, and no day is called Pratipada at all. That is a kshaya tithi, and it explains why a calendar can jump from the new Moon day straight to Dwitiya. At other times Pratipada spans two sunrises and the name is used for two consecutive days. Both cases are ordinary and are explained in the hub guide.

To see whether Pratipada is the tithi running today in your own city, open the daily panchang. Pratipada follows Amavasya in the cycle and is followed by Dwitiya; the whole set is described in the guide to the thirty tithis.

Related pages

• Chaitra Navratri: the nine nights that begin on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada.
• Sharad Navratri and Navratri Ghatasthapana: the Ashvin Pratipada ritual.
• Govardhan Puja: Kartika Shukla Pratipada.
• Holi: the colour day on Phalguna Krishna Pratipada.
• Hindu calendar: the months and years these Pratipadas belong to.
• Amanta and purnimanta reckoning: why Pratipada after the full Moon can begin a new month.

Frequently asked questions