Tritiya Tithi: The Third Day of the Lunar Fortnight

Tritiya is the third tithi, the stage at which the Moon has moved between twenty-four and thirty-six degrees away from the Sun. In Shukla paksha the Moon on Tritiya is a clear crescent, easy to find in the evening sky, and in Krishna paksha the same tithi falls in the first days after the full Moon.

Of all the tithis, Tritiya in the bright half is the one most closely tied to women’s festivals and to the goddess Gauri. Three well-known observances, Gangaur, Hariyali Teej and Hartalika Teej, as well as the widely kept Akshaya Tritiya, all fall on Shukla Tritiya in different months.

The tithi at a glance

Group and deity

Tritiya is part of the Jaya group, along with Ashtami and Trayodashi. Jaya means victory, and the group is traditionally associated with success in contests, in enterprises that need effort, and in tasks of strength or competition. Muhurat summaries often say Jaya tithis are favourable for starting work in which one expects to meet resistance.

A common list names Gauri, a form of Parvati, as the presiding deity of Tritiya. Some lists give a different name for the same tithi, which shows how the assignments differ between texts. The connection to Gauri is the one most visible in practice, because the Shukla Tritiya festivals are all devoted to her and to the married and unmarried women who worship her.

Festivals on Shukla Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya falls on Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya and is regarded as a day on which what is begun, given or bought is meant to be lasting, which is the sense of the word akshaya, imperishable. Families make charitable gifts, begin ventures and buy gold on that day, and the date rule is the tithi in force in the forenoon.

Chaitra Shukla Tritiya is Gangaur in Rajasthan and neighbouring regions, a spring festival in which women worship Gauri and Shiva with songs and processions. Shravana Shukla Tritiya is Hariyali Teej, a monsoon festival of swings, green clothes and songs. Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya is Hartalika Teej, a fast kept for Parvati and Shiva, set out in Hartalika Teej Puja.

Each of these follows the tithi, so the civil date shifts from year to year relative to the solar calendar, and in some years the exact day depends on whether Tritiya touches two days. The page for each festival gives its own rule where it is covered on this site.

Festivals on Krishna Tritiya

Krishna Tritiya has fewer widely observed festivals. In several regions the Tritiya of the dark half in Bhadrapada is kept as Kajari Teej, a monsoon festival for married women with songs and a fast, observed mostly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Some families also observe a quiet Gauri worship on the monthly Krishna Tritiya, though this is a family custom rather than a common rule.

Because the dark half belongs to the earlier or later month depending on reckoning, the name of the month attached to Kajari Teej differs between amanta and purnimanta calendars, and the same day can be listed in different month columns. The explanation is on the page about amanta and purnimanta.

What muhurat practice says

Shukla Tritiya is one of the tithis commonly listed as suitable for marriage, for a housewarming and for beginning construction. It is a Jaya tithi and not one of the empty Rikta ones, and almanacs that publish lists of good days for ceremonies usually include it, subject to the other factors.

Akshaya Tritiya is something of an exception, in the sense that many families treat the whole day as auspicious without looking for a separate muhurat, because the tradition says the day is already complete in itself. Astrologers do not always agree with using it for every purpose: for a marriage or a housewarming they will still look at the weekday, the nakshatra and the individuals’ charts, and some years do not give a good alignment even on that date.

Krishna Tritiya is usually treated as a minor day, acceptable for ordinary matters but not often chosen for ceremonies. The muhurat section and the guide to the sixteen samskaras show how these tithi preferences fit together with the rest of the choice.

A simple way to observe the day

For Gauri worship on a Tritiya, a few households set up a small image or a picture of the goddess, offer kumkum, flowers, bangles and a sweet, and sing a short devotional song. Fasting on Teej festivals is traditional but not compulsory, and anyone who is unwell, pregnant, nursing or taking regular medicine should speak to a doctor about it and need not feel that a lighter observance counts for less.

On Akshaya Tritiya the commonest practice is a charitable gift: food, water, clothing or a donation to a cause you trust. That is the sense of the word, a gift that does not run out.

Reading the tithi in the calendar

Tritiya is the tithi where the Teej festivals show how much the civil date depends on the sunrise rule. When Tritiya begins late on one day and ends early on the next, a calendar may name either day, and for Hartalika Teej the tradition leans towards the day on which Tritiya is in force in the morning, with a fast taken from the day before.

A Tritiya that begins and ends between two sunrises is a kshaya tithi and vanishes from the day count, while one that crosses two sunrises appears on two days as a vriddhi tithi. Both happen several times in every year and are normal. Look for the tithi’s start and end times, not only its name.

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

Related pages

• Akshaya Tritiya: the imperishable third day of Vaishakha.
• Hartalika Teej Puja: the steps of the Bhadrapada fast.
• Muhurat: how tithis are used to choose a day.
• Amanta and purnimanta: how month names shift for the dark half.
• Hindu calendar: the lunar months these festivals belong to.

Frequently asked questions