Why Is Chitra Pournami Celebrated

by Astro Ved Online Astrology Consultation

Chitra Pournami denotes the full moon, which falls in the first month of the Tamil calendar, Chithirai. Chitragupta is the owner of the day, and worshipping him on Chitra Pournami brings devotees his blessings. Chitragupta is the Deva that keeps the record of the good and bad deeds of people. He then transfers the information to Yama Deva. At the time of a person’s death, the soul suffers according to his karmas in this life.

Hence when you worship Chitragupta on this auspicious day, you dedicate your day to the keeper of the karmas, which in return decreases the bad effects of your karma and increases your good karma significantly.

Another significance of worshipping Chitragupta is that people get motivated to do the good karma only and not to think ill of anyone. It is believed that Chitragupta was first born to the Goddess Parvati which then entered the womb of a cow named Kamadhenu. The day Chitra Pournami is considered as the day on which Chitragupta was born out of the womb of the cow. Some myths also associate this day when Chitragupta got married.

Chitra Pournami Rituals

On the day, people avoid taking any salt. They savor the food that is saltless such as curd rice while observing the fast. One should not observe a fast if taking salt is necessary for one’s diet due to health concerns.

The deity is offered with delicacies like Chakkarai Pongal and other food items that are unsalted. Since Chitragupta was born out of a cow’s womb, on the day, cow milk should be avoided too. However, people can have buffalo’s milk if they want. Upon doing the Puja ritual, people offer Dakshina to the Brahmin and distribute rice, dal, and vegetables among the poor and needy ones.

On the day, people also decorate the entrance of their home. They draw a kolam at the entrance, which they erase after the Puja. When people worship Meenakshi Amman and Kallazhagar, it doubles the benefits of the day.

The Legend behind Chitra Pournami

There are various legends related to the day. One such legend is about the King of Devas, Indra, and his guru Brihaspati or Jupiter, which is the magnificent planet. Once Indra failed to respect his guru, which made Brihaspati leave his side. During this period, when Indra was no longer under the guidance of his guru, Indra committed many sins and did bad karmas.

However, later Guru Brihaspati forgave Indra and took him back under his shade. He then evaluated Indra’s karmas and suggested Indra make a pilgrimage. Indra went to Earth as suggested and began to worship the Shiv Lingam, which was under a Kadamba tree. Indra worshipped God by offering him a golden lotus from a pond nearby. This gradually earned him the blessings of the Lord and liberated him from his sins and bad karmas.

A myth says that once Lord Brahma gave the land of dead souls to Yama. It was Yama’s duty to manage the dead souls and send them to hell or heaven as per their karma. However, Yama was getting confused, and sometimes he used to send a wrong soul to hell or heaven. He was unable to keep the record of all dead souls.

Lord Brahma then meditated for thousands of years, out of which Chitragupta was created. The Deva stood in front of Brahma with a paper and a pen. The Deva kept records of every soul, every born in every lifetime. This made Yama’s work easy to allocate the soul his fate as per his karmas.

These documents that are managed by Chitragupta are called “Akashic” records. These documents contain every action of a living being from his birth to death.

As Chitragupta is also considered the first one who starts the writing of words, his essential items are writing paper, pen, ink, honey, betel nut, matches, mustard, sugar, sandalwood, and frankincense.

People revere Chitragupta for the four virtues he contains justice, peace, literacy, and knowledge. While worshipping Chitragupta, people also write the amount of money in their household and how much they need to survive in the coming year. They also make an offering of turmeric, flowers, and vermilion to the Karma keeper.