Ruling · Pongal (Tai Pongal) · 2021

Thursday 14 January

Determinatein Phoenix, under the Rashtriya Panchang method. Clear of every threshold by 123 minutes.

Decide it for

33°27′ N 112°04′ W · America/Phoenix · GeoNames 5308655

The two days

A tick is five ghaṭīs, two hours. The day is counted from the sunset before it to its own sunset.

Day of Wednesday 13 January

The transit does not fall in this day. Not taken.

17:41 sunset beforesunset 17:42
17:1721:1701:1705:1709:1713:1717:17

Does not fall in this day

Day of Thursday 14 January

Taken. The transit falls in this day.

17:42 sunset beforesunset 17:43
Sun enters Makara 19:44:54
17:1821:1801:1805:1809:1813:1817:18

Falls in this day

The day, the window the rule readsThe instant the Sun enters Makara

How it was decided

  1. 01

    Aṅga

    The Sun enters Makara at 19:45 on Wed 13 Jan.

    2021-01-14T02:44:55Z · nirayana, lahiri-iae1985

  2. 02

    Kāla

    The day is counted from the sunset before it to its own sunset: the day of the 13th ends at 17:42, and the day of the 14th ends at 17:43.

    sunset-day: sunset-to-sunset · sunset: upper limb, 31′ + 16′

  3. 03

    Rule

    The festival is kept on the day of the transit, the day counted from the sunset before it: a transit after sunset belongs to the next day. The transit falls between the sunsets of the 13th and the 14th.

    Calendar Reform Committee 1955, General Rules for Religious Festivals, p. 106

  4. 04

    Tie-break

    An instant falls in one day and no other. No tie-break is needed.

    day counted from sunset → only-day · margin 7391 s

  5. 05

    Ruling

    Pongal, Phoenix, 2021: Thursday 14 January.

    confidence: determinate

Say it like this

In Phoenix, Pongal (Tai Pongal) 2021 falls on Thursday 14 January. The Sun enters Makara at 19:45 on Wed 13 Jan. The rule counts the day from sunset to sunset, and the transit falls between the sunsets of the 13th and the 14th. Counted from midnight, or counted from sunrise, as in Orissa, it is 13 January.

ahargana.org/phoenix/festivals/2021/pongal · pac-rp@2026.1

Who says what

AuthorityKindDate
Ahargaṇa, pac-rpThis rulingThu 14 Jan
Ahargaṇa, classicalDisc centre, no refractionThu 14 Jan
compat-drikpanchangComparison profileThu 14 Jan
Counted from midnightCRC 1955, p. 106Wed 13 Jan
Counted from sunrise (the Orissa rule)CRC 1955, p. 244Wed 13 Jan
No institution has a recorded ruling for Phoenix.

Institutional rulings are recorded with a source address, and are never edited to agree.

The rule, as data

/rules/pongal · ruleset 2026.3-draft

Sign entered
Makara
Zodiac
Nirayana
Ayanāṃśa
lahiri-iae1985
Day counted from
Sunset
Tie-break
None: an instant
Reference
CRC 1955, p. 106

“Makaradi — Makaradi snana, Magh Bihu (Assam), Tila samkranti, Pongal (S. India), Bhogi (S. India — on the day before Pongal), Mattu Pongal (S. India — on the day after Pongal).” Calendar Reform Committee 1955, General Rules for Religious Festivals, p. 106. “The Tamil rule: In the Tamil districts the rule is that when a samkranti takes place before sunset, the month begins on the same day, while if it takes place after sunset the month begins on the following day.” Calendar Reform Committee 1955, Rules of Samkranti, p. 244. The rule that heads the solar festivals, the day "taken to begin from midnight" (p. 106), is not applied to Pongal. It is kept on the first day of the month of Makara as the Tamil districts count it, a transit after sunset going to the next day (p. 244); the Rashtriya Panchang prints Pongal so.

The same rule, elsewhere

Twelve places, west to east. Local clock times.

PlaceSun enters MakaraSunset before 14thCoveredSunset before 15thCoveredRuled
Los Angeles18:4517:05falls17:06no14 Jan
Chicago20:4516:43falls16:44no14 Jan
Jersey City21:4516:51falls16:52no14 Jan
Port of Spain22:4518:02falls18:02no14 Jan
London02:4516:18falls16:19no14 Jan
Durban04:4519:01falls19:00no14 Jan
Dubai06:4517:49falls17:50no14 Jan
Delhi08:1517:44falls17:45no14 Jan
Kolkata08:1517:12falls17:12no14 Jan
Singapore10:4519:15falls19:15no14 Jan
Sydney13:4520:09falls20:09no14 Jan
Suva15:4519:48falls19:48no14 Jan
Profile · tradition
pac-rp@2026.1 · smarta
Rule
pongal@2026.3-draft
Engine · kernel
0.1.0 · de440 7eef…ea74
Boundary margin
300 s

About Ahargaṇa