Ruling · Pongal (Tai Pongal) · 2024

Monday 15 January

Determinatein Ujjain, under the Rashtriya Panchang method. Clear of every threshold by 523 minutes.

Decide it for

23°11′ N 75°47′ E · Asia/Kolkata · GeoNames 1253914

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 Sunday 14 January

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

18:00 sunset beforesunset 18:01
17:3621:3601:3605:3609:3613:3617:36

Does not fall in this day

Day of Monday 15 January

Taken. The transit falls in this day.

18:01 sunset beforesunset 18:02
Sun enters Makara 02:43:43
17:3721:3701:3705:3709:3713:3717:37

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 02:44 on Mon 15 Jan.

    2024-01-14T21:13:44Z · nirayana, lahiri-iae1985

  2. 02

    Kāla

    The day is counted from the sunset before it to its own sunset: the day of the 14th ends at 18:01, and the day of the 15th ends at 18:02.

    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 14th and the 15th.

    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 31368 s

  5. 05

    Ruling

    Pongal, Ujjain, 2024: Monday 15 January.

    confidence: determinate

Say it like this

In Ujjain, Pongal (Tai Pongal) 2024 falls on Monday 15 January. The Sun enters Makara at 02:44 on Mon 15 Jan. The rule counts the day from sunset to sunset, and the transit falls between the sunsets of the 14th and the 15th. Counted from sunrise, as in Orissa, it is 14 January.

ahargana.org/ujjain/festivals/2024/pongal · pac-rp@2026.1

Who says what

AuthorityKindDate
Ahargaṇa, pac-rpThis rulingMon 15 Jan
Ahargaṇa, classicalDisc centre, no refractionMon 15 Jan
compat-drikpanchangComparison profileMon 15 Jan
Counted from midnightCRC 1955, p. 106Mon 15 Jan
Counted from sunrise (the Orissa rule)CRC 1955, p. 244Sun 14 Jan
Rashtriya PanchangPrincipal festivals, 2023-24Mon 15 Jan

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 Angeles13:1417:04falls17:05no14 Jan
Chicago15:1416:42falls16:43no14 Jan
Jersey City16:1416:51falls16:52no14 Jan
Port of Spain17:1418:01falls18:02no14 Jan
London21:1416:17no16:18falls15 Jan
Durban23:1419:01no19:01falls15 Jan
Dubai01:1417:49no17:49falls15 Jan
Delhi02:4417:44no17:45falls15 Jan
Kolkata02:4417:11no17:12falls15 Jan
Singapore05:1419:14no19:15falls15 Jan
Sydney08:1420:09no20:09falls15 Jan
Suva09:1418:48no18:48falls15 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