Chitra Pournami

 Chitra Pournami ritual commemorates Chitragupta who according to the scripts is the assistant of Lord Yama, the God of Death. The day is also dedicated to Indra, the head of Devas. It is on this day that the star Chitra and Pournami (full moon) come together. This auspicious day is celebrated as Chitragupta’s Birthday.

Chitra means collection of Pictures and Gupta means Hidden. Chitra Poornima is the sacred day to Chitra Gupta, the Keeper of Deeds. Lord Brahma created Chitra Gupta through the Sun God and He is considered as the younger brother of Lord Yama. It is believed that Chitragupta examines the good and bad performances of each individual. When a person dies, his soul first goes to Lord Yama, where Chitragupta tallies the deeds and report it to Yama. On this day, special poojas are conducted at temples and people take bath in holy rivers and temple ponds to wash away the sins committed and to bag the virtue for the life beyond.

Chitra Pournami is the time where your sins can all be cleansed.  

Chitragupta Temple at Kanchipuram is the only temple that we know, in South India dedicated to Chitragupta, But there is another temple in kodangipatti. He reminds us of an invisible higher power that constantly watches over us and provokes us to mind our conduct and behavior. It is believed that those who do not attain a balance between their good-deeds and misdoings have to attain a re-birth in any living form, to complete the life cycle.

Legend

There is a legend associated with Chitra Poornima involving Lord Indra, the king of Gods, and his Guru Brihaspati. Lord Indra and Brihaspati once had an argument. As Indra failed to respect Guru, he stopped advising Indra who started committing sins in the absence of Guru. Days passed and Brihaspathi returned to his duty. He advised Indra for a pilgrimage to the earth to lessen the burden of sins. During the pilgrimage, Indra realized that he had been redeemed from the sins. He found a Shiva lingam under a Kadamba tree and believed that Lord Shiva had helped him in relieving his sins. Following this, he started worshiping him. He worshiped Lord Shiva with a golden lotus which he found from a nearby pond.

This was believed to be happened on a Chitra Pournami day and the place was Madurai in South India. Devendra (Lord) puja is held during Chitra Pournami day in Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, commemorating the event.

How should we celebrate this auspicious day?

Chitra Pournami is especially for females though even males can do the pooja. After taking holy bath in the morning, women should clean the entrance of house and put maakolam depicting chitragupta with paper and pen or we can put padi kolam (Ezhakolam) with the south side open as a mark of entrance to Lord Chitragupta.

In the pooja room, we need to make these items available before we start with the pooja. Paper, pencil, navadhanyam, rice, dhal. We need to prepare Sakaraipongal as neivedhyam or we can also prepare moong dal Payasam using buffalo milk instead of cow’s milk as Chitragupta was born out of kamadenu.

We need to pray to Chitragupta to consider our good deeds and to ignore our bad deeds. We can find Chitragupta Pooja book in book shops and we can chant the slokas given in there.

Significance of Food Feeding on this auspicious day

The best Charity one could ever afford is feeding the Poor and Needy. The simplest way to cleanse your sins and bad karma is to offer Food for the Poor and Needy, by doing so you would not only be wiping out all those sins you would be blessed by the Almighty as well.

The Food Feeding ritual would be held at Thillai (Chidambaram) which is one among the Panchabhootha sthalams representing Sky.

By extending your support and contribution for this Divine and Noble cause you would not only get rid of the accumulated sins and the bad karma’s along with it you can derive the Almighty’s blessings as well for the welfare and well-being of you and your family.

Fasting Rules

We should avoid taking milk and milk-products on that day since he came out from Kamadhenu. (It is preferable to take buffalo milk if available). Then after finishing usual pooja and naivedhya, we have to donate rice, vegetables, dhal and dakshina in a “MURAM” to Brahmins. It is a customary to eat curd rice without salt on this day and to fast without eating anything else. In any case avoiding salt in food items throughout the day is recommended on this day, if possible.