Varalakshmi Vratam 2027 Date: Friday 13 August

Varalakshmi Vratam (వరలక్ష్మి వ్రతం, वरलक्ष्मी व्रत) is a Friday puja to Lakshmi kept by married women in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; Karnataka calls it Varamahalakshmi and Tamil homes Varalakshmi Nombu. Its date is a Friday in the bright half of Shravana, and in 2027 the vratam falls on Friday 13 August 2027. The calendars describe the day in two ways, and this year the two descriptions land on the same morning, so there is one date to plan around rather than two.

Two Ways of Naming the Friday, One Answer in 2027

Telugu and Kannada calendars usually word the rule as “the Friday just before Shravana Purnima”. Some almanacs phrase it instead as the second Friday of Shravana’s bright fortnight. The two can drift apart in a year where the full moon comes early or late against the week, which is why this page works out each one separately from the site’s data and then compares them.

Shravana Purnima this year holds the sunrise of Tuesday 17 August 2027, the date of Raksha Bandhan 2027. The Purnima tithi itself opens at 10:29 on Monday 16 August and ends at 12:58 on Tuesday 17 August, the instant of the full moon. The last Friday before the Purnima begins is Friday 13 August 2027, four days ahead of the full-moon sunrise. Counting Fridays from the start of the fortnight instead, the second one is also 13 August. Both rules give the same day.

The Fridays Between the New Moon and Shravana Purnima

The bright half of Shravana starts at the new moon, 15:35 on Monday 2 August, which in the amanta reckoning of South Indian lunar calendars is also the start of the month. From that day to the Purnima there are two Fridays. Their tithis at the New Delhi sunrise, from the site’s daily panchang:

• Friday 6 August 2027 (first Friday of the bright half; sunrise 05:45): Shukla Panchami
• Friday 13 August 2027 (second Friday of the bright half; sunrise 05:49): Shukla Dwadashi
• Tuesday 17 August 2027 (sunrise 05:51): Purnima, the full-moon day that closes the fortnight

The 6 August Friday comes only four days after the new moon and is the first of the pair, so neither phrasing points to it. No later Friday falls before the full moon. The Sawan 2027 page sets out how the month’s start differs between the amanta count used here and the purnimanta count of North Indian calendars.

Dwadashi on the Vratam Morning

The tithi current on 13 August is Shukla Dwadashi, the twelfth of the bright half. The site’s tithi code, which matches every festival-table instant it is checked against within 1 min, opens the Dwadashi at 03:00 on Friday 13 August, before dawn, and closes it at 05:21 on Saturday 14 August. At New Delhi the Friday sunrise comes at 05:49, when the Dwadashi is 2 hr 49 min old; it has given way to the Shukla Trayodashi before the Saturday sunrise. The vratam is a Friday observance rather than a tithi observance, so the tithi does not move the date; it is printed here because South Indian almanacs list it beside the day.

Sunrise in the Southern Cities

Because the Dwadashi opens in the small hours, a city with an early enough dawn could in principle read a different tithi at sunrise. The table runs the test on each city’s own sunrise, on both Fridays, using the solar function behind the city panchang pages. Delhi is the last row, for comparison.

No city on the list departs from the others. Visakhapatnam, with the earliest sunrise in the table, still meets a Dwadashi 2 hr 39 min old, and the latest dawn listed, at 06:11, meets an older one. The tithi closes before every listed city’s Saturday sunrise. Vijayawada has no city record on the site, but it lies between Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam on the map, and both of those cities read the Dwadashi at sunrise with hours to spare; its own almanac is the place to confirm.

Aadi or Avani: A Note for Tamil Calendars

Tamil months are solar, named by the Sun’s sidereal sign, and Tamil households sometimes speak of the Nombu as falling in Aadi or in Avani. The ingress table puts the Sun’s entry into sidereal Cancer at 05:42 on Saturday 17 July and into Leo at 14:07 on Tuesday 17 August, four days after the vratam Friday and on the Purnima day itself. By the Sun’s sign, then, both Fridays of the bright half fall while it is in Cancer, the sign of Aadi. This page does not print a date for the start of Avani, because almanacs differ on which civil day a solar month opens; a Tamil family that follows a solar-month framing for the Nombu should check its own panchangam.

The Kalasha, the Toram and the Story of Charumati

The name joins vara, a boon, to the goddess’s name. At the centre of the household puja is a kalasha, a pot filled and topped with a coconut, which families dress as Lakshmi with cloth, ornaments and often a face of the goddess fixed to the coconut. A sacred thread, called the toram in Telugu homes, is tied on the right wrist of the women keeping the vratam. The katha read at the puja tells of Charumati, a devoted wife to whom Lakshmi appears in a dream with instructions for the vratam; on waking she keeps it with the women of her town.

By the custom’s own account the vratam is kept for the welfare of the family. That is the tradition’s statement of purpose, and this page makes no claim about what the puja brings to those who keep it. The order of the puja, the items on the plate and whether a fast is kept before it vary from family to family and are best taken from your own elders or family priest. The site’s page on Friday fasting covers the weekly Friday vrat, which is a separate observance.

Varalakshmi Vratam 2027 in Brief

• Date: Friday 13 August 2027, under both the Friday-before-Purnima rule and the second-Friday rule
• Tithi at sunrise: Shukla Dwadashi, in every city tested (03:00 on Friday 13 August to 05:21 on Saturday 14 August)
• Shravana Purnima: Tuesday 17 August 2027 (tithi 10:29 on Monday 16 August to 12:58 on Tuesday 17 August)
• New moon opening the bright half: 15:35 on Monday 2 August
• Other Friday of the bright half: Friday 6 August 2027, Shukla Panchami at sunrise

The month’s other fasts and festivals are on the August 2027 vrat and tyohar list. For your own town’s sunrise use the panchang tool, and the festival hub collects the observances in the site’s festival tables.