Sunday, 1 February 2026
Māgha · Pūrṇimā · Puṣya
☀About the day
- Lunar month
- Māgha
- Tithi at sunrise
- Pūrṇimā · until 03:39 (next day)
- Nakṣatra
- Puṣya
- Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
- 07:07 · 18:14
Māghī Pūrṇimā
✦Significance
The full moon that completes the Māgha bath. The month-long vow of the kalpavāsīs at Prayāga closes today, and the merit of the whole month is said to be gained by one who bathes this one morning. The Moon stands in Maghā, the star of the ancestors.
📜The story from the scriptures
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa — Māgha-māhātmya
The Māgha-māhātmya tells of many who were raised by the Māgha bath — among them a band of gandharva maidens and a sage’s son turned to piśācas by a curse, who regained their forms when the sage Lomaśa led them to bathe at Prayāga in Māgha. “Viṣṇu is not so pleased by vows, gifts and austerities,” says Vasiṣṭha, “as he is by the mere bath of Māgha.”
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
The kalpavāsīs take their last dip, give away their bedding and vessels, and carry home a little sand of the Saṅgama. Tamil Nadu keeps Māsi Magham, when temple deities are carried to the sea or tank for tīrthavāri, and every twelve years the Mahāmaham at Kumbakonam. Ravidās Jayantī falls on the same full moon.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Bath before sunrise; worship of Viṣṇu (Mādhava, lord of the month) and Satyanārāyaṇa kathā; gifts of sesame, blankets, cotton, ghee, jaggery and food; tarpaṇa to the ancestors under their own star.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
गङ्गे च यमुने चैव गोदावरि सरस्वति ।
नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरि जलेऽस्मिन् सन्निधिं कुरु ॥
gaṅge ca yamune caiva godāvari sarasvati | narmade sindhu kāveri jale’smin sannidhiṃ kuru ||
Meaning: O Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Godāvarī, Sarasvatī, Narmadā, Sindhu and Kāverī — be present in this water.
Benefit: Recited over the bathing water — it brings the seven sacred rivers to wherever the bather stands.
📖Scriptural references 1
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, Māgha-māhātmya
Pūrṇimā — the full moon
✦Significance
The full moon — the day of fullness, when the mind’s own planet is complete. It is the customary day for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, for charity, for honouring the guru and for a bath in sacred waters; each month’s full moon carries its own festival.
📜The story from the scriptures
Skanda Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa — Satyanārāyaṇa-vrata-kathā
Nārada, grieved by the sufferings of people in the Kali age, asked Viṣṇu for a simple remedy, and the Lord taught him the worship of Satya-Nārāyaṇa — Truth itself as God. The kathā’s five chapters tell of a poor brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, a woodcutter, the merchant Sādhu and his daughter Kalāvatī, and King Tuṅgadhvaja: each prospered by keeping the vow and honouring its prasāda, and each stumbled on forgetting a promise made to the Lord — for truthfulness is the vow’s real offering.
🔥Pūjā and havan
In the evening: a kalaśa and an image or picture of Viṣṇu under a canopy of plantain stems; offerings of tulasī, fruit and the prasāda of roasted wheat flour, sugar, ghee, milk and banana (sapāda-bhakṣya); the five-chapter kathā is read aloud and the prasāda shared with all. Arghya is offered to the risen moon.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
Benefit: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
Benefit: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
📖Scriptural references 1
- Skanda Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa (Satyanārāyaṇa-kathā)