Akshaya Tritiya: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Akshaya Tritiya, also called Akha Teej, is the third day of the bright half of Vaishakha, in late spring as the summer heat begins. "Akshaya" means imperishable, that which never runs out. Tradition counts it among the few days that are good in themselves for any new beginning, so families begin studies, businesses, building work and journeys on it, and many give generously to others.

It is a day of giving above all: water and food in the heat, grain, clothes, fans and umbrellas. Families worship Vishnu and Lakshmi, and many remember Parashurama, whose birth many calendars keep on this day. In Odisha farmers make the first sowing, and in Puri the building of the chariots for the Rath Yatra begins. High in the Himalaya, the temples of Gangotri and Yamunotri traditionally open for the summer around this day.

Buying gold or a new possession on this day is a popular custom in many families. It is a custom, not a rule: nothing has to be bought to keep the day.

Jain families keep the day too: for them it is the day the first Tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, ended his long fast with sugarcane juice. That observance is their own.

Why it is kept

A day that does not run out. Texts that praise this day say that a gift made, a prayer said or a good deed done on Akshaya Tritiya is never used up. That is the texts' own claim, and families take it as an invitation to give and to begin well, not as a bargain.

The vessel that never emptied. In the Mahabharata (Vana Parva, section 3 in K. M. Ganguli's translation), the Pandavas set out for the forest with many followers and nothing to feed them. Yudhishthira prayed to the Sun with his hundred and eight names, and the Sun gave him a copper vessel: as long as Draupadi had not yet eaten from it, the food cooked in it would never run out. Popular tellings call it the akshaya patra and place the gift on this day.

Sudama's handful of rice. The Bhagavata Purana (book 10, chapters 80 and 81) tells of Sudama, a poor Brahmin and Krishna's childhood friend, who visited Krishna in Dwarka with only a handful of flattened rice wrapped in cloth. Krishna welcomed him with joy and ate the rice as if it were a feast. Sudama asked for nothing, yet on returning home he found his family cared for. Many families tell this story on Akshaya Tritiya: what matters is the love in a gift, not its size.

Other memories of the day. The Puranas count this day among the yugadi tithis, the days on which an age began, but they differ on which age: the Bhavishyottara Purana names the Krita age, and many families today say the Treta age. Many calendars keep it as the birthday of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu; the Skanda and Bhavishya Puranas place his birth on this tithi, in the first watch of the night. A loved story says that the young Shankara, begging for alms, was given the last amla fruit of a poor woman's house, and sang the Kanakadhara Stotram for her; tradition places that on Akshaya Tritiya as well.

The texts behind the story

• Mahabharata, Vana Parva, section 3 (Yudhishthira's hymn to the Sun and the copper vessel). K. M. Ganguli (tr.), The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Calcutta: P. C. Roy, 1883–96), Project Gutenberg volume 1. Public domain in the US; India status not yet confirmed, so summarised, not quoted. Its link to Akshaya Tritiya is popular tradition. (Vana Parva, Section III)
• Bhagavata Purana, book 10, chapters 80–81 (Sudama). Summarised in our own words; its link to Akshaya Tritiya is popular tradition.
• The praise of the day as akshaya (imperishable) in the Matsya Purana (chapter 65) and the Bhavishyottara Purana (chapter 30), with its gifts of water jars, umbrellas and footwear; the day as a yugadi tithi (the Bhavishyottara names the Krita age; Kane notes that the Puranas differ); Parashurama's birth on this tithi in the first watch of the night (Skanda and Bhavishya Puranas); and the forenoon rule. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958), which summarises these texts. Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 88–90)
• The Kanakadhara story of Shankara and its link with this day: tradition, summarised in our own words.

When it is kept

Akshaya Tritiya is the Shukla Tritiya of Vaishakha that is present in the forenoon (purvahna), from sunrise to midday at your location. If Tritiya covers the forenoon on both days, the later day is taken, as the texts on festival rules prefer (P. V. Kane's summary), provided Tritiya lasts at least three muhurtas (one fifth of the time from sunrise to sunset) after that day's sunrise; otherwise the first day is taken. The three-muhurta condition is the app's reading of published calendars, not a rule read in a text. If Tritiya covers the forenoon on neither day, the day whose sunrise has Tritiya is taken. A printed panchang may differ by a day in a close year. Tradition treats the whole day as good for new beginnings; the app does not compute a separate muhurta for it.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Akshaya Tritiya 2027: Puja falls on Saturday, May 8, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). In New Delhi it falls on Sunday, May 9, 2027.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Smarta (texts on festival rules): Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya in the forenoon
• Parashurama Jayanti: kept on this day in many calendars; some keep it on the evening before
• Odia: the first sowing (Akhi Muthi Anukula) and the start of the Rath Yatra chariots in Puri
• Rajasthani and Gujarati: Akha Teej

Why the day can differ

The forenoon is part of your own day, so when Tritiya begins or ends in the morning, cities can keep different dates, and a city abroad can differ from India by a day.

Parashurama Jayanti is often on the same day, but some calendars keep it by the tithi at evening, so it can fall a day earlier. The temples of the Himalaya announce their own opening days each year, and these follow the temples' own decisions, not the app.

How to keep it at home

1. Bathe early, and wear clean clothes. Set a picture of Vishnu and Lakshmi (Lakshmi-Narayana), or of your family deity, on a clean cloth, with a kalash of water.
2. Within the forenoon window shown in the app, light a lamp and incense and offer water, sandalwood paste, tulsi leaves, flowers, barley or rice, and seasonal fruit. Many families offer a cool sweet such as kheer.
3. Prayers often said: the Vishnu Sahasranama, the 108 names of Lakshmi, the Kanakadhara Stotram and "Om Namo Narayanaya". Families who remember Parashurama say a prayer to him as well.
4. Give. In the season's heat, the traditional gifts are a pot of cool water, food, fruit, sattu, fans, umbrellas and sandals. Abroad, families often give to a food bank, a temple kitchen or a charity, or set out water for birds.
5. Begin something good: a course of study, a reading plan, a savings habit, a garden or a new piece of work. Families who keep the gold custom buy a small coin or ornament; it is not needed to keep the day.

Fasting

Akshaya Tritiya is not a strict fast. Some devotees fast until the morning puja, or eat only fruit and milk during the day. In the heat, drink enough water. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should not fast without a doctor's advice.

Food

Cool summer food: kheer, sattu drinks in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, aam panna, curd rice, panakam and fresh mangoes. Gujarati and Rajasthani homes make sweet dishes of new wheat and jaggery, and many families share their food with neighbours and with people in need.

For children

Sudama was a poor man and Krishna's best friend from school. One day he walked all the way to Krishna's palace with a small gift: a handful of flattened rice tied in a cloth. He felt shy, because it was so little. But Krishna hugged him, opened the cloth and ate the rice happily, as if it were the best food in the world. On Akshaya Tritiya families remember that the love in a gift matters more than its size.

Something to do together

Make a giving jar together: decorate a jar, and choose one thing to give today, such as a toy, a book or some food for a food bank. Set out a bowl of water for birds on a balcony or in the garden.

Sources

• Panchang engine rule akshaya-tritiya (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources it lists, including the Dharmasindhu (Kashinatha Upadhyaya, 1790) for the forenoon rule.
• K. M. Ganguli (tr.), The Mahabharata, Vana Parva, section 3. Public domain in the US; India status unconfirmed.
• Wikipedia, "Akshaya Tritiya" (the third lunar day of the bright half of Vaishakha).
• P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona, 1958), pp. 88–90 (Akshaya Tritiya and Parashurama Jayanti, with the Puranas and digests they cite). Cited, not quoted.