Purattasi Sani Thaligai, Date – How To Celebrate Purattasi Sani Pooja

Purattasi sani thaligai

Tamil month Purattasi is one of the very special months for Hindus. We Tamil people celebrate Purattasi sani in a grand manner by offering 5 rice varieties, sweet pongal, maa vilakku & Vada malai for Perumal. We call this offering as “Thaligai podrathu”( Thalu) . Purattasi month is called as Ashwin Month by North Indians. Mahalaya Paksha or Pitru paksha and Durga Navratri falls in this month.

During this month, many people( especially Brahmins) strictly follow a No onion No Garlic menu. Non-vegetarians usually avoid eating non-veg food during this month. Purattasi month is very auspicious for Lord Venkateshwara as it is believed that Lord came to Earth on this month. So special Pooja & Mahotsava are performed in Tirupathi temple.

Purattasi Sani is very special, because on this day, Shri Saneeswara Bhagvan is said to reduce his negative power and praying him helps us to get more benefits. Pooja on this day is believed to bless all those who suffer from chronic illness, financial losses and delay in marriage. Shani grants good health, longevity, leadership, authority, ambition, wisdom and immense wealth to his devotees. Worshipping Vishnu, Fasting on Purattasi Saturday would please Sani graha.

This year 2023, Purattasi month starts on 18th September and it lasts till 17th October. This year there are 4 Purattasi Saturdays (Sanikizhamai). So you can make this thaligai and do the pooja on 1st or 3rd  of this month.

23 September 2023 – 1st Saturday
30 September 2023 – 2nd Saturday
07 October 2023 – 3rd Saturday
14 October 2023 – 4th Saturday

Last year we celebrated Purattasi Sani in my in-laws place. So I clicked the pictures and kept in draft to make this post. I hope beginners who look for Purattasi Pooja procedures would be benefitted by this post. And I consider this post as my record for future reference too.

Disclaimer : Pooja vidhanam/Procedures I have shared here is based on our tradition. It may vary from place to place. So please ask the elders of your family and make changes as per your practice.

Pooja & Neivedyam Requirements

  • One silver sombu/Pot or silver tumbler ( Use velli pathram) for drawing Namam, Sangu & Chakaram OR You can draw on walls too. It is assumed as the Lord. Invert the sombu and draw using Namakatti( a piece of chalk). Refer the picture for the idea.
  • Vada malai with 11 or 21 pepper vadas (without onion)
  • Raw rice for 5 Rice varieties ( Sweet pongal, Coconut rice, Tamarind rice, Black Sesame seeds/Ellu rice, Curd rice) OR No onion No garlic full meals
  • Sundal ( White or brown Chana OR Chana dal/Kadalai paruppu sundal)
  • Maavilakku
  • Fruits, Betel leaves & Nuts
  • Tulsi water for neivedyam ( Add tulsi leaves, crushed cardamom, cloves, a pinch of edible camphor (Pachai karpooram) to a cup of water)
  • Tulsi leaves or garland
  • Incense stick, camphor
  • Flowers

How to Plan for Neivedyam & pooja


You should undergo fasting till you finish the pooja on Purattasi saturday. Making rice varieties for neivedyam is very easy . You can prepare pulikachal paste, ellu podi the previous day night. Soak chana for sundal, Urad dal for vada and coconut rice. Grind the urad dal and make the vada batter. Store in refrigerator till next day’s use. Keep a sombu ready & draw the sangu, chakkaram, namam using namakatti or rice flour paste and let it dry.

Wash the lamps and keep it ready by keeping sandal & kumkum dots.The next morning draw the Kolam. We usually draw Sangu, Chakkaram and Namam in the entrance and in pooja room. Take a pressure cooker and cook raw rice/pacharisi & dal for sweet pongal. In a small bowl or plate, take the soaked chana and cook along with rice and dal.

In another cooker, cook the raw rice for puliodharai, coconut rice, ellu sadam and curd rice. Remove 3/4th of the cooked rice and spread in a plate to cool down. Drizzle some sesame oil. Mash the remaining rice for curd rice. Add boiled milk, curd and salt to the mashed rice. Mix well and temper it. Temper and make the sundal. Grind the urad dal adding little water and make pepper vada batter if you din’t prepare the batter the previous night. Make 11 or 21 vada and tie in a thread to make vada malai. Do not use onions in this day for offering God. 

PLEASE WATCH THE RICE VARIETIES VIDEO GIVEN AT THE END OF THIS POST TO GET SOME IDEAS ON COOKING THIS LUNCH MENU.

Prepare maa vilakku by grinding grated jaggery & rice flour adding cardamom. Add ghee and make a ball. Put a dent, add ghee. Put a thread & kumkum dots. Keep it ready for pooja.



How to do pooja


You should do the pooja in the auspicious time of the day. Avoid Rahukalam and Yamagandam. So after preparing rice varieties, sundal, sweet pongal, vada malai and maa vilakku, arrange everything in a banana leaf or a plate and keep in front of silver pot/sombu. Place the fruits, betel leaves, nuts and coconut in a plate. Light the lamp. Keep tulsi water. Light maavilakku and do the neivedyam. Show dhoop & dheep. Finish the pooja and drink the tulsi water first. Then you can have the lunch. We enjoyed the variety rice with koozh vadam & potato chips.

Links for Neivedyam Recipes

Please refer the video below on how to cook these rice varieties easily. Please make tamarind rice instead of lemon rice for this festival.

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42 thoughts on “Purattasi Sani Thaligai, Date – How To Celebrate Purattasi Sani Pooja”

  8. harini

    hi chitra very informative post.though we dont do puja s on purattasi saturday happy to know about this.one small request for u. please search and find the recipe for tirupathi laddu.i am fed up of searching the net.i saw the laddu in a sweet shop called perambur srinivasa in chennai.though it is usually available in tirupathi as prasadham.i am die-hard fan for this laddu.please find and post this recipe.so that we can keep this also for neivedhyam .(though it is not a custom)

    Reply
  9. Unknown

    Hi Chitra, nice info. I live in US but still I do Pooja for puratasi and I don't take NV for the entire month. However, my periyappa my dad's own elder brother passed away on 21st Sep 16. My family members told me not to do Pooja until 31 days. I wanted to know if I can perform Pooja irrespective of this? Also I broke the rule of taking non veg as I had egg. Will this be a problem? Can u answer me pls? My email id Priya.lakshman09@gmail.com

    Reply
  12. Unknown

    Hi
    In my home town all are keeping full meals like dhal,rice and three varieties of vegeltables but here u mention variety rice is that k then ur sombu picture is not clearly seen can u put the picture

    Reply
    1. Chitra

      Hi, It depends on our practice. We can keep either full meals or rice varieties. You can follow your family's practice. It is good. For sombu, I have kept a box on top it to hold the vadai malai. I have also added a picture of our recent celebration. Hope it is clear. Thanks

      Reply
  13. Unknown

    Thank u , bt I m the beginner and this is my first time now I m in Singapore so we don't have tat much relation so only ,ur method is easy bt little confusion wil follow or not is that ur method will nop any type meals isn't k or there was any rule I m asking common

    Reply
  14. Unknown

    Hi
    Some of them put 5 banana leaves and many varieties and some of 1 simply regular meals some of them varieties rice , I know it depends upon our practice bt I don't exact procedure just I want to know correct procedure if u know detail about tat pls explain me

    Reply
  16. Unknown

    Hi Thanks Chitra
    I currently live in USA
    This is my first purattasi sani thaliyal pooka after marriage
    Ur blog really helped me a lot I simply followed ur steps
    Loads of thanks and keep posting 😊👍🏻

    Reply
  17. Unknown

    Thanku Chitra
    I currently live in USA
    Ur blog helped me a lot as this is my first purattasi thaliyal pooja after my marrriage
    U r doing a great job by posting all these with clear explanation appreciated 😊👍🏻👏🏻

    Reply
  18. Unknown

    Hi
    One general doubt during puratasi month we cook mushroom or not is mushroom is veg or non veg if cook means no prob ah

    Reply
  19. Unknown

    Thanks for the recipes we did exactly the same as your recipe and the pooja it was awesome and satisfying.but we did it this Saturday which is 4 th we already did the pooja . Is it good to do on 4th Saturday. Please advice.

    Reply
    1. Chitra

      Thanks. Glad this post helped you. Usually we don't do it in even number of weeks ie. 2 & 4. But its ok as you have done it unknowingly. Don't worry, any pooja done wholeheartedly is accepted by God 🙂 Next year you can celebrate in 1, 3 or 5th week.

      Reply
  20. Unknown

    Thanks for the detailed post on thaliyal procedure (which we generally don't find 🙂 We too do the same way except for the full lunch menu instead of variety rice. I found it very helpful before the pooja to cross check if I missed out anything.

    Reply
  21. K. Sridharan

    Thanks for SOPs.few things not known to me so far. Please let me know if 3rd Saturday falls during தேய்பிறை, can we still perform Puja. Sridharan (9710684630)

    Reply
  22. HemaMohan

    Thank you for the information. One doubt, should the sadam varieties be be made only with பச்சரிசி or normal cooking rice.

    Reply
  23. Unknown

    Dear Chitra, thank you for very informative blog post. Do you know by any chance why the odd Saturdays of Puratasi is more significant and chosen for perumal thaligal
    Thank you

    Reply
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