Sankranti, Sankraman
Sankranti is celebrated on sankraman day i.e. when Sun transits from one zodiac to the next. According to surya siddhanta, Vedic hindu calender consists 12 months. There are 12 sankrati days in a year and each Sankranti day marks the beginning of the new month in Hindu Solar Calendar.
All twelve Sankranti(s) in the year are considered highly auspicious for performing ancesteral rituals (Shraddha and Tarpanam) and daana-punya activities. Only particular time duration before or after each Sankranti moment is considered auspicious for Sankranti related activities.
Tula Sankranti, Tula Sankraman
Tula Sankranti is observed when the sun moves from Kanya Rashi (Virgo) to Tula Rashi (Libra). This day marks the start of solar calender’s new month and is known as Thulam month in Malayalam, Aippasi in Tamil, Kartik in Bangali.
Tula Sankranti is also called as Tula Sankraman, Garbhana Sankranti and Kaveri Sankramana in various parts of India. For Tula Sankranti fifteen Ghatis ( 1 day = 60 Ghatis) before and after the Sankranti moment is considered auspicious for all Dan-Punya activities. Performing Sankramana Snan is pitru tarpan and shradha are the important rituals of this day.
Garbhana Sankranti
In Odisha, Tula Sankranti is observed as Garbhana Sankranti. This day is celebrated as a farmers festival. By this time of the year, rice plants grow up to show the ears of corns in their womb. This is compared to pregnancy of a woman and hence the name of this festival is ‘Garbhana Sankranti’.
Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped on this day with corns from the fields. People believe that, by doing this the yielding will be made high by the goddess. Special recipes made on this day and offered to Goddess Lakshmi. The whole family take meal together believe that there won’t be scarcity of food.
Kaveri Sankramana
In Karnataka, Tula Sankranti day is celebrated as Kaveri Sankramana. As the name suggests this festival is related to river kaveri and celebrated at its source at Talakaveri in Coorg (Kodagu).
On this day when Sun enters into Tula Rashi, holy water gushes from Brahma Kundike, fills the larger holy tank (at Talakaveri) and thousands of devotees gather there to dip in this holy water, also known as ‘tirtha’. Devotees also fill this tirtha in bottles preserve it in their homes. Women also observe Kaveri vrat on this day.