Ayyappā Maṇḍala Pūjā 2098: Pomona, California

Ayyappā Maṇḍala Pūjā (the Maṇḍala Kālam) is the 41-day vratam observed by devotees of Lord Ayyappā of Śabarimala, beginning on the day the Sun enters Vṛścika rāśi (the start of the Tamil month of Kārttikai) and continuing for 41 days.

Devotees who take up the vratam wear a black or blue mālā (the Ayyappā mālā), observe strict celibacy and dietary discipline, sleep on the floor, and address one another as Ayyappā or Svāmī for the duration. The vratam builds toward pilgrimage to the Śabarimala temple, culminating in the Makara Saṅkrānti/Makara Vilakku season that follows.

Because the vratam is anchored to the Sun's own transit, its start date is a solar (not lunar) event: the same civil-day attribution used throughout this site for any Saṅkrānti: if the Sun enters Vṛścika before that day's sunset, that day itself is the start; if the transit happens after sunset, the vratam begins the following day instead.