Atla Tadde (Andhra Pradesh) 2027

Puja Vidhi

Who Should Do This Vrat?

• Unmarried Girls: Girls keep this nomu (vow) to be blessed with a good husband. It is above all a festival of young girls.
• Married Women: Married women observe it for the long life and health of their husbands, for a happy home, and for children.
• Invited Muttaiduvas: The eleven married women (muttaiduvas) who are invited to receive the Vayanam keep the day's fast as well.

When Should This Be Performed?

• Pre-Dawn Meal: Eaten before sunrise, while the stars are still out, before the fast begins.
• The Day's Fast: From that meal until the Moon is seen, the fast is kept without food or water. Children eat and play, while the elders fast through the day.
• Puja after Moonrise: The full puja is done after moonrise (Chandrodaya), once the Moon has been seen and you have bathed again. Moonrise differs from city to city, so check the moonrise time for your city on this page.
• Breaking the Fast: After the puja, the Katha and the Vayanam, once the muttaiduvas have been fed.

About the Festival

Atla Tadde is a much-loved festival of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, in which girls and women keep a day-long fast without water, play on swings, and worship Goddess Gauri after the Moon rises, offering her atlu (rice and urad dosas). It takes place on the Tritiya (third day) of the Krishna Paksha in the month of Ashwin.

The Vrat Katha (Story of Princess Sunama)

Once upon a time there lived a princess named Sunama. She heard the elders say that a girl who keeps the Atla Taddi nomu gets a healthy and handsome husband, so she kept it together with the girls of her age, not touching even water all day. Being a delicate royal child, she grew weak and fainted.

Her loving elder brothers learned that she must not eat until she had seen the risen Moon. They tied a mirror to a tamarind tree by the tank, set fire to a heap of arike straw some way off, and showed her the flame in the mirror as the Moon. Believing them, she ate before moonrise. When she came of age, her friends who had kept the nomu fully all got young husbands, but only old men were proposed for her, and in fear she ran away into the forest.

That night Goddess Parvati and Lord Parameshwara, wandering the world, met her. They told her that eating before moonrise had broken her nomu, and advised: "Keep the nomu fully and strictly this year, and you will surely get a good husband."

She went home and kept the nomu with great care. She married a handsome and healthy groom, and the two lived happily by the grace of Parvati and Parameshwara. Since that day, girls and women have kept the Atla Taddi nomu with care and eaten only after the Moon has risen.

Samagri List (Items Needed)

Gather these items beforehand, for the day begins before dawn and the puja is done after moonrise:

• Pre-Dawn Meal: Chaddi Annam (rice cooked the night before), Gongura Pachadi, thick curd (Gadda Perugu), and as your house prepares, Nuvvula Podi, Ullipaya Pulusu, Potlakaya (snake gourd) cooked with milk, Bendakaya-Chintakaya curry, and Muddapappu
• For the Day: Gorintaku (henna) for hands and feet, mango leaves for the door torans, Tambulam (betel), and a swing (Uyyala) tied to a tree
• Gauri and Ganapati: Turmeric to shape the two deities, a Kalasham filled with water, a plate of rice, Haldi, Kumkum, and flowers
• Toram and Worship: Thread for the eleven-knot Toram, Chamanti flowers, Tulasi, betel leaves, Dhupam, a Deepam, and Akshatalu
• Naivedya: Atlu made of rice flour and urad batter (eleven), Kudumulu of rice flour, Palatalikalu, and Pulihora
• For the Vayanam: Eleven atlu and one Kudumu for each muttaiduva, Tambulam, and a blouse piece, with a saree for those who can

Puja Vidhi (Step-by-Step Guide)

Follow these step-by-step instructions carefully to perform the ritual correctly:

Step 1: The Day Before

1. Apply Gorintaku (henna) to your hands and feet, and share it with the muttaiduvas.
2. Clean the house and tie mango-leaf torans on the doors.

Step 2: The Pre-Dawn Meal (Before Sunrise)

1. Wake while the stars are still out and take a head bath.
2. Eat a full, hearty meal of Chaddi Annam (rice cooked the night before) with Gongura Pachadi and thick curd, and, as your house prepares, Nuvvula Podi, Ullipaya Pulusu, snake gourd cooked with milk, Bendakaya-Chintakaya curry and Muddapappu.
3. Drink water before you leave the leaf, and take Tambulam.
4. From now on, keep the fast without food or water until the Moon is seen.

Step 3: The Day of the Fast

1. Girls and women form two groups and sing the festival song, "అట్లతద్దోయ్ ఆరట్లోయ్ ముద్దపప్పోయ్ మూడట్లోయ్" (Atlataddoy aaratloy muddapappoy moodatloy).
2. Play and swing on swings tied to trees. Swing eleven times and take Tambulam eleven times.
3. Children may eat at dawn and play; the elders keep the fast through the day.

Step 4: Preparing the Naivedya and the Puja Place

1. Make atlu from a batter of rice flour and urad (minumulu), and also Kudumulu, Palatalikalu and Pulihora for Gauri.
2. Set up a Mandapam in the east of the house and establish a Kalasham.
3. Shape Gauri and Ganapati from turmeric and place them in the Mandapam.
4. Keep a plate of rice with dimple-shaped Kudumulu, Haldi, Kumkum and flowers, which is treated as Kailasam.
5. Prepare the eleven-knot Toram with Chamanti flowers, Tulasi and betel leaves.

Step 5: Worship after Moonrise (After Moonrise)

1. Once the Moon has risen and you have seen it (Chandra Darshan), bathe again, and invite the eleven muttaiduvas, who have fasted through the day too.
2. Worship Ganapati first, and then Gauri, reciting the Lalita Sahasranamam and the Gauri Ashtottaram.
3. Tie the Toram on your hand.
4. Read or listen to the Atla Taddi Katha.

Step 6: Naivedya and Vayanam

1. Offer eleven atlu to Gauri as Naivedya, along with the Kudumulu, Palatalikalu and Pulihora.
2. Give the Vayanam to each of the eleven muttaiduvas: eleven atlu and one Kudumu from Gauri's plate, with Tambulam, and a blouse piece (a saree, if you can).
3. Both women hold the Vayanam in the end of the saree (Kongu). The giver says three times "ఇస్తినమ్మ వాయనం" (I have given the Vayanam), and the receiver says three times "పుచ్చుకుంటినమ్మ వాయనం" (I have taken the Vayanam). The giver then asks "నా వాయనం అందుకున్న సఖి ఎవరు" (Who is the friend who has received my Vayanam?), and the receiver replies "నేను గౌరీపార్వతిని" (I am Gauri Parvati).
4. The atlu of the Vayanam are eaten only by the woman who receives them or by her family, and are never given on to others.

Step 7: Akshatalu and Breaking the Fast

1. Put Akshatalu (unbroken rice grains) on your own head.
2. Feed the muttaiduvas first.
3. Then break your fast with a small piece of atlu, or with the atlu offered to Gauri as Prasad, and eat your meal.

Step 8: Evening Customs and Completing the Nomu

1. Where the custom is kept, worship the cow in the evening, and then float lamps in the tanks and canals.
2. In the Godavari delta, Gauri is also worshipped at canals, tanks and the ghats of the Godavari, where Gangamma is worshipped too and lamps are lit for Gauri.
3. Keep the nomu for ten years, and in the following year complete it with the Udyapana.
4. For the Udyapana, give each of ten muttaiduvas a Nallapusalu chain, Lakka Jollu (lac bangles), a blouse piece, Dakshina, Tambulam and ten atlu, feed them, and eat only after their blessing.