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Skanda Shashthi · puja vidhi

How to do the Skanda Shashthi puja at home

Six days of vrat and the Kanda Sashti Kavasam for Lord Murugan, ending in the Soorasamharam on the sixth evening. About 60 minutes.

Every step is named here and the first 3 are given whole. The whole puja, every mantra with its meaning, is in the Kalava app.

Form
Kanda Sashti virathamSkanda Shashti vratham
Puja
CompleteEssential

Every offering one by one, the second Kavasam, Lord Murugan invited into a kalash at dusk, the temple each day and food given on the seventh morning. About an hour in the morning.

Skanda Shashthi

The morning puja

7:17 AM–9:17 AM · Columbus

After a bath before sunrise: the diya before Lord Murugan's picture, the offerings, the naivedya and the Kanda Sashti Kavasam.

  1. The morning puja

    The bath before sunrise

    1. Rise early and bathe before sunrise.
    2. Put on clean clothes, washed and dried.
    3. Apply vibhuti, chandan or kumkum to your forehead, as your house does.

    Every one of the six days begins this way. In Kerala no food is taken until after the bath and the chandan.

    The bath before sunrise

  2. The morning puja

    Lord Murugan's picture on the kolam

    1. Wash the place of the puja and draw a kolam there.
    2. Place Lord Murugan's picture — or a small murti, with a Vel beside it — with care on the kolam.
    3. Offer a garland of fresh flowers to Murugan.
    Lord Murugan's picture on the kolam

  3. The morning puja

    The diya

    1. Place a diya of ghee — or of gingelly oil — before Murugan's picture.
    2. Light it, and let the flame settle.
    3. Fold your hands for the verse.
    Deepa · 2 lines
    दीपज्योतिः परब्रह्म दीपज्योतिर्जनार्दनः।dīpajyotiḥ parabrahma dīpajyotirjanārdanaḥ.The flame of the diya is the Supreme Brahman; the flame of the diya is Janardana.
    दीपो हरतु मे पापं दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते॥dīpo haratu me pāpaṁ dīpajyotirnamo'stu te.May the diya take away my wrongs. O flame of the diya, I bow to You.
    The diya
    1. Achaman
    2. The kuladeivam, and Ganesh ji first
    3. The sankalp for the six days
    4. Avahan: inviting Lord Murugan
    5. A seat, and water
    6. Chandan, turmeric and kumkum
    7. Flowers
    8. Dhoop and the diya
    9. Naivedya
    10. The Kanda Sashti Kavasam
    11. The Kavasam on the Sashti
    12. The shatkona kolam
    13. The Kandar Kalivenba
    14. The Skanda Guru Kavasam
    15. Om Saravanabhava
    16. Keep the day

    These 16 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The evening puja

3:16 PM–8:04 PM · Columbus

At dusk: the diya lit again, the Kavasam said again, the naivedya and the aarti. On the sixth day, the Soorasamharam.

    1. The Soorasamharam
    2. The bath after the Soorasamharam
    3. The diya at dusk
    4. Six diyas before Lord Murugan
    5. Lord Murugan invited into the kalash
    6. The Kavasam at dusk
    7. The evening naivedya
    8. The naivedya of the Sashti
    9. The aarti
    10. The katha of the six days
    11. Kshama prarthana
    12. A Murugan temple
    13. Tonight, or the seventh morning

    These 13 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The seventh morning · parana

7:18 AM–9:18 AM · Columbus

A bath, darshan of Lord Murugan, food given to others, and then the vrat is complete. In the temples it is the day of Thirukalyanam.

    1. The bath, and darshan
    2. Food given first
    3. The parana

    These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The samagri list