Tripuri Purnima: Shiva destroys Tripurasura; holy baths, Dev Deepawali, Pushkar Mela and Gurpurab

Kartika Purnima, the full moon of Kartika, is regarded as the holiest full moon of the Hindu year and brings together many traditions. For Shaivas it is Tripuri or Tripurari Purnima, the day Shiva destroyed the three flying cities of the asura Tripurasura with a single arrow, celebrated by the gods as Dev Deepawali. For Vaishnavas it is the day Vishnu took his first avatar, Matsya, the fish, to save Manu and the Vedas from the great flood, and the culmination of the Kartika month, Krishna's Damodara month, with the Raas Purnima in Braj and Odisha. It is also said to be the birthday of Vrinda (Tulsi) and of Kartikeya. A holy bath (Kartik snan) in the Ganga, at Pushkar, or in any sacred water at dawn on this day is said to equal a hundred Ashvamedha sacrifices, and deepdaan — offering lamps at rivers and temples — is the defining ritual. The day includes the Pushkar Camel Fair, Karthigai Deepam in Tamil Nadu, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Boita Bandana in Odisha, the Jain Shatrunjaya yatra at Palitana, and the Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar. Charity of food, cloth, lamps and cows on Kartika Purnima is said to bear endless fruit.

Many fast until the evening deepdaan or moonrise.