In 2009, Akshay Tritiya falls on the 27th of April. In Sanskrit, "Akshay" means imperishable and ‘Tritiya’ means the third day. Akkha Teej means the same thing.
Astronomical Significance
Akshay Tritiya falls on the third day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of Hindu month of Vaishakha. Generally this day falls in the last fortnight of April or the first fortnight of May according to the western calendar. This particular day is considered as imperishable because both the sun and the moon are simultaneously at their most radiant. This happens only once a year. It is because of this that the entire day is considered auspicious.
Marriages in which the horoscopes of the bride and groom do not match are generally conducted on Akshay Tritiya because it is believed that the inauspiciousness due to the mismatch will be overcome by the purity of the day. It was for this region that one of the most high profile celebrity marriages was conducted on Akshay Tritiya in 2007. This was the marriage of film stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.
Historical Significance
Akshay Tritiya has significance in history because many notable events took place on this day. Veda Vyasa began dictating the epic Mahabharata to Ganesh on this day. Sudama the poor Brahmin came to visit his childhood friend, Krishna the king of Dwarka, on this day.
In addition, the exiled Pandavas received the Akshay Patra from Krishna on this day. The Akshay Patra was a bowl that would provide food without being depleted. This is one reason for the belief that anything acquired on this day would retain value forever. The river Ganga descended to earth on this day. And Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu was born on this day.
Many saints have their birthdays on Akshay Tritiya. They include Gautam Buddha, Basaveshwara, Ramanujacharya, Adi Shankaracharya and Swami Chinmayananda.
Ritualistic Celebration
The traditional way of celebrating Akshay Tritiya is performing special worship, bathing in holy rivers and performing acts of charity. The deities usually worshipped are Lakshmi, Ganesh, Kuber and Vishnu. It has been mentioned in the Puranas that performing a special worship known as Maha Vishnu pooja on Akshay Tritiya absolves a devotee of his sins and offers him salvation. This worship is performed with Tulasi leaves, flowers and rice grains. Donation of food and clothes to the needy on Akshay Tritiya are also considered as means of attaining salvation.
One very significant ritual concerns the four holy shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamnotri. These are high in the Himalayas and are closed during winter. They are reopened for worship every year on Akshay Tritiya.
Today, unfortunately Akshay Tritiya has become an occasion for accumulating wealth. People buy gold, silver, jewelry, stocks and even real estate on this day in the belief that their investment will never wane. Many jewelry suppliers bring out special Akshay Tritiya designs to encourage consumers to buy.
Akshay Tritiya in Vrindavan
Vrindavan is one of the holiest Hindu centers, the place where Krishna spent his childhood. One of the temples there is known as Banke Bihari, an epithet of Krishna. On Akshay Tritiya this temple offers two special "darshans" to the devotees that are not offered on any other day. One is the Charan Darshan in which devotees are allowed a glimpse of the lotus feet of the deity. The other is the Sarvang Darshan in which the deity is presented in a loin cloth. Thousands of devotees flock to the Banke Bihari Temple on Akshay Tritiya.
During this year's celebration, there emerged news reports of a woman having lost her life in the temple. It is not clear whether the death occurred due to suffocation or a stampede. But one thing is clear that over the years the number of devotees has grown significantly, whereas the space and other infrastructure has remained the same. This is true of most temples in India, where tramplings and other crowd-related deaths occur several times a year.
