Mahamaham Kumbakonam
An independent English guide for pilgrims planning for the next Mahamaham. Designed in Figma, built with Claude Code, with a RAG assistant named Maha.
[01. What I designed]
I defined the product, designed it in Figma and illustrated the Maha mascot.
[02. What I built]
I built, tested and deployed it with Claude Code: 400+ unit tests and 90+ end-to-end tests.
[03. Where AI helped]
Maha is a RAG-based assistant that answers only from verified content, cites its sources and stays on topic.
Act 1
Why I built it
Mahamaham comes to Kumbakonam once every 12 years. Many pilgrims ask the same three things, and the answers were scattered across government notices, news articles and old forum threads.
When is it?
A festival calendar based on the Tamil calendar and astronomical data.
How do I get there?
An interactive map with the distance and route to Kumbakonam.
Which temples should I visit?
Temples of Kumbakonam, filtered by Shiva, Vishnu, in Kumbakonam and nearby.
4.5M
devotees took part in the 2016 festival
45 lakh, per Dinamani as cited on Wikipedia's 2016 Mahamaham page. The page itself notes the count may not match the festival dates. So I built one place for the answers.
It is an independent guide and says so plainly: it is not the official government website. The next festival is expected in March 2028, with dates to be confirmed by the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department.
Act 2
What I built
Each question is answered by one part of the product.
Maha, the festival guide
A RAG-based assistant that answers only from verified content, cites its sources and stays on topic. It also reminds people to verify timings with official sources.
| Rule | What Maha does |
|---|---|
| Answers from | Verified content only |
| Shows | Its sources |
| Stays | On topic |
Distance and route, privately
An interactive map shows the distance and route to Kumbakonam. Location is optional: it is used only to work out the distance, rounded to about 1 km before it leaves the device, and never stored.
Temples you can filter
29 temples to browse: the 12 Shiva and 5 Vishnu temples of Mahamaham, other temples in Kumbakonam, and the great temples in the villages around the town. Search by name.
- All 29
- Shiva 12
- Vishnu 5
- In Kumbakonam 1
- Nearby 11
A calendar that says how sure it is
Temple festival dates are calculated from the Tamil calendar for Kumbakonam, and each entry is labelled: calculated, or confirmed once checked against an official source. Local news headlines sit beside it and link to the publisher.
- Calculated date
- Confirmed
- Local news
Act 3
Fast on basic phones
It had to work on basic phones and weak signals, with no login and no tracking.
96–99
Lighthouse mobile
No login, no tracking.
400+
unit tests
Plus 90+ end-to-end tests.
Act 4
Five hats, one product
As a UX designer I usually hand off at the design stage. This time I took the whole journey.
- PM
- Defined the product
- UX designer
- Designed it in Figma
- Illustrator
- Illustrated the Maha mascot
- Prompt engineer
- Directed Claude Code
- Developer
- Built, tested and deployed it with Claude Code
From an idea to a live product, on my own, with an AI pair-builder.