Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 4 September 2027
- Wednesday, 23 August 2028
- Tuesday, 11 September 2029
Where Ganesh Chaturthi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 4 Sep
- 2028: 23 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 11 Sep, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The birthday of Ganesha, and since Tilak made it a public festival in 1893 the great street festival of Maharashtra. A clay idol is installed at home or in a pandal with the pranapratishtha, worshipped for a day, or for five, seven or ten, and carried to the water at the end with the cry that asks him to come again next year.
- Deity
- Ganesha, Gauri
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Parvati shaped a boy from the turmeric paste of her own bath and set him to guard her door; Shiva, not knowing him, struck off his head, and when the boy was given the head of an elephant Shiva made him lord of the ganas and the one worshipped first, before any god and any work. The moon laughed at the round-bellied god when he fell from his mouse that night and was cursed, so that anyone who sees it on this Chaturthi takes on a false blame, which is why the Hindi belt also calls the day Kalank Chauth. In the north the day was long a quiet household puja, and the ten-day pandal festival spread up from Maharashtra over the last few decades, so Delhi, Indore and Lucknow now keep both. Families bring Ganesha home as a guest for as many days as they can look after him properly, because the vighnaharta who removes obstacles is the one they will call on first for every beginning in the year.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Ganesh Chaturthi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a clay Ganesha, unpainted or eco-friendly
- a wooden chauki with a red or yellow cloth
- a kalash, mango leaves and a coconut
- durva grass in bunches
- red gudhal flowers and a garland
- shami and bel leaves
- sindoor, roli, akshat and a janeu
- twenty-one modak or laddoos
- bananas and paan
- a ghee lamp, camphor and incense
- the Ganapati Atharvashirsha
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
The north offers motichoor and besan laddoos as readily as modak, with bananas and panchmeva; many homes now make ukadiche modak of steamed rice flour with coconut and jaggery, or fried atte ke modak where steaming is not the custom. Mithila's families in Bihar cook dahi, pua, pedakiya and fruit for the Chaurchan offering to the moon that evening. Maharashtra's naivedya is ukadiche modak with puran poli, and the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil homes make undrallu, kadubu and kozhukattai.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 4 September 2027 at Chennai
Madhyahna, midday, is the hour of the birth, so the sthapana and the first puja are at midday; the calendar takes the day on which Shukla Chaturthi runs at madhyahna.
The main rite. Madhyahna, the middle of the day, while Shukla Chaturthi runs: the pranapratishtha and the first full puja are done then, and the moon is not looked at that night. The visarjan follows after a day and a half, or three, five, seven or ten days, by family custom.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Madhyahna | 12:08 | midday, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset |
Sunrise 05:58, sunset 18:18, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Chaturthi from previous day 14:20 until 12:26 | then Shukla Panchami until next day 11:18 |
| Nakshatra | Chitra until 14:50 | then Swati until next day 14:30 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:03 to 10:35 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:41 to 15:13 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 05:58 to 07:30 (1 h 33 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:43 to 12:33 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 09:07 | moonset 20:58 |
For Saturday, 4 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A fast until the midday puja for those who keep it. Modak, twenty-one of them, and durva grass are the offering. The moon is not looked at that night.
What is avoided
Do not look at the moon on the Chaturthi night; a glimpse by accident is answered by hearing the Syamantaka story. Onion, garlic, meat and alcohol stay out of the house while he is in it, and plaster or painted idols that will not dissolve in the water are best avoided.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Maharashtra and the Telugu country keep it publicly; Karnataka keeps Gauri Habba the day before; Tamil Nadu and Kerala keep it at home. Traditions vary on the day of immersion, from the same evening to the eleventh day.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil homes keep Vinayagar Chaturthi with a small clay Pillaiyar, kozhukattai and a quiet immersion, and street idols have grown common.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps Vinayaka Chaturthi at the Ganapati temples with the ashtadravya homam and unniyappam, and more quietly at home.
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps Vinayaka Chavithi with the twenty-one patri, the Vratha Katha and the great Khairatabad idol in Hyderabad.
- Kannada
- Karnataka brings Gauri home the day before at Gauri Habba, and Ganesha follows as her son, with kadubu and modaka.
- North India (the dates above)
- The Hindi belt keeps it more at home than in the street, as Ganesh Chaturthi or Kalank Chauth, though Delhi, Lucknow, Indore and Bhopal now raise pandals; Mithila in Bihar keeps Chaurchan the same evening, worshipping the moon with curd and sweets to be rid of the day's blame.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra's Ganeshotsav is the largest in India, from the Lalbaug and Dagdusheth pandals to the family Ganpati kept for a day and a half, with ukadiche modak and the Sukhkarta arti.
- Tulu Nadu
- Tulu Nadu keeps it as Chauti, with the chaudi of clay made at home and taken to the water on the days that follow.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
गणेश चतुर्थी की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंGanesh Chaturthi ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Mumbai, Maharashtra
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Angarki Chaturthi and Ganesh Chaturthi are its days
- Trinetra Ganesh Temple, Ranthambore 1,493 kmSawai Madhopur, Rajasthan
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Ganesh Chaturthi brings a great fair.
Temples of Ganesha and Gauri near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Devi Karumariamman in her three forms
- Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu · Kamakshi Devi seated in padmasana with the Sri Chakra
- Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu · Adhiparasakthi as the swayambhu in the anthill
1 more temple in this gazetteer is recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.