Festival Ganga, Shiva, Bhagiratha
Ganga Dussehra
The tenth day of the bright fortnight of Jyeshtha, the day the Ganga came down from heaven into Shiva's hair and then to the plains.
Ganga Dussehra 2027 falls on Sunday, 13 June, computed for Chennai.
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
- Sunday, 13 June 2027
- Friday, 2 June 2028
- Thursday, 21 June 2029
Where Ganga Dussehra falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 13 Jun
- 2028: 2 Jun, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 21 Jun, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The tenth day of the bright fortnight of Jyeshtha, the day the Ganga came down from heaven into Shiva's hair and then to the plains. Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Garhmukteshwar and Rishikesh fill with bathers; ten of everything is the measure of the day, since the bath is held to wash away ten kinds of sin.
- Deity
- Ganga, Shiva, Bhagiratha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
King Bhagiratha kept the long penance that brought the Ganga down, so that her water could touch the ashes of his sixty thousand forefathers, the sons of Sagara burnt by the sage Kapila's glance, and Shiva caught her in his matted hair so that her fall would not split the earth. The name is dasha hara, the taker of ten, and the ten sins are counted as three of the body, four of speech and three of the mind, which is why ten dips, ten lamps and ten gifts are the measure. For north Indian families the Ganga is the river that carries their dead to the ancestors, so the day is a thanksgiving to her as much as a bath. In many ghat towns the festival runs for ten days from the Pratipada, closing on the Dashami with the largest arti of the year.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Ganga Dussehra: how it is kept
Keep ready
- Gangajal
- a copper lota for the arghya
- black til
- flowers and a chunri for Ganga Maiya
- ten lamps of ghee or oil
- leaf cups (dona) for the floating lamps
- ten kinds of fruit
- a clay water pot and a hand fan for daan
- sattu and gur
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The foods of the hottest week: sattu, bel ka sharbat, watermelon, kharbooja, mango and cucumber, with puri and a plain sabzi after the bath; Varanasi and Prayagraj eat the first of the langda mangoes. The daan plate carries the same fruit with sattu and sugar.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 13 June 2027 at Chennai
Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami at sunrise; the bath and the deep daan are in the morning, and the arti at the ghat in the evening.
The main rite. Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami holding the sunrise; the dips are taken at dawn, and the lamps are floated at the evening Ganga arti. Almanacs note the years in which Hasta nakshatra runs with it, as the account of the descent has it.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:42 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:42, sunset 18:36, 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 Dasami from 02:45 until next day 02:13 | then Shukla Ekadasi until 2 days later, 02:08 |
| Nakshatra | Hasta until 17:00 | then Chitra until next day 17:28 |
| Rahu kaal | 16:59 to 18:36 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 12:09 to 13:46 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 15:22 to 16:59 (1 h 37 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:43 to 12:35 (0 h 52 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 13:45 | moonset next day 01:44 |
For Sunday, 13 June 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is required; those who cannot reach the river keep a partial fast and pour Ganga water at home.
What is avoided
Soap and oil are not used in the river, clothes are not washed in it and nothing, not even flowers in plastic, is left to foul it. Meat, alcohol and quarrels are avoided, since the day is kept for washing away wrongs of speech as well as of the body.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
A day of the Ganga plain above all, from Uttarakhand to Bihar. The south has no counterpart, though the Kaveri gets the same kind of honour at Aadi Perukku.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Haridwar's Har ki Pauri, Varanasi's Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Sangam at Prayagraj and Garhmukteshwar take the largest crowds, and every Ganga town from Rishikesh to Patna holds its arti.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps the same Dashami as Dashahara, with a Ganga puja and a bath in the Hooghly, and in some districts it opens the season of the snake goddess Manasa.
- Himachal · Uttarakhand
- Uttarakhand keeps it as the day the Ganga came down and reached Haridwar, with the bath at Har ki Pauri and at the Rishikesh ghats and the aarti at dusk. In the Garhwali villages a printed Dasahar patra of protective verses is pasted on the house door that morning and left there for the year.
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
गंगा दशहरा की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंGanga Dussehra ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Triveni Sangam, Prayagraj 1,383 kmUttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Prayagraj, and it is a temple of Ganga. Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Garhmukteshwar and Rishikesh fill with bathers
- Uttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Varanasi, and it is a temple of Ganga. Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Garhmukteshwar and Rishikesh fill with bathers
- Neelkanth Mahadev Temple 1,901 kmRishikesh, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand
The entry for this day names Rishikesh, and it is a temple of Shiva. Haridwar, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Garhmukteshwar and Rishikesh fill with bathers
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.
- Om Namah Shivaya (Panchakshara)
- Surya gayatri
- Pitru tarpanam sankalpam
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
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.