Vratam Gauri, Shiva, Chandra, Karwa Mata
Karwa Chauth
The fourth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika in the purnimanta reckoning, kept by married women of the north and west for their husbands' long life.
Karwa Chauth 2027 falls on Tuesday, 19 October, 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
- Tuesday, 19 October 2027
- Saturday, 7 October 2028
- Friday, 26 October 2029
Where Karwa Chauth falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 19 Oct
- 2028: 7 Oct, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 26 Oct, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The fourth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika in the purnimanta reckoning, kept by married women of the north and west for their husbands' long life. The sargi, a meal sent by the mother-in-law, is eaten before dawn; the day is passed without food or water; at night the moon is looked at through a sieve, then the husband, and he gives the first sip of water.
- Deity
- Gauri, Shiva, Chandra, Karwa Mata
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
The story told in the evening is of Veeravati, the only sister of seven brothers, who fainted with thirst on her first Karwa Chauth; her brothers lit a fire behind the trees and held up a sieve so that she took its glow for the moon, she broke her fast, and word came that her husband had died. She sat by him for a year, kept every Chauth that came, and on the next Karwa Chauth the goddess gave him back to her, which is why the moon is looked for with such care and seen through a sieve of the woman's own. Another telling is of Karwa, a wife who bound with cotton thread the crocodile that had seized her husband and would not let Yama take him, and the karwa, the spouted clay pot of water and grain at the centre of the puja, carries her name. Some elders add that the day was once a bond between women too: a bride married into a far village took a woman there as her sister for life, and the karwas they exchanged kept the friendship. It falls as the wheat is sown, and the grain in the karwa is part of the old prayer for a full house.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Karwa Chauth: how it is kept
Keep ready
- two clay or brass karwas with lids
- a sieve (channi)
- a thali with roli, rice, a ghee lamp, sweets and mathri
- the Karwa Chauth picture, or clay for the Gauri image
- a few grains of wheat for the katha
- the sargi: pheni, mathri, fruit and dry fruit
- the baya for the mother-in-law
- red clothes, bangles, sindoor, bindi and mehndi
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
The sargi is eaten before dawn: pheni or seviyan soaked in sweetened milk, mathri, dry fruit, fruit and a sweet, with a paratha in some Punjabi homes, to carry the body through a day without water. The baya thali carries mathri, meethi mathri and sweets. The fast is broken with water and a sweet from the husband's hand, and the dinner that follows is a festive one, puri or paratha, dal, kadhi, a paneer dish and halwa or kheer, cooked without onion and garlic in many homes.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 19 October 2027 at Chennai
The Chaturthi running at the evening moonrise, which is computed for the place; the fast is broken when the moon is seen through the sieve.
The main rite. The fast runs from before sunrise until the moon rises on the Chaturthi of the dark fortnight of Kartik; the katha is heard in the late afternoon, and the fast is broken only once the moon itself has been seen.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Moonrise | 20:49 | the Moon rising at this place, the hour a moonrise vratam is broken |
Sunrise 06:00, sunset 17:48, 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 | Krishna Chaturthi from previous day 17:52 until 16:43 | then Krishna Panchami until next day 15:19 |
| Nakshatra | Rohini until 23:16 | then Mrigashira until next day 22:30 |
| Rahu kaal | 14:51 to 16:19 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 08:57 to 10:25 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 11:54 to 13:22 (1 h 29 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:17 (0 h 47 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 20:49 | moonset next day 10:14 |
For Tuesday, 19 October 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Nothing at all from before sunrise until the moon is seen, water included, in the strict form. The fast is broken with water and a sweet from the husband's hand.
What is avoided
Nothing is eaten or drunk from dawn until the moon is seen, in the strict form, and the women keeping it do not sleep through the afternoon. Needles, scissors and knives for sewing and cutting are put away for the day, and black and white are not worn.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh keep it; the Telugu counterpart is Atla Taddi a fortnight earlier, and the far south keeps neither.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan keep it, the katha heard over grains of wheat in the courtyard; in some families unmarried girls keep it too and break the fast at the sight of the stars rather than the moon.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps it as Karva Chauth, with the sargi before dawn and the ring of women passing the thalis in the afternoon.
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
करवा चौथ की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंKarwa Chauth ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Gauri and Shiva 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 · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
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.