Karwa Chauth Vratam 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 name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Karwa Chauth
- हिन्दी
- करवा चौथ
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: 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
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
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.
The hour
The rule in words
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 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.
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.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. 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.