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
- Monday, 25 January 2027
- Sunday, 13 February 2028
- Wednesday, 3 January 2029
Where Sankashti Chaturthi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 25 Jan
- 2028: 13 Feb, 19 days later
- 2029: 3 Jan, 41 days earlier
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The fourth day of the dark fortnight in the northern and Maharashtrian reckoning, kept monthly for Ganesha to take away difficulty. The fast is broken at moonrise, after the moon is shown an arghya; Maharashtra prints the exact moonrise time for each city because the whole household waits on it. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Angarki, and the temples at Pune and Mumbai are full.
- Deity
- Ganesha
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
Each of the twelve Sankashtis of the year names Ganesha by a different form and has its own vrat katha, so the reading of the evening changes month by month even though the rite does not. In the Hindi belt it is above all a mothers' fast, kept for the safety of the children, and the Magha one, Sakat Chauth, is kept in nearly every house, with sesame and jaggery at the centre. The arghya is the hinge of the vrat: the fast is not broken at an hour but by a sight, and the household waits on the terrace, looking east, until someone calls out that the moon is up. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Angarki, which the story ties to the penance Mangal, the son of the Earth, made to Ganesha.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Sankashti Chaturthi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- an image or picture of Ganesh
- a chowki and a red cloth
- durva grass, twenty-one blades
- red flowers and sindoor
- modak or laddoos
- sesame and jaggery in Magha
- a copper lota
- milk, akshat and sandal for the arghya
- the Sankashti vrat katha
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Maharashtra offers ukadiche modak, steamed rice-flour shells filled with coconut and jaggery, and those who allow themselves a fasting meal take sabudana khichdi before the moon. The north offers besan or motichoor laddoos, and Sakat Chauth in Magha has tilkut and til laddoos, with sweet potato eaten by the fasting mothers in many Uttar Pradesh homes.
The hour
Clock times for Monday, 25 January 2027 at Chennai
The Chaturthi running at the evening MOONRISE fixes the day, and the moonrise is computed for the place; the fast is broken after the moon is seen, two or three hours into the night.
The main rite. The Krishna Chaturthi running at sunset fixes the day. The puja and the katha are in the evening, and the fast is broken only after the moon has risen and been given arghya, an hour or two into the night.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Moonrise | 21:03 | the Moon rising at this place, the hour a moonrise vratam is broken |
Sunrise 06:36, sunset 18:07, 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 Thritiyai from previous day 10:58 until 08:11 | then Krishna Chaturthi until next day 06:01 |
| Nakshatra | Purva Phalguni until next day 01:03 | then Uttara Phalguni until 2 days later, 00:07 |
| Rahu kaal | 08:02 to 09:29 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 10:55 to 12:21 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 13:48 to 15:14 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:58 to 12:44 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 21:03 | moonset next day 09:26 |
For Monday, 25 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Nothing, or only fruit and water, until the moonrise; the meal after is modak, sabudana khichdi and coconut.
What is avoided
Nothing is eaten before the arghya, and the strict take no water either. Tulsi is not offered to Ganesh, and meat, onion and garlic stay out of the house on the day.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The southern name is Sankatahara Chaturthi and the day is the same. Traditions vary on whether the fast allows water during the day.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- In the Hindi belt it is kept by mothers for their children, and Sakat Chauth in Magha is its great day; the Chauth Mata temple at Chauth ka Barwara in Rajasthan draws the women of the state on the Chauths, and Karwa Chauth is the Kartika one kept by wives.
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.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Mumbai, Maharashtra
The entry for this day names Mumbai. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Angarki, and the temples at Pune and Mumbai are full.
Temples of Ganesha 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.
- Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh · Varasiddhi Vinayaka, self-manifest in the well and said to be growing
- Manakula Vinayagar Temple 137 kmPuducherry · Manakula Vinayagar, who would not leave the shore
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu · Swetha Vinayagar, the white Ganesha of sea foam, with Kapardeeswarar
- Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu · Uchi Pillayar (Ganapathi) on the summit, with Thayumanavar below
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.