Sankashti Chaturthi Vratam The fourth day of the dark fortnight in the northern and Maharashtrian reckoning, kept monthly for Ganesha to take away difficulty.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Sankashti Chaturthi
- हिन्दी
- संकष्टी चतुर्थी
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 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.
The hour
The rule in words
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 fast
Nothing, or only fruit and water, until the moonrise; the meal after is modak, sabudana khichdi and coconut.
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.
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.