Festival Calendar

Karwa Chauth 2026

Wives fast till moonrise on Kartika Krishna Chaturthi.

Karwa Chauth 2025Karwa Chauth 2027
Karwa Chauth 2026 date
Thursday, 29 October 2026
Tithi: Kartika Krishna Chaturthi
Tithi window: 01:14 AM, Thursday, 29 October 2026 → 10:15 PM, Thursday, 29 October 2026
See the full panchang for Thursday, 29 October 2026
Karwa Chauth 2026
Starts in
Starting shortly

Today's Panchang

Kashi reference · computed live
Tithi
Navami
till 17:50
Nakshatra
Purva Ashadha
till 04:31
Yoga
Saubhagya
Karana
Kaulava
Sunrise
05:45
Sunset
17:57
Moon sign
Sagittarius
Sun sign
Virgo

Muhurat & timings

Kashi/IST · astronomically computed
  • Sankalp (sunrise)06:03
  • Moonrise · Kashi19:49City-specific moonrise coming soon
  • Fasting window (tithi)01:14 → 22:15
  • Parana (tithi ends)22:15

What's specific to Karwa Chauth 2026

Kashi / IST reference

In 2026, Karwa Chauth falls on a Thursday.

It is fixed to a lunar tithi, not a calendar date, so it lands somewhere different each Gregorian year:

Timings computed for this occurrence

  • Sankalp (sunrise)06:03
  • Moonrise · Kashi19:49
  • Tithi span01:14 → 22:15

Panchang on the day in 2026

  • NakshatraRohini
  • YogaParigha
  • KaranaBava
  • Moon signTaurus
  • Sunrise / sunset06:03 – 17:19
  • Rahu Kaal (avoid)13:06 – 14:30

Around Karwa Chauth 2026

Observances falling within a week of it in 2026 — the sequence is specific to this year:

See the full panchang for the day itself

Festival days follow the classical attribution rules — udaya (sunrise), pradosha (evening), nishita (midnight), madhyahna or aparahna vyapini as each festival prescribes — computed for Kashi/Varanasi (IST). Regional observance can differ by a day in some years.

Why Karwa Chauth is celebrated

Karwa Chauth falls on the Chaturthi of Krishna Paksha in Kartika. Married women keep a nirjala fast — without food or water — from before sunrise until the moon is sighted, for the long life of their husbands. It is among the strictest of the common vratas, and among the most precisely timed: it ends not at a clock hour but at moonrise, which shifts by city and by a few minutes each year.

The fast opens with sargi, a meal eaten before dawn, traditionally sent by the mother-in-law. It closes when the woman sees the moon through a sieve, then looks through the same sieve at her husband, and takes water from his hand.

The sieve is the detail that carries the meaning. The moon is looked at only through something that filters — and the husband is seen the same way, in the same light, immediately after.

Karwa Chauth puja vidhi — in brief

  1. Eat sargi before sunrise, then take the sankalpa of the nirjala fast.
  2. Through the day, keep the fast without water. Many spend the afternoon in the katha gathering.
  3. In the evening, set up the puja: an image of Gauri and Ganesha, a lit lamp, and the water-filled karwa with a lid.
  4. Listen to or read the Karwa Chauth katha before moonrise, passing the thali in a circle as it is told.
  5. When the moon rises, look at it through a sieve. Offer it arghya — water poured from the karwa.
  6. Turn and look at your husband through the same sieve.
  7. Take water and the first morsel from his hand. Then touch the feet of the elders and eat.

Essential puja samagri

  • A karva (spouted clay or brass pot)
  • A sieve (chalni)
  • A diya and water for the arghya
  • Sindoor and the sixteen shringar
  • Mehndi and bangles
  • The Karwa Chauth thali — roli, akshat, sweets
  • The vrat katha book
  • A chunri
  • Sargi and baya gifts from the mother-in-law
Read the Karwa Chauth puja vidhi, vrat rules and katha

Karwa Chauth — Frequently Asked Questions

When exactly is the Karwa Chauth fast broken?

Only after the moon has actually been sighted — not at a fixed clock time. Moonrise on Kartika Krishna Chaturthi differs by city, typically falling somewhere in the evening rather than at a standard hour.

Why is the moon viewed through a sieve?

The moon is seen through the sieve, and the husband is then seen through the same sieve immediately after, in the same light. Custom holds it also softens the direct gaze at the Chaturthi moon.

Can the fast be kept with water?

The traditional form is nirjala, without water. Those who are pregnant, unwell or elderly commonly keep a phalahar fast with fruit and water instead, which is accepted.

Other major festivals in 2026