Karwa Chauth
Also called Karva Chauth, Karak Chaturthi
When
Thursday, 29 October 2026 in 63 days
New Delhi ยท change location
at sunrise. This observance is governed by moonrise, not by the sunrise tithi โ which is why the tithi named here is often not the one the festival is named for.
See the complete panchang for that day โ
Governed by moonrise
Why this date?
Chaturthi of the Krishna Paksha of Kartika (purnimanta). The fast is broken at MOONRISE, which means the ending time is genuinely local โ the moon rises more than half an hour apart across north India on the same evening, and a single published time for the whole country is wrong for almost everyone reading it.
- Computed by the panchanga engine for your location
- Follows a written selection rule, not a copied list
- The governing period is stated, and the rule is applied to it
- The written guide has not yet been reviewed by a named scholar
Dates come from the calculation engine and are independent of the written guide. How we calculate โ
Dates in the coming years
- Thursday, 29 October 2026 in 63 days
- Monday, 18 October 2027 in 417 days
- Saturday, 7 October 2028 in 772 days
- Friday, 26 October 2029 in 1156 days
- Tuesday, 15 October 2030 in 1510 days
Published to 2030. Later years appear as the dataset is extended and validated.
What In short
A day-long fast without food or water, kept by married women for their husband's long life, broken after sighting the moon through a sieve.
- Deity: Gauri; Chandra
Why The reason behind it
The vrata-katha of Veeravati is the story told: a sister tricked into breaking her fast early, and the year she spent undoing it. Read plainly, the observance is a north Indian marriage rite with a strong community element โ the sargi from the mother-in-law before dawn, and the evening gathering to hear the katha.
Traditional basis
Regional vrata-katha tradition โ The Veeravati narrative is the recited basis; it is a puranic-style katha rather than a text with a single fixed recension.
Chaturthi vrata literature โ Places the observance within the wider Chaturthi-vrata family associated with Gauri and Ganesha.
How At home, step by step
- Eat the sargi before dawn โ the pre-dawn meal sent by the mother-in-law.
- Keep the nirjala fast through the day: no food and no water.
- In the evening, gather to hear the Karwa Chauth katha, passing the thali in the traditional circle.
- At moonrise, view the moon through a sieve, then look at the husband through it.
- Offer arghya to the moon; the husband gives the first water and the first morsel.
What you'll need
- A karwa (earthen pot with a spout) and its lid
- A sieve (chhalni)
- Roli, rice, a ghee lamp
- The sargi thali items
- Water for arghya
Fasting and breaking the fast
Nirjala โ without food or water โ from before dawn until moonrise, which is one of the longest household fasts in common practice. It is worth saying plainly: this is a demanding fast, and pregnancy, diabetes, medication schedules and illness are ordinary and sufficient reasons to modify or skip it. This is not medical advice; ask a doctor about your own circumstances.
Fasting guidance here describes traditional practice. It is not medical advice โ if you are pregnant, diabetic, on medication or unwell, ask a doctor about your own circumstances.
Personal In your region
- North India yours
The dominant form; the moonrise time is the single most-searched fact of the day. - Punjab (Punjabi)
The sargi and the evening thali-passing circle are most elaborate here. - Maharashtra (Marathi)
Kept in a lighter form, closer to the Sankashti Chaturthi observance of the same tithi.
For children
Married women don't eat or drink anything all day, and they wait for the moon to come out before they can. Then they look at it through a little sieve.
Common questions
- Why does every website show a different moonrise time?
- Because moonrise is genuinely local and most sites publish one city's time for the whole country. Ours is computed for the location you have set โ change it in Settings and the time changes with it.
This guide has not yet been reviewed by a named scholar or practising priest. The dates and times on this page come from the calculation engine and are independent of it; the explanatory text is editorial and may not reflect your family's practice. Tell us if something is wrong.