Sankashti Chaturthi: Vrat Vidhi, Katha & 2026–27 Dates

A Shiva dham thronged with kanwariyas offering jal · Shiv Kavar Samiti

Once every month, when the moon is waning and the night grows quiet, devotees of Lord Ganesha keep a fast and wait — sometimes late into the evening — for a single moment: the first sight of the moon. Only then do they raise a small vessel of water in offering, break their fast, and feel a knot of worry loosen inside them. This is Sankashti Chaturthi, one of the most tender and widely-kept vrats in all of Hindu devotion. The name itself carries its promise — sankat means crisis or trouble, and Sankashti Chaturthi is 'the Chaturthi that carries away sankat.' This guide explains, in plain and simple language, what the vrat is, why the moon matters so much, what makes Angarki Chaturthi on a Tuesday so special, how to keep the fast step by step, the old katha behind it, and the expected 2026–27 dates. Please treat all dates and moonrise times here as expected values and confirm them with a reliable local panchang, because moonrise in particular varies from city to city.

What is Sankashti Chaturthi?

Sankashti Chaturthi is a monthly fast dedicated to Lord Ganesha, kept on the Chaturthi — the fourth lunar day, or tithi — of the Krishna Paksha, the dark waning fortnight of every Hindu month. Because it comes once in each lunar month, there are usually twelve Sankashti Chaturthis in a year, and thirteen in a year that carries an extra (adhik) month, as 2026 does. Ganesha is the Vighnaharta, the remover of obstacles, and he is worshipped here in a very personal, everyday way: not for a single grand festival, but as a steady monthly turning of the heart toward the one who clears the path. The defining feature of the vrat is that it is chandra-linked — the fast is not broken at sunset or at a fixed hour, but only after the devotee has seen the moon and offered it arghya (water). This waiting for the moon is the very soul of the observance.

It helps to gently distinguish Sankashti Chaturthi from two neighbours. It is not the same as Vinayaka Chaturthi, which falls in the bright Shukla Paksha of each month and is broken at midday rather than at moonrise. Nor is it Ganesh Chaturthi, the great birth-festival of Ganesha in Bhadrapada. Sankashti Chaturthi is the quieter, monthly, moon-waiting fast — humble, repeatable, and deeply loved by those who keep it for years on end.

Why Ganesha, and why the moon?

Lord Ganesha is the beloved elephant-headed son of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati, and the elder brother of Kartikeya. Before any worship of any deity begins, it is Ganesha who is honoured first, so that obstacles are cleared and the prayer reaches its mark. To keep a fast for him each month is to place your troubles, one lunar cycle at a time, into the hands of the one who is invoked at every beginning. Devotees turn to Sankashti Chaturthi in seasons of difficulty — an illness, a stalled endeavour, a worry that will not lift — but also simply as a steady discipline that keeps the mind clear and the household blessed.

And the moon? In the Hindu understanding the moon governs the mind and the emotions, and its waxing and waning mirror the rise and fall of our own inner weather. To fast through the day and offer arghya to the moon at its rising is a small act of patience and surrender — a way of saying that we will not grasp, but wait; that we will let the trouble set like the day and greet what rises. There is also a gentle old story that Ganesha once placed both a blessing and a curse upon the moon, and so offering it respect on this day heals that ancient breach. Whatever the telling, the meaning is the same: the vrat teaches the mind to be still until the light returns.

What is Angarki Chaturthi?

When Sankashti Chaturthi happens to fall on a Tuesday, it is called Angarki Chaturthi (or Angaraki Chaturthi), and it is regarded as the most powerful of all the year's Sankashtis. Tuesday is the day of Mangal (Mars), whose very name Angaraka means 'the ember-red one,' and the meeting of Mangal's fierce, obstacle-burning energy with Ganesha's obstacle-removing grace is believed to multiply the fruit of the fast many times over. Devotees who cannot keep every monthly Sankashti will often make a special point of keeping the Angarki ones.

In 2026, Angarki Chaturthi is expected to fall three times — in January, in May, and in September — which is considered an unusually blessed year. As always, whether a particular Chaturthi lands on a Tuesday depends on the tithi and your local panchang, so confirm before you plan.

Sankashti Chaturthi 2026 dates, names and moonrise

Because 2026 carries an adhik maas, there are thirteen Sankashti Chaturthis this year rather than the usual twelve. A lovely detail of the vrat is that Ganesha is worshipped in a different named form each month — Lambodara, Vikata, Ekadanta, Vakratunda and so on — so each Sankashti has its own character. The table below gives the expected dates for New Delhi, the day of the week, the month's form of Ganesha, and the approximate moonrise time. Please note clearly: moonrise varies by city and can differ by many minutes from these Delhi timings, so always confirm the moonrise for your own town with a local panchang before you sit to break your fast.

Treat every entry above as an expected date and an approximate time. The tithi can shift the date by a day between panchangs, and the moonrise time is the single value most likely to differ where you live, so a quick check with your local panchang on the day itself is always wise.

Looking ahead: the first Sankashti dates of 2027

For those who like to plan the year ahead, here are the expected first Sankashti Chaturthis of 2027 for New Delhi. None of these early-2027 dates fall on a Tuesday, so there is no Angarki among them; the same hedges apply — confirm the tithi and your city's moonrise locally:

• 🔱Lambodara Sankashti — expected Monday, 25 January 2027 (moonrise ~9:16 PM in Delhi).
• 🔱Dwijapriya Sankashti — expected Wednesday, 24 February 2027 (moonrise ~10:03 PM in Delhi).
• 🔱Bhalachandra Sankashti — expected Thursday, 25 March 2027 (moonrise ~9:49 PM in Delhi).
• 🔱Vikata Sankashti — expected Saturday, 24 April 2027 (moonrise ~10:32 PM in Delhi).

Sankashti Chaturthi vrat vidhi, step by step

The beauty of this vrat is its simplicity — sincerity matters far more than severity, and the fast can be kept as strictly or as gently as your health allows. The common shape of the day is this:

• 🔱Rise early, bathe, and put on clean clothes. Sit before the household shrine and take a clear sankalp (vow) to keep the Sankashti Chaturthi fast for the wellbeing of your family and the removal of your troubles.
• 🔱Choose your form of fasting according to your strength — a strict nirjala fast (without water), a phalahar fast on fruit and milk and permitted vrat foods such as sabudana, singhare ka atta and kuttu with sendha namak, or a single sattvic meal in the day. Those who are unwell, elderly, pregnant or young should keep it lightly.
• 🔱Worship Ganesha through the day: bathe the murti, offer red flowers and, above all, durva grass (the tender three- or five-bladed grass Ganesha loves), light a lamp and incense, and chant 'Om Gan Ganapataye Namah' or the Sankashti mantras.
• 🔱Offer modak and laddoo as bhog — the sweets most dear to Ganesha — along with fruit. Many keep twenty-one durva blades and twenty-one modaks as the traditional count.
• 🔱Read or listen to the Sankashti Chaturthi vrat katha during the day, keeping the mind on Ganesha and away from anger and idleness.
• 🔱In the evening, watch for the moon. When it rises, step outside, offer arghya — water poured toward the moon from a small vessel, often with sandal, flowers and akshat (rice) — bow to Ganesha and the moon, and only then break your fast with the prasad.

The single non-negotiable of the vrat is that last step: the fast is completed only after the moon is seen and honoured. This is why knowing your city's moonrise matters so much — it is the hinge of the whole day.

A vrat day, from dawn to moonrise

For those keeping the fast for the first time, here is the shape of a Sankashti day at a glance. The times are indicative only; shape them around your own moonrise:

The vrat katha of Sankashti Chaturthi

The most-loved katha of Sankashti Chaturthi is told of the celestial court itself. A time came when a great sankat settled over the heavens — the rains failed, the celestial gardens withered, and even Indra's thunderbolt lost its shine. The gods debated the cause for many days and found no answer, until the sage Narada spoke: a crisis this deep, he said, could be lifted by none but Ganesha, and only through the earnest keeping of the Sankashti Chaturthi vrat. On his counsel the whole court of the devas kept the fast on the next Krishna Paksha Chaturthi — fasting through the day, worshipping Ganesha, offering modak, and waiting for the moon to rise before they offered arghya and ate. When they did, the heavens were restored, the rains returned, and the sankat lifted as though it had never been.

Many families also tell the humbler story of a poor old potter-woman who, though she barely understood the ritual, kept the fast with a pure and simple heart, offered what little she had, and found her poverty and sorrows quietly melting away — a reminder that Ganesha weighs the bhava, the feeling, far above the grandeur of the offering.

Ganesha does not measure the modak; he measures the heart that offers it. A fast kept with love lifts a mountain of trouble that gold could not move.

Turn your fast into seva

There is an old and beautiful teaching that a vrat is completed not only at the moon, but in the giving that follows it. To fast is to know hunger for a day by choice; to give food to one who knows it by no choice of their own is to let that fast bear fruit. On Sankashti Chaturthi, when you have offered modak to Ganesha and broken your own fast, the most fitting daan of all is anna-daan — the feeding of another. Ganesha, who removes the obstacles from your path, is pleased most when you help remove the hunger from another's.

Our Shiv Kavar Samiti has served on NH-8 at Mahipalpur, New Delhi for over thirty years — best known for our free Kanwar Sewa Shivir in Sawan, but carrying the same spirit of anna-daan and seva through the year. If keeping a Sankashti fast has drawn your heart toward giving, you can turn that feeling into a warm plate for someone who needs it, in Ganesha's name and in Bhole Nath's.

How you can be part of the seva

Every plate of langar and every glass of clean water is made possible by the daan of well-wishers, and any amount, given with love, becomes seva. If you would like to contribute, you can donate online at our /donate page through Razorpay's secure checkout, or by bank transfer to our Punjab National Bank account (A/C 0149000104323988, IFSC PUNB0014900, Khan Market branch). To offer ration and supplies, to sponsor a day of anna-daan in a loved one's memory, to volunteer as a sewadar, or simply to ask how to reach us, message us on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237. May Shri Ganesha remove every obstacle from your path, and may this Sankashti draw you nearer to Mahadev. Ganpati Bappa Morya. Har Har Mahadev.