Ganga Dussehra
The day the Ganga came down to the earth.
When it falls
Sunday, 13 June 2027
By the sunrise at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
- The rule
- Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami, tithi 10 of the waxing fortnight of Jyeshtha
- Which day
- Sunrise (udaya-vyapini)
- Sunrise. Whether Hasta nakshatra and the other conditions of the Dashahara yoga hold in a given year is a matter of computation, and the page will say which of them did.
- Weight
- One of the year's great days
- Returns
- Once a year
What it is
Ganga Dussehra is the tenth tithi of the bright fortnight of Jyeshtha, kept as the day the Ganga came down to the earth. It is the Ganga's own day, and the day Haridwar is most itself. The classical Dashahara yoga asks for the tithi to fall with Hasta nakshatra and several other conditions together. In most years some hold and some do not, and the day is kept regardless. It comes at the hottest point of the north Indian year, days before the rains.
Where it is kept
Three of the six waters.
Ganga
Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
Purnimanta reckoning
Har Ki Pauri is where the day is kept most fully, and Haridwar is where the descent is placed in the telling.
Triveni Sangam
Sangam, Prayagraj
Purnimanta reckoning
The Sangam keeps it as a Ganga day, with a smaller crowd than Haridwar and the same water.
Yamuna
Vishram Ghat, Mathura
Purnimanta reckoning
Vishram Ghat keeps the tithi. The Yamuna's own descent day, Yamuna Chhath, falls in Chaitra.
The windows
Brahma Muhurat
about 48 minutes
From sunrise
- Definition
- Two muhurtas of the night before sunrise, until one muhurta before it. A night muhurta is a fifteenth of the night, about 48 minutes at the equinox and longer in winter.
Brahma Muhurat falls before sunrise, so it belongs to the panchang day that opened at the previous sunrise, and the Gregorian date beside it is the next day. The calendar keeps the two apart.
Pratah Snan
about 96 minutes
From sunrise
- Definition
- Sunrise, until two muhurtas of the day after it. A day muhurta is a fifteenth of the daylight, about 48 minutes at the equinox and longer in summer.
This window sits after sunrise, so its panchang day and its Gregorian date agree.
Every time is given at the ghat first, and in your own zone beside it. How the clock is read
Where the timing comes from
- Source
- Computed here, checked against Drik Panchang
- Ayanamsa
- Lahiri (Chitrapaksha)
- Ghat coordinates
- Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar: 29.9457, 78.1642
Textual basis
The Ganga avatarana narrative and the Dashahara yoga conditions are described in the Puranic literature and in the nibandha treatment of Jyeshtha. A citable edition and passage is still to be added.
Every date here is computed: the tithi at the ghat's sunrise, the month named by the sankranti it holds, and the sun's entry into each sign under the Lahiri ayanamsa. Tithi, nakshatra, sunrise and windows were checked against Drik Panchang for Haridwar on eight days between September 2026 and March 2027, to the minute. The dates roll forward each morning.