Sankranti
The sun enters a new sign, twelve times a year.
When it falls
Next dates
- Saturday, 17 October 2026, 19:58 IST
- Monday, 16 November 2026, 19:49 IST
- Wednesday, 16 December 2026, 10:30 IST
- Thursday, 14 January 2027, 21:15 IST
- Saturday, 13 February 2027, 10:14 IST
- Monday, 15 March 2027, 07:05 IST
- Wednesday, 14 April 2027, 15:33 IST
- Saturday, 15 May 2027, 12:24 IST
- Tuesday, 15 June 2027, 19:00 IST
- Saturday, 17 July 2027, 05:53 IST
- Tuesday, 17 August 2027, 14:17 IST
- Friday, 17 September 2027, 14:14 IST
By the sunrise at Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
- The rule
- Sidereal ingress of the sun into a rashi
- Which day
- The instant of the crossing
- The crossing is an instant. The observed window is a punya kaal derived from it, and the derivation differs between traditions. Each occasion page names the rule it follows.
- Weight
- A recurring parva
- Returns
- Every lunar month
What it is
A sankranti is the instant the sun crosses from one sidereal rashi into the next. Twelve of them make the solar year. Each is a joint in the year, and a snan and a gift are customary at it. A sankranti is an instant rather than a span, so tradition marks a punya kaal around it, a window before or after the crossing. Its length depends on the rule followed and on whether the crossing falls by day or after sunset. The lunar calendar governs most occasions. The sun governs the seasons and the harvest, and the sankrantis join the two. They barely move against the Gregorian year, so they are the easiest occasions to plan around.
Where it is kept
Kept at all six waters. Two sankrantis have their own pages: Makar Sankranti in January, and Tula Sankramana, the year's main occasion at Talakaveri.
Ganga
Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar
Purnimanta reckoning
Where the Ganga leaves the hills
Triveni Sangam
Sangam, Prayagraj
Purnimanta reckoning
Where Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati meet
Yamuna
Vishram Ghat, Mathura
Purnimanta reckoning
Krishna's own river
Godavari
Ram Kund, Nashik
Amanta reckoning
The Dakshin Ganga
Shipra
Ram Ghat, Ujjain
Purnimanta reckoning
Home of the Simhastha Kumbh
Kaveri
Talakaveri, Kodagu
Amanta reckoning
The source of the Kaveri
The windows
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.
Abhijit Muhurat
about 48 minutes
From the sun's transit
- Definition
- The eighth of the fifteen equal muhurtas of the day, half a muhurta either side of the sun's true transit, not of clock noon.
Tradition leaves Abhijit out on a Wednesday, and so does this calendar.
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
Sankranti snan and daan are prescribed in the nibandha literature on kala. 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.