Ahoi Ashtami 2026: Date and Vrat

Ahoi Ashtami 2026: date and time (New Delhi)

Times are computed with the Swiss Ephemeris and agree with the published panchang windows within a few minutes. Ahoi Ashtami is kept on the day the Ashtami holds the evening, which is the 1st; the tithi ends the next afternoon. Other Indian cities differ by a few minutes of sunset only.

Karwa Chauth and Ahoi Ashtami 2026: the two fasts three days apart

Karwa Chauth 2026 is Thursday 29 October (Krishna Chaturthi) and Ahoi Ashtami is Sunday 1 November (Krishna Ashtami), three days later; Diwali follows a week after that, on Sunday 8 November. The two vrats share the same form, a day-long fast broken in the evening, but not the same purpose or the same sighting: Karwa Chauth is kept for the husband and ends at moonrise (8:13 pm in Delhi on the 29th); Ahoi Ashtami is kept for the children and ends at the stars, about 6:00 pm, with only a few families waiting for the late moonrise at 11:37 pm.

Ahoi Ashtami vrat vidhi and puja vidhi, step by step

1. Morning: after bathing, the mother takes the sankalp for her children's wellbeing and long life; the fast is nirjala until the evening stars, or phalahar where health requires.
2. The Ahoi Mata image: drawn on a wall or paper with geru (red ochre) and rice paste, showing Ahoi Mata with eight corners (the ashtami), the syahu (the she-hedgehog of the story) and her cubs. A printed image serves in many homes now.
3. The syahu mala: a thread with silver beads (syahu) added for each son, or each child, worn by the mother from Ahoi Ashtami to Diwali.
4. Evening puja, 5:36 to 6:54 pm: a kalash of water, a bowl of grain, and the karwa kept from Karwa Chauth are set before the image; the Ahoi katha is heard, the children sit with the mother, and the offerings (puri, halwa, pua, and the year's sweets) are made.
5. Star sighting, about 6:00 pm: arghya is offered to the stars from the kalash; the fast is broken, the children are fed first, and the elders give the mother's blessing. The karwa water is later poured at the house threshold on Diwali.

Ahoi Ashtami vrat katha (the story), briefly

A mother of seven sons, digging soil for the Diwali whitewash, struck and killed a syahu cub in its burrow. Within the year her sons died one by one; when she confessed the killing and did penance, and kept the Ashtami fast for the cub's mother, Ahoi Bhagwati restored her sons. The fast is therefore an act of atonement and protection together, which is why it is kept by the mother and why the cubs are drawn beside the goddess.

Where and how Ahoi Ashtami is kept

• Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh: the vrat's home; the evening katha is read in the family courtyard.
• Mathura and Vrindavan: a bath in Radha Kund on Ahoi Ashtami night is kept by couples praying for a child.
• Gujarat and Maharashtra: known through migration; the fast is kept in the north-Indian form.

Dos and don'ts on Ahoi Ashtami

• Do keep the puja inside the muhurat and break the fast at the first stars, not by the clock.
• Do feed the children before you eat; it is the point of the vrat.
• Don't dig soil or use a spade on this day; the katha's warning is kept literally.
• Don't keep a nirjala fast in pregnancy or illness; the phalahar form is permitted.

Frequently asked questions