Festivals · 2026

Karwa Chauth (Karva Chauth) 2026: Date, Tithi and Muhurat

By Dr. R.P. Sharma, Vedic astrologer since 1979 · timings computed on real sidereal positions

Karwa Chauth 2026 falls on Thursday, 29 October 2026. The governing tithi — Kartika Krishna Chaturthi, the fast broken at moonrise — runs from 29-10-2026 01:07 IST to 29-10-2026 22:10 IST, computed from the ephemeris with the Lahiri ayanamsa, the way a Panchang actually derives it. The observance follows moonrise.

Delhi moonrise: 20:13 IST — the fast concludes with the sighting after this.

How this date is fixed

Fixed by the panchang rather than the Gregorian calendar, which is why it moves each year:

Karwa Chauth 2026 muhurat: sargi, puja and moonrise (New Delhi)

Times are computed with the Swiss Ephemeris and agree within a few minutes with the published panchang windows. Moonrise differs by about 75 minutes across India on this night, from Kolkata to Mumbai, so break the fast at your own city's time below, not at Delhi's.

Karwa Chauth 2026 moonrise time in Indian cities

Readers abroad: in the USA and Canada Karwa Chauth 2026 is Wednesday 28 October; the worldwide city page gives moonrise for 50 cities in Canada, the USA, the UK, Europe, the Gulf and Australia in local time.

Karwa Chauth puja vidhi, step by step (sargi to moonrise)

1. Sargi: the pre-dawn meal sent by the mother-in-law (fruit, dry fruit, sweets, paratha, and the new saree or dupatta), eaten before sunrise; the nirjala fast begins at 6:31 am.
2. Preparation: mehendi, the karwa (clay pot) filled with water, a thali with roli, rice, a lamp, sweets, a chhalni (sieve) and the karwa lid.
3. Evening puja, 5:38 to 6:56 pm: women gather in a circle, pass the thali seven times while singing the Karwa Chauth song, and hear the katha of Veervati, whose brothers showed her a false moon and whose vrat, kept rightly the next year, restored her husband's life.
4. Moonrise, 8:12 pm in Delhi: the moon is seen through the sieve, water is offered (arghya), the husband's face is seen through the same sieve, and he gives the first sip of water and the first morsel. The karwa is given to the mother-in-law with the baya (gift).

Significance of Karwa Chauth, and its astrology

Karwa Chauth falls on Kartik Krishna Chaturthi, the fourth day of the waning moon in Kartik. Married women fast from sunrise without food or water for the long life and well-being of their husbands, and many unmarried women keep it for a good match; the karwa, the small earthen pot of water, gives the day its name.

The fast ends with worship of the Moon, the graha of the mind, emotions and marital contentment in Vedic astrology. In 2026 the Moon rises over New Delhi at 8:12 pm in Vrishabha, its sign of exaltation, in Mrigashira nakshatra, which is why many astrologers consider this year's Karwa Chauth moonrise especially favourable for the Chandra arghya.

Karwa Chauth and its sister vrats across India

• Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western UP, Rajasthan, Himachal: the heartland of the vrat; the group katha in the evening and the sieve at moonrise are universal.
• Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (Ahoi Ashtami follows): many women keep both fasts in the same week; Ahoi Ashtami is on Sunday 1 November 2026, three days later, for the children.
• Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Atla Tadde, the Telugu equivalent for a husband's long life, is kept the day before, on Wednesday 28 October 2026 (Krishna Tritiya), with atlu (dosas) offered at moonrise.
• Gujarat and Maharashtra: increasingly kept in cities in the north-Indian form; Vat Savitri (June) remains the older equivalent there.

Dos and don'ts for Karwa Chauth 2026

• Do finish sargi before 6:31 am; the fast is counted from sunrise.
• Do keep the puja within 5:38 to 6:56 pm where the group allows; the moon sighting, not the katha, completes the vrat.
• Don't break the fast at a photograph or a live-stream moon; the vrat is for the moon in one's own sky, and it may need 10 to 20 minutes after 8:12 pm to clear rooftops in Delhi.
• Don't keep a nirjala fast in pregnancy or illness; the phalahar form (fruit and water) is permitted and the vrat is still counted.

How the day is kept

The nirjala vrat runs sunrise to moonrise; the evening puja precedes the sighting of the Moon, and the fast is completed when the Moon is seen and offered arghya.

Why the tithi window matters more than the date

A Hindu festival is not a civil date; it is a tithi caught at a particular quality of time — moonrise here. When the tithi straddles two days, the rule decides the day, which is why two neighbouring calendars sometimes disagree while both cite the same sky. The window printed above is the actual astronomy; the rule applied to it is the tradition. Together they give you the answer the forwards never explain. For the method itself, see our muhurat & festivals guide.

See also: Pitru Paksha 2026 — dates and shradh vidhi.

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