Sankashti Chaturthi: Dates, What, Why, How

What it is

Sankashti Chaturthi is a monthly fast for Ganesha, kept on the fourth tithi (Chaturthi) of the dark half of every lunar month. Devotees fast through the day, worship Ganesha in the evening, and break the fast after the moon rises, once they have seen it and offered it water. "Sankashti" means release from difficulty: devotees pray to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, for help with the troubles of life.

Each month's Sankashti has its own name and its own form of Ganesha in the tradition. When it falls on a Tuesday it is called Angaraki Sankashti, and many devotees hold it in special regard. The Sankashti of the month of Kartika in the purnimanta calendar falls on the same day as Karwa Chauth, and in North and Central India the Sankashti of Magha (purnimanta) is kept with special care as Sakat Chauth. Sankashti is kept widely in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and North India; in Tamil it is often called Sankatahara Chaturthi.

Why it is kept

The remover of obstacles. Ganesha is worshipped first in every puja and at the start of every new task as Vighnaharta, the one who removes obstacles. The Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana, honoured especially in the Ganapatya tradition, praise him in many forms and describe vows kept for him. The Sankashti vow is one of them: a monthly day to bring one's difficulties to Ganesha with fasting and prayer.

The moon and Ganesha. A loved story says that the Moon once laughed at Ganesha, and Ganesha cursed him to lose his light. When the Moon repented, Ganesha softened the curse, so that the Moon wanes and waxes. Families tell the story in different forms: many link it with the bright-half Chaturthi of Bhadrapada, when the moon is not looked at, and some with Sankashti, when the rising moon is greeted before the fast ends. The digests on vows set the Sankashti worship at moonrise, and the fast ends then. The vrat katha of each month adds its own story of a devotee helped by Ganesha; those stories are the tradition's own words.

Angaraki. Tradition tells that Angaraka, the planet Mars, worshipped Ganesha on a Krishna Chaturthi and received his blessing, and that a Sankashti falling on Mars's day, Tuesday, is therefore called Angaraki. The digests also count a Chaturthi that falls on a Tuesday as especially fruitful for a fast. Many devotees keep it even if they do not keep every month's fast.

The texts behind the story

• Ganesha Purana and Mudgala Purana (Ganesha's forms and vows), named; the Moon's story, Mars's worship of Ganesha and the monthly vrat kathas are tradition. Summarised in our own words.
• The Sankashti vow in the digests (Smrtikaustubha, Vratraja): on Krishna Chaturthi, Ganesha worshipped at moonrise, about eight ghatikas after sunset, with modakas, and a fast all day or no food until moonrise; the Sankashtahara vow of Magha, said to have been told by Vyasa to Yudhishthira; 'sankashta' meaning distress or calamity; and a Chaturthi on a Tuesday as specially fruitful (listed by Kane as Akshaya Chaturthi). Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958), list of vratas. Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 255, 435–436)

When it is kept

Sankashti Chaturthi is the Krishna Chaturthi, the fourth tithi of the dark half, that is present at moonrise at your location, because the fast ends at moonrise. If Chaturthi holds moonrise on both days, the first is taken; if on neither, the day whose sunrise has Chaturthi. Because the deciding moment is moonrise, the Sankashti day can fall on the calendar day of Tritiya, and it can differ even between nearby cities. Pujadeep shows the moonrise time for your city.

What the words mean: Tithi

Traditions and regional customs

• Krishna Chaturthi at moonrise, every month
• Angaraki Sankashti: when it falls on a Tuesday
• Marathi and Kannada: monthly Sankashti with the Ganapati Atharvashirsha
• Tamil: Sankatahara Chaturthi
• Kartika (purnimanta): the same day as Karwa Chauth

Why the day can differ

Moonrise is local and comes later each night, so the Sankashti day can differ between cities, even nearby ones, and a city abroad can differ from India by a day. Clouds may hide the moon; families differ on whether to wait until it is seen or to end the fast at the computed moonrise time. The monthly names follow the lunar month, and amanta and purnimanta calendars name the dark half differently.

How to keep it at home

1. In the morning, bathe and make a sankalpa to keep the fast. Through the day, eat only what your custom allows.
2. In the evening, set up a picture or murti of Ganesha, light a lamp and incense, and offer durva grass, red flowers, modak or laddoos, and fruit.
3. Read the month's Sankashti vrat katha, and say the prayers your family knows: the Sankatanashana Ganesha Stotram, the Ganapati Atharvashirsha, "Vakratunda mahakaya" and the aarti "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta" or "Jai Ganesh Deva".
4. At the moonrise time Pujadeep gives for your city, look at the moon, offer it water (arghya) with a little milk, rice and flowers, and pray. Then break the fast with prasad.

Fasting

Customs vary: some devotees take no food until moonrise, some drink water, and many eat fasting food such as fruit, milk, sabudana, peanuts and potatoes during the day. Grains are usually left out until the fast is broken. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first. A monthly vow is kept by choice; missing a month is simply missing a month.

Food

Fasting food: sabudana khichdi, fruit, milk, and peanut and potato dishes. The fast is broken with modak, laddoos or other sweets offered to Ganesha, and then a simple meal. Marathi homes often make ukadiche modak for Angaraki.

Prayers read at this time

• Sankashtanashana Ganesha Stotram
• Vakratunda Mahakaya
• Jai Ganesh Deva Aarti

For children

Once, after a big feast, Ganesha was walking home with a very full tummy, and he slipped. The Moon saw it and laughed. Ganesha was upset, and the Moon felt sorry. Ganesha forgave him, and they became friends. Now, every month, families who pray to Ganesha wait for the Moon to rise before they eat dinner, and say hello to him with a little water.

Something to do together

Keep a moon diary for a month: draw the moon's shape every evening you can see it, and mark the night of Sankashti, when it rises late and is no longer full.

Festivals and holy days, told for children

Sources

• Pujadeep calendar rule sankashti-chaturthi, with the sources it lists, including its note that the day can fall on Tritiya and differ between nearby cities.
• Pujadeep calendar rule karva-chauth (the Kartika Sankashti and Karwa Chauth on the same tithi).
• P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona, 1958), pp. 255 and 435–436 (a Chaturthi on a Tuesday; Sankashti and Sankashtahara vows). Cited, not quoted.

Related guides

• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Pradosh Vrat (Pradosham)