- Reference city
- Delhi (other cities in the table)
- Moon's nakshatra then
- Mrigashira (at about 8:10 pm on 29 October)
What Karwa Chauth is
Karwa Chauth falls on Chaturthi, the fourth tithi, of the dark fortnight in the month Kartika (purnimanta count), about nine days before Diwali. It is kept mostly in north India.
Married women traditionally fast through the day for their husbands and open the fast when the moon is seen in the evening.
Because the fast ends with moonrise, the date depends on the evening, not the morning. A tithi that ends before the Moon rises, or begins after it, would not give the day, and the clock time of moonrise changes from city to city.
How Karwa Chauth is commonly observed
- A meal before sunrise (called sargi in many families) starts the day.
- The fast is kept through the daylight hours, in many homes without water.
- In the afternoon or evening women gather and listen to the Karwa Chauth story.
- When the moon is seen, it is offered water, often looked at through a sieve.
- The fast is opened with water or food, often offered by the husband.
These are common practices. Families and regions differ, and none of them is needed to read the date on this page.
The date for 2026, worked out
A tithi is the time in which the Moon gains 12 degrees on the Sun. Chaturthi is tithi number 4 of the dark fortnight, when the Moon is 216 to 228 degrees ahead of the Sun. By the chart engine it begins 29 October at about 1:05 am and ends 29 October at about 10:10 pm, Indian time.
This festival is kept in the evening and ends with the moon being seen, so the day is the one on which the tithi is running when the Moon rises. Delhi's sunrise, sunset and the rule's moment are below.
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Moonrise, Delhi | Chaturthi covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 29 October 2026 | 6:30 am | 5:38 pm | 8:11 pm | running |
On only one day does Chaturthi reach moonrise in Delhi: Thursday, 29 October 2026. There is no tie to break. Mumbai and Kolkata give the same day.
Why calendars can differ on Karwa Chauth
This tithi is in the dark fortnight before the new moon that closes Ashwin. North Indian calendars (purnimanta) call that fortnight Kartika; those used in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south (amanta) call it Ashwin. The day is the same, only the month name differs.
The same rule at other cities, for the day or days the tithi touches:
| City | Date | Moonrise | Chaturthi covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | 29 October | 8:11 pm | running |
| Mumbai | 29 October | 8:55 pm | running |
| Kolkata | 29 October | 7:42 pm | running |
Karwa Chauth is chiefly a north Indian custom, and the details differ from family to family: some keep it without water, some with fruit, and in a few homes husbands or unmarried women also fast.
The moonrise time is the part that changes most with place, so use your own city's moonrise rather than Delhi's.
Method and limits
Positions come from the same engine that draws the free kundli, with the Lahiri ayanamsa. The tithi comes from the angle between the Sun and the Moon, so it does not depend on the ayanamsa.
Sunrise, sunset and moonrise are for the upper edge of the body with standard refraction, in Indian Standard Time. Tithi times are shown to the nearest five minutes because other panchangs can differ by a minute or so, and a different city moves sunrise and moonrise by minutes to an hour or more.
Regional traditions differ, and for the day and hour you keep the observance, follow your local panchang or temple. The full list of settings is on the method page.
Your own chart on this day
Dates on this page describe the sky only. The nakshatra finder and the current dasha tool show the facts of your own chart for any birth, and the festival calendar for 2026 lists the other festivals of the season with their dates.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 15 October 2026.