Karwa Chauth 2026: Date, Moonrise Time by City, Puja Muhurat and Vidhi

Karwa Chauth 2026 falls on Thursday, 29 October in India. The Chaturthi tithi of Kartik Krishna Paksha runs from 1:06 AM to 10:09 PM that day, the evening puja muhurat in Delhi is 5:38 PM to 6:56 PM, and the moon rises in Delhi at 8:17 PM. In the USA and Canada the fast is kept a day earlier, on Wednesday 28 October, because there the Chaturthi tithi is in force at moonrise on the 28th.

One detail is widely misreported. Many articles say the moon rises in Rohini Nakshatra this year, but Rohini ends at 11:12 AM, and by moonrise the moon is in Mrigashira. The sky section below has the full picture.

Karwa Chauth 2026 date and muhurat at a glance

Detail	Karwa Chauth 2026 (New Delhi)
Date	Thursday, 29 October 2026
Tithi	Kartik Krishna Chaturthi, 1:06 AM to 10:09 PM
Sargi	Before sunrise, ideally between about 4:45 and 5:40 AM
Fasting time (upavasa)	6:31 AM to 8:17 PM, about 13 hours 46 minutes
Puja muhurat	5:38 PM to 6:56 PM
Moonrise	8:17 PM
Nakshatra	Rohini until 11:12 AM, then Mrigashira
Moon sign (rashi)	Taurus (Vrishabha) until about 10:07 PM, then Gemini
Yoga and karana	Parigha yoga all day; Bava karana until 11:38 AM, then Balava
Rahu Kaal	1:27 PM to 2:51 PM, avoid starting the puja in this window
Bhadra	Ends at 1:06 AM, before sunrise, so it does not touch the vrat
Same day	Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi

Times change from city to city. For any other date or place, open the daily Panchang or the Rahu Kalam calculator and enter your city.

Moonrise time on Karwa Chauth 2026: 31 Indian cities

The fast ends when you see the moon, so this is the table most families will check on the evening of 29 October. The puja window starts at local sunset. Moonrise is the moment the centre of the moon reaches a flat horizon; with buildings, trees or haze in the east, expect to actually see it 5 to 15 minutes later.

City	Sunrise (fast begins)	Puja muhurat	Moonrise
Delhi	6:31 AM	5:38 PM to 6:56 PM	8:17 PM
Noida	6:30 AM	5:38 PM to 6:55 PM	8:16 PM
Gurugram	6:31 AM	5:39 PM to 6:57 PM	8:18 PM
Chandigarh	6:35 AM	5:37 PM to 6:56 PM	8:12 PM
Amritsar	6:44 AM	5:44 PM to 7:02 PM	8:18 PM
Ludhiana	6:39 AM	5:41 PM to 6:59 PM	8:16 PM
Jammu	6:45 AM	5:42 PM to 7:01 PM	8:14 PM
Shimla	6:34 AM	5:35 PM to 6:54 PM	8:10 PM
Dehradun	6:29 AM	5:33 PM to 6:51 PM	8:08 PM
Jaipur	6:34 AM	5:46 PM to 7:03 PM	8:28 PM
Jodhpur	6:45 AM	5:58 PM to 7:15 PM	8:41 PM
Lucknow	6:14 AM	5:25 PM to 6:43 PM	8:06 PM
Kanpur	6:16 AM	5:28 PM to 6:46 PM	8:10 PM
Varanasi	6:04 AM	5:19 PM to 6:36 PM	8:02 PM
Agra	6:26 AM	5:37 PM to 6:54 PM	8:18 PM
Patna	5:55 AM	5:10 PM to 6:27 PM	7:52 PM
Ranchi	5:52 AM	5:12 PM to 6:29 PM	7:58 PM
Kolkata	5:39 AM	5:01 PM to 6:17 PM	7:47 PM
Bhubaneswar	5:47 AM	5:13 PM to 6:29 PM	8:03 PM
Guwahati	5:30 AM	4:43 PM to 6:00 PM	7:23 PM
Bhopal	6:24 AM	5:44 PM to 7:00 PM	8:31 PM
Indore	6:29 AM	5:51 PM to 7:07 PM	8:39 PM
Raipur	6:05 AM	5:29 PM to 6:45 PM	8:18 PM
Nagpur	6:15 AM	5:39 PM to 6:55 PM	8:29 PM
Ahmedabad	6:43 AM	6:03 PM to 7:20 PM	8:52 PM
Surat	6:40 AM	6:04 PM to 7:20 PM	8:55 PM
Mumbai	6:37 AM	6:06 PM to 7:22 PM	9:00 PM
Pune	6:33 AM	6:03 PM to 7:19 PM	8:58 PM
Hyderabad	6:13 AM	5:46 PM to 7:01 PM	8:41 PM
Bengaluru	6:12 AM	5:54 PM to 7:08 PM	8:55 PM
Chennai	6:02 AM	5:43 PM to 6:57 PM	8:44 PM

The moon rises first in the east, so Guwahati (7:23 PM) and Kolkata (7:47 PM) break the fast well before Mumbai (9:00 PM). Western and southern cities wait longest: Pune, Surat, Bengaluru and Mumbai all see the moon close to 9 PM. If your town is not listed, use the nearest city in the same direction; a 100 km difference usually shifts moonrise by only a few minutes.

Karwa Chauth 2026 in the USA, Canada, UK and abroad

Karwa Chauth is kept on the day the Chaturthi tithi is present at moonrise. Because the tithi is fixed to one moment worldwide, the local calendar date can change. Chaturthi begins at 1:06 AM IST on 29 October, which is still the afternoon of 28 October in North America, and it is in force when the moon rises there that evening. By the next evening it has ended. So the USA and Canada observe Karwa Chauth on Wednesday 28 October.

City	Fast day	Moonrise (local time)
New York	Wed 28 Oct	7:35 PM EDT
Edison NJ	Wed 28 Oct	7:38 PM EDT
Chicago	Wed 28 Oct	7:27 PM CDT
Houston	Wed 28 Oct	8:41 PM CDT
Dallas	Wed 28 Oct	8:38 PM CDT
Atlanta	Wed 28 Oct	8:43 PM EDT
San Francisco Bay Area	Wed 28 Oct	8:07 PM PDT
Los Angeles	Wed 28 Oct	8:03 PM PDT
Seattle	Wed 28 Oct	7:24 PM PDT
Toronto / Brampton	Wed 28 Oct	7:46 PM EDT
Vancouver / Surrey	Wed 28 Oct	7:17 PM PDT
Calgary	Wed 28 Oct	7:29 PM MDT
London	Thu 29 Oct	6:31 PM GMT
Birmingham	Thu 29 Oct	6:31 PM GMT
Dubai	Thu 29 Oct	8:28 PM GST
Singapore	Thu 29 Oct	10:02 PM SGT
Sydney	Thu 29 Oct	11:14 PM AEDT
Melbourne	Thu 29 Oct	11:55 PM AEDT

The UK is a special case. On 29 October the Chaturthi ends at 4:39 PM in London, before the moon rises at 6:31 PM, and on 28 October it had not yet started at moonrise. Most UK temples and families follow the tithi at sunrise, which makes Thursday 29 October the day, and that is what the table shows. If your local mandir has announced something different, follow them.

The sky on Karwa Chauth 2026: Rohini, Mrigashira and a Moon in Taurus

The moon is in Rohini Nakshatra at sunrise, when the fast begins, and Rohini lasts until 11:12 AM. After that the moon moves into Mrigashira. By moonrise, anywhere in India, it sits at about 28 to 29 degrees of Taurus in the second pada of Mrigashira. The moon that you offer arghya to is a Mrigashira moon.

That is still a good placement for a moon vrat. Taurus is the sign in which Chandra is exalted, and the moon stays there until about 10:07 PM IST, after every Indian city has seen it. Mrigashira itself is ruled by Mars and has the Moon (Soma) as its deity, so the evening of the vrat has the moon in a nakshatra devoted to the moon. The morning sankalp falls under Rohini, the nakshatra the moon favoured most among his 27 wives in the Puranic story, which suits a vrat about the bond of marriage.

A few other features of the day:

• It is a Thursday, Jupiter’s day, and Jupiter is in Cancer, its sign of exaltation, two days before it moves into Leo on 31 October.
• Mercury and Venus are together in Libra. Some astrologers call this Lakshmi Narayan Yoga. Both planets are retrograde and about 21 degrees apart, so treat it as a mild background influence.
• The Sun is in Libra, its sign of debilitation, as it is every year between mid-October and mid-November.
• The moon is about 84 per cent lit at moonrise, a bright waning gibbous that is easy to spot through a chalni.
• Karwa Chauth shares its date with Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi, so Ganesha worship before the evening puja is doubly appropriate.

Bhadra (Vishti karana) runs from 2:37 PM on 28 October to 1:06 AM on 29 October. It is over before sargi time, so you do not need to adjust any part of the vrat for it.

Sargi time and what to eat

Sargi is the meal eaten before sunrise, traditionally sent or served by the mother-in-law, although many families now prepare it themselves. In Delhi the fast starts at 6:31 AM, so finish eating and drinking by about 6:20 AM to be safe. Many women prefer Brahma Muhurta, roughly 4:45 to 5:40 AM, for the meal and a short prayer.

The fast runs close to 14 hours, so the sargi is your fuel for the whole day. Food that releases energy slowly and holds water works best: soaked dry fruits, a banana or other fruit, coconut water, paneer or curd, and a parantha or poha. Phenia or seviyan with milk is the classic sweet. Go light on salt, pickles and tea, which make thirst worse later in the day.

Karwa Chauth puja samagri

• A karwa: a clay or metal pot with a spout, filled with water
• A second lota or glass of water for the moon arghya
• A chalni (sieve) and a diya
• Roli, kumkum, haldi, akshat (rice) and sindoor
• Mathri, sweets or halwa for the bhog and baya
• A picture or idol of Chauth Mata (Gauri), Shiva and Ganesha, or a Karwa Chauth calendar
• Shringar items: bangles, bindi, mehndi, a red or bridal outfit if your family follows that custom

Karwa Chauth puja vidhi step by step

1. Morning: after sargi, bathe and take the sankalp, a short promise to keep the vrat, with water in your right palm. A common form is “Mam sukh saubhagya putra pautradi susthir shri praptaye karak chaturthi vratam aham karishye.”
2. Day: rest, avoid heavy work, and apply mehndi if it is part of your tradition. Avoid starting the puja during Rahu Kaal (1:27 PM to 2:51 PM in Delhi).
3. Before sunset: draw or place the image of Chauth Mata on a clean wall or platform. Set up the karwa with water, a lid of rice or sweets, and the thali.
4. Puja muhurat (5:38 PM to 6:56 PM in Delhi): worship Ganesha first, then Shiva, Parvati (Gauri), Kartikeya and the karwa. Offer roli, rice, flowers and sweets and light the diya.
5. Listen to or read the Karwa Chauth katha. In many Punjabi and North Indian homes, women sit in a circle and pass their thalis around seven times, a custom called karwa pherna.
6. Give the baya, a plate of sweets, fruit, dry fruit and a sari or suhaag items, to your mother-in-law or an elder woman and take her blessing.
7. After moonrise: look at the moon through the chalni, offer arghya from the karwa or lota, and say the arghya mantra. Then look at your husband’s face through the same chalni.
8. Break the fast with water from your husband’s hand and a piece of sweet, then eat a light meal before anything heavy.

The arghya mantra traditionally recited to the moon is:

Gagan arnava manikya Chandra Dakshayani pate, Grihana arghyam maya dattam Ganesh pratirupak.

It addresses the moon as the jewel of the sky, the husband of Daksha’s daughters (Rohini among them) and a form of Ganesha, and asks him to accept the offering.

Karwa Chauth vrat katha in short

The story told most often is about Veeravati, the only sister of seven brothers. She kept her first Karwa Chauth at her parents’ home and, by evening, was faint with hunger and thirst. Her brothers could not bear to watch, so they lit a fire behind a tree on a hill and held a sieve in front of it, which made it look like the moon had risen. Veeravati broke her fast, and almost at once news came that her husband had died.

Grief-stricken, she refused to let his body be cremated and prayed to the goddess. She kept every Chauth fast for the following year with full devotion, and on the next Karwa Chauth her husband was restored to life. Families tell the story to explain why the vrat ends only on seeing the real moon. Other kathas, such as the stories of Karwa and the crocodile and of Savitri, are also recited in different regions.

Karwa Chauth 2026 rashifal: the Taurus Moon and your Moon sign

On the night of the vrat the moon transits Taurus. Classical texts on gochar count good moon transits in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th houses from your birth Moon sign. Here is where Taurus falls for each rashi. If you do not know your Moon sign, the Nakshatra calculator shows it from your date, time and place of birth.

Moon sign	House	What it points to
Mesh (Aries)	2nd	Family meals and gifts; speak gently, the 2nd house rules speech
Vrishabha (Taurus)	1st	A personal, emotional evening; favourable, you set the mood at home
Mithun (Gemini)	12th	Tiredness and spending; keep the day restful
Kark (Cancer)	11th	Favourable; support from friends and elders
Simha (Leo)	10th	Favourable; duties at home and work run smoothly
Kanya (Virgo)	9th	Blessings of elders and a devotional mood
Tula (Libra)	8th	Chandrashtama day; fatigue or low mood is more likely, so consider a gentler fast if your health is not strong
Vrishchik (Scorpio)	7th	Favourable; the moon lights up the house of marriage itself
Dhanu (Sagittarius)	6th	Favourable; good stamina for the fast
Makar (Capricorn)	5th	Affection, children and creativity; a warm evening
Kumbh (Aquarius)	4th	Home and mother; comfortable if the house is calm
Meen (Pisces)	3rd	Favourable; courage and help from siblings

These are general transit effects. Your own chart, especially the Moon’s strength and current dasha, matters more. You can see both in a free Kundli.

Health and fasting: who should adapt the vrat

A nirjala fast of nearly 14 hours is hard on the body, especially in a warm city. Many families accept a phalahar version (fruit and water) or a water-only version, and the tradition makes room for it. Speak to your doctor before fasting without water if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have diabetes, low blood pressure, kidney trouble or migraines, or take regular medication. Dizziness, a racing heart, confusion or fainting are signs to stop and drink water.

Planning a wedding? Start with Guna Milan and the 36 gunas, the first check most families make when matching two Kundlis.

Frequently asked questions

Is Karwa Chauth 2026 on 28 or 29 October?

In India it is on Thursday, 29 October 2026. In the USA and Canada it is on Wednesday, 28 October, because the Chaturthi tithi is present at moonrise there a day earlier.

What time will the moon rise on Karwa Chauth 2026?

In Delhi the moon rises at 8:17 PM IST on 29 October. It rises at 7:47 PM in Kolkata, 8:06 PM in Lucknow, 8:28 PM in Jaipur, 8:41 PM in Hyderabad and 9:00 PM in Mumbai. See the full city table above.

Is the moon in Rohini Nakshatra on Karwa Chauth 2026?

Only in the morning. Rohini ends at 11:12 AM. At moonrise the moon is in Mrigashira Nakshatra, still in Taurus, the sign of its exaltation.

Is there Bhadra on Karwa Chauth 2026?

No. Bhadra ends at 1:06 AM on 29 October, before sunrise and before sargi, so it does not affect the fast or the puja.

What if the moon is not visible because of clouds?

Wait until a little after the local moonrise time in the table, then offer arghya facing the east, where the moon has risen. Many families also offer it to a picture of the moon or to Shiva’s image, whose crown carries the moon.

Can unmarried women keep the Karwa Chauth fast?

Yes. Unmarried women often keep it for a good marriage. In many families they break the fast after seeing the stars rather than the moon, and some keep a phalahar fast.

Can I drink water during the Karwa Chauth fast?

The traditional vrat is nirjala, without water. If health does not allow it, drinking water or keeping a fruit fast is widely accepted. Take your doctor’s advice first if you have a medical condition.

Find your own birth Nakshatra and Moon sign with the free Nakshatra calculator, or check the tithi and nakshatra for any day on the daily Panchang.

Next in the festival season: Jupiter moves into Leo on 31 October (see the Jupiter transit in Leo 2026 for your rashi), and Sunday, 1 November brings Ravi Pushya Yoga, the main gold buying day before Diwali, along with Ahoi Ashtami.