Makara Sankranti
మకర సంక్రాంతి
DateThursday, 15 January 2026- Date in 2026
- Thursday, 15 January 2026
- Duration
- 3 to 4 days (Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma, Mukkanuma)
- Observed in
- All India, under many names
Significance
Makara Sankranti is the one major Hindu festival fixed to the solar calendar rather than the lunar one, which is why it falls on roughly the same Gregorian date every year while everything else moves. It marks the sun's entry into the sidereal Makara — Capricorn — and the beginning of uttarayana, the northward course, which is regarded as the more auspicious half of the year.
It is fundamentally a harvest festival, and the specifics of what is harvested shape what it looks like. In the Telugu country the newly cut rice comes in, the houses are cleaned, and the front yards carry large muggulu with gobbemmalu — cow-dung mounds topped with pumpkin flowers. In Punjab it is Lohri and Maghi, in Assam Magh Bihu, in Tamil Nadu Pongal, in Gujarat Uttarayan with its kites. The common thread is the first grain, the fire, and the sun.
The Telugu observance runs to three or four days and each has its own work. Bhogi is the day of the bonfire, in which what is worn out is burnt — a genuine clearing-out rather than a symbolic one. Sankranti proper is the sun's entry, kept with new clothes, ancestral offerings and the sharing of ariselu and chakkara pongali. Kanuma honours the cattle, which did the ploughing. Mukkanuma, kept in some districts, closes it.
When it falls, and why
Makara Sankranti falls when the sun enters the sidereal Makara rashi, which currently happens around 14 or 15 January. Because it is a solar event rather than a lunar one, it does not move against the Gregorian calendar the way Ugadi or Deepavali do.
It does move slowly, though, and the reason is worth knowing. The sidereal zodiac is measured from the fixed stars, while the solstice is an event in the tropical frame; the two coincided around the fifth century and have separated since through precession of the equinoxes, at about fifty arc-seconds a year. That is why Makara Sankranti now falls three weeks after the actual winter solstice, and why the date has crept forward by roughly a day per century. Punya kala — the auspicious period for bathing and giving — is reckoned from the moment of the sankranti itself, so it differs by a few hours depending on where you are.
Pooja vidhanam, step by step
- 1
Bhogi — the bonfire at dawn
Before sunrise on the first day, burn what is worn out and no longer used. The fire is lit in the front yard and fed with old wood and household discards, not with anything of value.
- 2
Bhogi pallu for the children
In the evening, regi pallu (jujube), petals, small coins and sugarcane pieces are poured over the heads of young children to bless them. This is particular to the Telugu observance.
- 3
Draw the muggu
On Sankranti morning draw a large muggu at the entrance with rice flour, place gobbemmalu — cow-dung mounds topped with pumpkin flowers and turmeric — in it, and hang sugarcane at the doorway.
- 4
Bathe and wear new clothes
Take an oil bath before sunrise and wear new clothes. Bathing in a river during punya kala is held to carry particular merit where it is practicable.
- 5
Offer to the sun and the ancestors
Offer arghya to the sun with water from cupped hands. Perform pitru tarpanam — Sankranti is one of the principal days of the year for ancestral offerings in the Telugu country.
- 6
Prepare and share the naivedya
Chakkara pongali, ariselu, sesame and jaggery preparations. Til-gud is exchanged with the words 'take this sweet and speak sweetly'.
- 7
Give
Danam on Sankranti is a standing part of the observance — grain, sesame, jaggery, blankets and cloth, given rather than merely offered.
- 8
Kanuma — honour the cattle
On the third day wash, decorate and garland the cattle, and feed them first. The day belongs to the animals that did the work of the harvest.
Samagri checklist
What to gather beforehand. Where something is not available, offer what you have — the intention carries.
- Rice flour for the muggu
- Gobbemmalu — cow dung, pumpkin flowers, turmeric
- Sugarcane for the doorway and for offering
- Regi pallu (jujube), coins and petals for bhogi pallu
- Sesame seeds and jaggery, for til-gud and for danam
- New rice for chakkara pongali
- Ingredients for ariselu
- Sesame oil for the abhyanga snanam
- New clothes for the household
- Turmeric, kumkum, flowers, camphor, ghee lamp
- Grain, blankets or cloth to give away
The vrat katha
The account most often given is of Surya and his son Shani. The two were estranged — Shani's own nature is cold and slow, and Surya had rejected him — and on this day Surya went to the house of Shani, who rules Makara. The festival is therefore read as a reconciliation between father and son, and as the reason the sun enters Makara at all.
A second account belongs to Bhishma. Lying on the bed of arrows after the war at Kurukshetra, he held onto his life through the whole of dakshinayana, waiting for uttarayana to begin, because a death in the northward half of the year was held to carry a better passage. He gave up his life on Makara Sankranti.
A third is Ganga's. Bhagiratha brought the river down to release the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of Sagara, and on this day the Ganga followed him to the sea at Gangasagar. The bathing that is central to the day across northern and eastern India is the memory of that.
How it differs by region
- In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it runs three or four days — Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma and in some districts Mukkanuma — with muggulu and gobbemmalu, haridasu and gangireddu processions, and ariselu.
- In Tamil Nadu it is Pongal, four days, and the newly harvested rice is boiled with milk until it spills over the pot; the spilling is the point, and the cry of 'Pongalo pongal' goes up when it does.
- In Karnataka it is Sankranti, with ellu-bella — sesame, jaggery, groundnut and dry coconut — exchanged with the words 'take this and speak sweetly'.
- In Punjab the bonfire the night before is Lohri and the day itself Maghi; in Assam it is Magh Bihu with its temporary bamboo structures; in Gujarat, Uttarayan, when the sky over Ahmedabad fills with kites.
- In Bengal it is Poush Sankranti and the great bathing is at Gangasagar, where the Ganga meets the sea.
Common questions
Why does Makara Sankranti fall on the same date every year?
Because it is a solar event — the sun entering the sidereal Makara — rather than a lunar one. Lunar festivals drift by about eleven days a year; this one does not.
Why is it in January and not at the winter solstice?
It tracks the sidereal position, not the solstice. The two coincided about seventeen centuries ago and have drifted apart through precession of the equinoxes, at roughly fifty arc-seconds a year.
What is punya kala?
The auspicious period reckoned from the moment of the sankranti itself, used for bathing, ancestral offerings and giving. Because it is anchored to an astronomical instant, it differs by a few hours depending on your longitude.
What are the four days of Telugu Sankranti?
Bhogi, with its dawn bonfire; Sankranti itself; Kanuma, which honours the cattle; and Mukkanuma, kept in some districts as a fourth day.
What are gobbemmalu?
Mounds of cow dung topped with pumpkin flowers and turmeric, placed in the muggu at the entrance. They are particular to the Telugu observance and are made by the girls of the house.
Is Makara Sankranti the same as Pongal?
The same solar event, kept differently. Pongal in Tamil Nadu centres on boiling the new rice until it spills; the Telugu observance centres on Bhogi, the muggulu and Kanuma.
Slokas
జపాకుసుమ సంకాశం కాశ్యపేయం మహాద్యుతిమ్ ।తమోఽరిం సర్వపాపఘ్నం ప్రణతోఽస్మి దివాకరమ్ ॥
Radiant as the hibiscus flower, son of Kashyapa, of great brilliance, foe of darkness, destroyer of all sin — I bow to the maker of day, the Sun.
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