Sankashti Chaturthiసంకష్టహర చతుర్థి
The waning fourth tithi — Ganesha worship for the removal of obstacles, broken at moonrise.
- Deity
- Ganesha
- Frequency
- Once a lunar month
What Sankashti Chaturthi is
Sankashti means 'deliverance from difficulty', and Sankashti Chaturthi is the krishna paksha chaturthi kept in Ganesha's honour every month. It is one of the most practically motivated observances in the calendar: people keep it when something is stuck. The Angarki Sankashti — when it falls on a Tuesday — is held to be especially potent and is observed on a much larger scale.
Who observes it
Kept across Maharashtra, Karnataka, the Telugu states and Tamil Nadu, most often by householders facing a specific difficulty, and by many as a standing monthly discipline.
Fasting rules
A day-long fast, kept until the moon is sighted. Fruit, milk and non-grain foods are permitted through the day by most. The fast is not broken at sunset but at moonrise, which on a krishna chaturthi is late in the evening.
Pooja vidhanam
Worship of Ganesha with durva grass, red flowers and modaka. Recitation of the Sankashtanashana Ganesha Stotram and of the Ganapati Atharvashirsha. The vrat katha for the month is read, and the fast is broken after offering arghya to the moon.
A note on timing
Moonrise is the operative moment, and it differs by city by a considerable margin — which is the main reason a national moonrise time is of limited use. Check the panchangam for your own location.
2028 dates
Computed from the tithi at sunrise for your selected city. Tap any date for that day's full panchangam.