Karva Chauth

Karva Chauth is the day married women, mostly in North and West India, keep a strict fast from sunrise until the moon rises, praying for their husbands’ long life and the well-being of the family. It falls on the Chaturthi of Krishna Paksha in Kartik (Ashwin in the Amanta calendar), four days after Sharad Purnima. In 2026, Karva Chauth is on Thursday, 29 October.

Karva Chauth 2026 moonrise time by city

Calculated for the moon’s upper edge on a clear, flat horizon. In a city, the moon usually becomes visible 10 to 20 minutes later above buildings and haze. Chaturthi tithi lasts until 10:10 PM, so the moon rises within it everywhere in India.

The story of Karva Chauth

The katha most often told is of Veeravati, a young queen and the only sister of seven brothers. Keeping her first Karva Chauth at her parents’ home, she grew faint with hunger. Her brothers could not bear it, so they lit a fire behind a tree and showed her its glow through a sieve, telling her the moon had risen. She broke her fast, and at once news came that her husband had died. Heartbroken, she prayed to Goddess Parvati, kept the fast faithfully for a whole year, and by the goddess’s grace her husband’s life was restored. Other kathas tell of Karva, whose devotion made Yama himself return her husband, and of Draupadi, who kept the fast on Krishna’s advice.

How to keep Karva Chauth

Before dawn: eat the sargi sent by your mother-in-law, drink water, and take a sankalp to keep the fast.

Through the day: no food and, traditionally, no water (nirjala). Women dress in bridal red or festive clothes, apply mehendi and complete the solah shringar.

Evening puja: women gather, usually after sunset, around a picture of Goddess Parvati with Shiva and Ganesha, or Karva Mata drawn on the wall. Each brings a karva (a spouted clay pot) filled with water, a thali with a diya, roli, rice, sweets and a sieve. An elder reads the katha, and the women pass their thalis around the circle seven times (the thali feri) while singing.

At moonrise: look at the moon through the sieve, then at your husband. Offer water to the moon from the karva, pray, and take the first sip of water and bite of food from your husband’s hand.

Karva Chauth puja samagri

Karva (clay pot) with lid, sieve (channi), thali, diya and ghee, roli and haldi, rice, sweets and mathri, a glass of water, flowers, a picture of Karva Mata or Parvati, mehendi, bangles and sindoor for the shringar. The Baya, a gift of sweets, dry fruit and clothes, is given to the mother-in-law after the puja.

A note for elders and the unwell

A full nirjala fast is hard on the body. Pregnant women, diabetics, those on regular medication, and older women may keep a gentler fast with water, milk or fruit, which is fully in the spirit of the vrat. Faith is in the heart, not in going without water.

Four days later, mothers keep the Ahoi Ashtami fast for their children (1 November 2026).