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Sankranti · the Sun enters a new sign
Wed, 14 Apr
Mesha Sankranti 2027 is on Wednesday, 14 April. The Sun enters Aries at 3:28 PM on 14 Apr 2027 in New Delhi.
2028: Thursday, 13 April 2028
Sun enters Aries
14 Apr, 3:28 PM
Also called Baisakhi, Vishu, Puthandu. Those are the same observance and the same date, so they share this page rather than competing with it from a second URL.
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Wednesday, 14 April 2027
Mesha Sankranti is a solar observance: it is kept when the Sun enters Aries in the sidereal zodiac. That instant is computed below.
The ingress falls during the day, so the observance is kept on the same date. The instant is computed rather than assumed — the "always the 14th" shortcut has already drifted, and drifts further each leap cycle.
Regional almanacs apply the punya-kaal rule differently, and the Punjabi and Tamil solar calendars fix their own new-year dates. The computed instant above is the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of it.
Mesha Sankranti is the Sun's entry into sidereal Aries, Mesha, the first sign and the sign of its exaltation, and it begins the solar new year that much of India keeps: Baisakhi in Punjab, Vishu in Kerala, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Bohag Bihu in Assam and Pana Sankranti in Odisha, with Pohela Boishakh in Bengal the day after. In New Delhi it falls on Wednesday, 14 April 2027; the punya kaal for the holy bath and charity is 11:11 AM to 6:46 PM, and the maha punya kaal is 1:20 PM to 5:36 PM.
| Muhurat | Time in New Delhi | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Punya Kaal (bath and charity) | 11:11 AM to 6:46 PMTen ghatis either side of the sankranti (a third of the day), within the daylight. | The window that carries the sankranti's merit, for the holy bath, the arghya and the giving. For Mesha it spans ten ghatis either side of the Sun's entry, kept within the daylight; when the entry falls at night, it moves to that afternoon if the entry is before midnight, or to the next morning if after it. The festival is kept on the day of the entry, so the window always falls on the festival day; when the entry comes in the evening, the note with the times says so. |
| Maha Punya Kaal | 1:20 PM to 5:36 PMFive ghatis either side of the sankranti (a sixth of the day). | The narrower heart of the punya kaal: five ghatis either side of the entry, or the last or first sixth of the day when the entry is at night. Families who bathe and give only once aim at it. |
| Brahma Muhurta (the kani) | 4:27 AM to 5:12 AMThe 14th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, ending one muhurta before sunrise. | The hour before dawn, when Kerala's families open their eyes to the Vishukkani, Tulu homes to the Bisu kani and many Tamil homes to their own, before anything else is seen. |
| Sunrise (Surya arghya) | 5:57 AMThe upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction. | The Sun rises in New Delhi at 5:57 AM; water is offered to it from a copper lota soon after, on the day it enters its sign of exaltation. |
| Auspicious choghadiya (day) |
| For opening new account books, as Bengal's traders do with Haal Khata, for purchases and for new work in the solar year, families pick one of the day's good choghadiyas. |
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Wednesday, 14 April 2027, from the sunrise, sunset and the positions of the Sun and Moon for this city. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the evening before; a time on another date carries that date.
In Kerala, coastal Karnataka and many Tamil homes, the family wakes before dawn and is led, eyes closed, to the kani: Krishna's image by a lit lamp, and a bell-metal uruli with raw rice, golden cucumber, konna flowers, fruits, coins and a mirror.
Bathe early, within the punya kaal if you can; rivers and sacred tanks draw crowds, from the Ganga at Haridwar to the sarovar of the Golden Temple. At home, add a little Ganga jal to the water.
Offer water from a copper lota to the rising Sun with red flowers, rice and kumkum, saying the Gayatri or the arghya verse; the Sun has just entered Mesha, its sign of exaltation.
Worship the family deity and hear the new year's panchang read, as Tamil, Kerala and Odia homes do; its forecast for the year is part of the day.
Within the punya kaal, give an earthen pot of water, a hand fan, an umbrella, sattu with jaggery, mangoes or grain: gifts against the heat that begins now.
Sikh families go to the gurdwara for the bhog of the Akhand Path, kirtan, ardas and langar, and join the Nagar Kirtan led by the Panj Pyare.
Draw kolam or rangoli at the door, wear new clothes and take the blessings of elders; in Kerala, elders give the young the Vishukkaineettam, a gift of money.
Cook the region's feast, the Vishu sadhya, Tamil mango pachadi, Odia pana, Assamese pitha, or kheer and sweet rice in Punjab, and share it with neighbours.
Hang a pot that drips water over the tulsi, as Odia homes do with the basundhara theki, and set out water for birds and passers-by through the summer.
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om bhur bhuvah svah
Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitr, the Sun that moves all things; may he inspire our minds. It is a verse of the Rigveda's third book, of the sage Vishvamitra.
When and how: At sunrise, facing east, after the arghya: 11, 21 or 108 times.
एहि सूर्य सहस्रांशो तेजोराशे जगत्पते ।
अनुकम्पय मां भक्त्या गृहाणार्घ्यं दिवाकर ॥
Ehi Surya sahasramsho tejorashe jagatpate
Anukampaya mam bhaktya grihanarghyam Divakara
Meaning: Come, O Surya of a thousand rays, mass of radiance, lord of the world; be gracious to me and accept this arghya offered with devotion, O Divakara.
When and how: While pouring the water at sunrise, three times. A verse of the household ritual manuals; Om Suryaya Namah serves just as well.
जपाकुसुमसङ्काशं काश्यपेयं महाद्युतिम् ।
तमोऽरिं सर्वपापघ्नं प्रणतोऽस्मि दिवाकरम् ॥
Japakusuma-sankasham kashyapeyam mahadyutim
Tamo'rim sarvapapaghnam pranato'smi Divakaram
Meaning: I bow to Divakara the Sun, red as a hibiscus blossom, Kashyapa's brilliant son, foe of darkness, called the remover of every sin.
When and how: The first verse of the Navagraha Stotram, traditionally ascribed to Vyasa. Say it with folded hands at the end of the arghya, once or three times.
कृष्णाय वासुदेवाय हरये परमात्मने ।
प्रणतक्लेशनाशाय गोविन्दाय नमो नमः ॥
Krishnaya Vasudevaya Haraye Paramatmane
Pranata-klesha-nashaya Govindaya namo namah
Meaning: Salutation again and again to Krishna, son of Vasudeva, Hari, the Supreme Self, Govinda, who ends the troubles of those who bow to him. From the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana, the prayer of the kings whom Krishna freed from captivity.
When and how: Said before the Vishukkani, whose centre is Krishna, once or three times.
In jyotisha the Sun's year begins when it enters Mesha, the first sign and the one in which it is exalted. The day's old name, Maha Vishuva Sankranti, recalls the vishuva, the equinox, with which the entry once coincided; the sidereal signs have since drifted against the seasons, so the entry now comes in mid-April, more than three weeks after the March equinox.
For Sikhs, Vaisakhi recalls the day at Anandpur Sahib, at the close of the seventeenth century, when Guru Gobind Singh called for five men ready to give their heads for the faith; the five who rose became the Panj Pyare, the beloved five, the first to be initiated into the Khalsa with amrit. Vaisakhi day is also remembered for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar under colonial rule.
Kerala ties Vishu to Krishna, and one story told there links the day to his victory over the demon Narakasura; the kani, with Krishna at its centre and golden konna flowers around him, is the year's first sight of plenty.
Mesha Sankranti opens the solar year and a season of harvest and new beginnings: the wheat of Punjab and Haryana is ready for the sickle, Assam starts its farming year with Bohag Bihu, and Kerala and Tamil Nadu greet the year with the kani and the first fruits. It is a day for a holy bath, the Sun's worship and gifts against the coming heat, and Odisha keeps Hanuman's birth on it as well.
Communities that count the year by the Moon keep their new year at Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, instead; coastal Karnataka calls this solar one Souramana Ugadi. The same solar new year begins Nepal's year with Baisakh, and is kept as the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka and as Songkran in Thailand.
Offer water to the rising Sun with red flowers; tradition links the Sun, exalted in Mesha, with vigour and confidence.
Give earthen pots of water, hand fans, umbrellas or sattu with jaggery in the punya kaal; tradition counts these as this sankranti's own gifts.
Make the year's first sight a lamp, grain, fruit, gold and the deity's image; tradition holds that the year follows its first sight.
Open new account books with a small puja, as Bengal's traders do with Haal Khata; the solar new year is held auspicious for beginnings.
Keep the tulsi watered with a dripping pot and set out water for birds through the summer; tradition counts this as lasting merit.
Share the new year's meal with neighbours and give food to those in need; the day is a harvest feast, meant to be shared.
Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.
| Year | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Saturday, 13 April 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Monday, 14 April 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | Tuesday, 14 April 2026 | past |
| 2027 | Wednesday, 14 April 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Thursday, 13 April 2028 | upcoming |
Every row is computed for New Delhi from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.
There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.
So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.
In New Delhi, Mesha Sankranti, the day of the Sun's entry into Mesha, is kept on Wednesday, 14 April 2027, and Baisakhi falls on it in most years; when the entry comes late in the day, regional calendars can keep a day's difference. The punya kaal for the bath and charity is 11:11 AM to 6:46 PM.
Nearly, but not exactly. The ingress drifts by about a quarter of a day each year and resets on leap years, so the observance moves between two adjacent dates — which is why it is computed here rather than fixed.
Vishu, the first day of Medam in the Malayalam calendar, comes with Mesha Sankranti, Wednesday, 14 April 2027 in New Delhi; Kerala's calendar starts the month a day later when the Sun enters Mesha late in the day, so Vishu can fall on the day after this date. The kani is seen at dawn, in the Brahma muhurta (4:27 AM to 5:12 AM), before sunrise (5:57 AM).
Puthandu, the first day of Chithirai, usually falls on Mesha Sankranti, Wednesday, 14 April 2027 in New Delhi. The Tamil calendar, though, begins the month on the next day when the Sun enters Mesha after sunset, so in such a year Puthandu is the day after Mesha Sankranti; the note with the times says so. Homes draw kolam, see a tray of fruits, gold and a mirror first thing, eat mango pachadi of sweet, sour and bitter, and hear the new panchangam read.
Pana Sankranti, or Maha Vishuva Sankranti, is the Odia new year, kept with the Sun's entry into Mesha: Wednesday, 14 April 2027 in New Delhi by this page's reckoning. Pana is the day's cooling drink of bel pulp, jaggery, curd, chhena and fruit, offered to the deities and shared, and a pot of water is hung to drip over the tulsi through the summer.
Bohag or Rongali Bihu begins with Goru Bihu on the last day of Chot, the day of the Sun's entry into Mesha, and Manuh Bihu, the Assamese new year's day, follows the next morning; by this page's reckoning the sankranti day is Wednesday, 14 April 2027 in New Delhi. The festivities, with Bihu dances and husori, run for about a week.
It is the window for the holy bath, the arghya and charity, which in New Delhi is 11:11 AM to 6:46 PM, with the maha punya kaal at 1:20 PM to 5:36 PM. By day it spans ten ghatis either side of the Sun's entry; when the entry is at night, it moves to that afternoon if the entry is before midnight, or to the next morning if after it, so it falls on the festival day.
Baisakhi marks the solar new year and the wheat harvest of Punjab and Haryana, and for Sikhs it is the founding day of the Khalsa, when Guru Gobind Singh initiated the Panj Pyare at Anandpur Sahib. It is kept with gurdwara visits, Nagar Kirtans, langar, fairs and bhangra.
A bell-metal uruli holds raw rice, a golden cucumber, konna flowers, mango, jackfruit and other fruits, a halved coconut, betel leaves and areca nut, gold or coins, a folded new cloth and a mirror, set before an image of Krishna with a lit nilavilakku. Families arrange it the night before and see it first thing at dawn.
It is the gift of money that elders give to children and younger members of the family after the Vishukkani, a blessing for a prosperous year; many families also give to helpers and neighbours.
Tamil calendars name each year from a cycle of sixty, beginning with Prabhava, the same cycle the Telugu and Kannada calendars use; the name changes every year and is printed in the panchangam read on Puthandu.
Baisakhi is a holiday in Punjab, Haryana and several other states, and Mesha Sankranti's other names, Vishu, Puthandu, Bohag Bihu and Pana Sankranti, are holidays in their own states; whether banks and offices close depends on that year's official lists from the state governments and the RBI. This page computes the date, not holiday schedules.
Both. The name comes from the month of Vaishakha; Punjabi says Vaisakhi, while Hindi and many other languages say Baisakhi, since the Sanskrit va often becomes ba in the North.
Each regional calendar starts its month by its own rule about the hour of the Sun's entry. This page keeps Mesha Sankranti on the day of the entry, whatever the hour, with the punya kaal that afternoon when the entry comes in the evening. The Tamil calendar begins Chithirai, and with it Puthandu, on the next day when the entry comes after sunset; Kerala's rule moves Vishu a day later when the entry comes late in the day, Bengal begins Boishakh on the day after the sankranti, and Odia almanacs keep an evening entry on the same day. When the entry comes late in the day, check the local almanac.
Indian calendars count the Sun's place against the stars, the sidereal zodiac, while the equinox follows the seasons. The two have drifted about twenty-four degrees apart since they last coincided, about a day every seventy-two years, so the Sun now reaches sidereal Mesha in mid-April, more than three weeks after the March equinox.
Gifts that help in the coming heat: earthen pots of water, hand fans, umbrellas, sandals, sattu with jaggery, mangoes and grain, given in the punya kaal (11:11 AM to 6:46 PM). Many also set out water for passers-by and birds through the summer.
