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Krishna paksha · Chaitra · purnimanta reckoning
Thu, 1 Apr
Dasha Mata Vrat 2027 is on Thursday, 1 April. It is Dashami of Krishna paksha in Chaitra.
2028: Monday, 20 March 2028
Also called Dashamata, Dasha Mata Vrat. 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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Thursday, 1 April 2027
Dasha Mata Vrat is not a Gregorian date. It is Krishna paksha tithi 10 of Chaitra in the purnimanta reckoning, and the Gregorian day it lands on moves by up to a month between years because twelve lunations fall about eleven days short of a solar year.
Sunrise in New Delhi falls at 6:11 AM on that day, and that is the instant the tithi has to be running at for the day to carry the observance. It is computed for this city rather than assumed, because it is what decides the date.
The two instants above are the astronomy and are not in dispute. The day is an interpretation of them: this observance is decided at sunrise, so it belongs to the day whose sunrise the tithi carries — not simply to the day the tithi begins.
Dasha Mata Vrat, Chaitra Krishna Dashami in the North's purnimanta reckoning, the tenth day of the fortnight that opens with Holi, is kept by married women in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, who worship the peepal tree, hear the story of Dasha Mata and tie on a new thread of ten knots for the family's good fortune. In New Delhi it falls on Thursday, 1 April 2027; Dashami runs 10:16 PM (31 Mar) to 12:45 AM (2 Apr), and the puja is done in the morning, after sunrise (6:11 AM).
| Muhurat | Time in New Delhi | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise (the morning puja) | 6:11 AMThe upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction. | The peepal puja and the katha are done in the morning, after the bath; many women finish them before the day's single meal. |
| Brahma Muhurta | 4:39 AM to 5:25 AMThe 14th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, ending one muhurta before sunrise. | The hour before dawn, for the early bath and for preparing the puja thali. |
| Auspicious choghadiya (day) |
| Families who time the puja choose one of the morning's good choghadiyas, listed here with the rest of the day's. |
| Abhijit Muhurat | 12:00 PM to 12:50 PMThe 8th of the day's fifteen muhurtas, around local noon. | The midday muhurta, for those who cannot do the puja in the morning; by convention there is none on a Wednesday. |
| Window | Time in New Delhi | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abhijit Muhurat | 12:00 PM to 12:50 PM | Auspicious |
| Amrit Kaal | 12:38 AM to 2:25 AM | Most Auspicious |
| Brahma Muhurat | 4:39 AM to 5:25 AM | Auspicious |
These are the spans classical muhurta sets aside for beginnings. They are descriptions of a convention, not warnings: the observance is kept on its day regardless, and nothing here needs to be bought, corrected or remedied.
| Window | Time in New Delhi |
|---|---|
| Rahu Kaal | 1:58 PM to 3:32 PM |
| Yamaganda Kaal | 6:11 AM to 7:45 AM |
| Durmuhurta First | 10:20 AM to 11:10 AM |
| Durmuhurta Second | 3:19 PM to 4:09 PM |
| Varjyam | 1:54 PM to 3:41 PM |
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Thursday, 1 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 many homes the women start on the day of colours after Holika Dahan and tell one story of Dasha Mata each day, so that the tenth comes on Dashami.
On Dashami, bathe early, dress in festive clothes and jewellery, and take the sankalp of the vrat for the well-being of the family.
Arrange roli, haldi, mehndi, kajal, akshat, flowers, a lamp, a lota of water, a skein of raw cotton thread and the naivedya on a thali, with the new thread of ten knots for the year.
Go with the other women of the family or the lane to a peepal tree. Pour water at its root, offer roli, haldi, mehndi, kajal, rice and flowers, light the lamp, and wind the raw cotton thread around the trunk as you walk around it.
Sit under the tree and tell or hear the story of Dasha Mata, the tale of King Nal and Queen Damayanti; in Rajasthani homes the telling closes with the short stories of Ganesha and of Lapsi-Tapsi.
Worship the new thread of raw cotton, coloured with haldi and tied in ten knots, and wear it around the neck; last year's thread is set aside with respect, as the family's custom says.
Many women bring home a small piece of the peepal's bark, treated as gold, and keep it with the family's savings.
Most women keep the vrat with a single meal after the puja; in many homes it is a simple meal, and some keep it free of salt.
Touch the feet of the elders, share the prasad, and give something to a woman in need.
मूलतो ब्रह्मरूपाय मध्यतो विष्णुरूपिणे ।
अग्रतः शिवरूपाय वृक्षराजाय ते नमः ॥
Mulato Brahma-rupaya madhyato Vishnu-rupine
Agratah Shiva-rupaya vriksha-rajaya te namah
Meaning: Salutation to you, king of trees: Brahma at the root, Vishnu in the middle and Shiva at the top. A traditional verse of peepal worship.
When and how: Said with folded hands before walking around the peepal.
अश्वत्थः सर्ववृक्षाणां देवर्षीणां च नारदः ।
गन्धर्वाणां चित्ररथः सिद्धानां कपिलो मुनिः ॥
Ashvatthah sarva-vrikshanam devarshinam cha Naradah
Gandharvanam Chitrarathah siddhanam Kapilo munih
Meaning: Among all trees I am the ashvattha, the peepal; among the divine sages, Narada; among the gandharvas, Chitraratha; among the perfected, the sage Kapila. Krishna's words in the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the verse most often given for why the peepal is honoured as a form of Vishnu.
When and how: Read or remembered at the peepal before the puja.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Meaning: Om, salutation to the Lord Vasudeva. The twelve-syllable mantra of Vishnu, which Narada teaches to the boy Dhruva in the Bhagavata Purana.
When and how: Said with each round while winding the thread around the peepal.
सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके ।
शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
Sarva-mangala-mangalye shive sarvartha-sadhike
Sharanye tryambake Gauri Narayani namo'stu te
Meaning: O auspiciousness of all that is auspicious, O gracious one who accomplishes every aim, O refuge, three-eyed Gauri, Narayani: salutation to you. From the Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati), chapter eleven.
When and how: Said to the goddess at the end of the puja, for the household's good fortune.
Dasha means a person's condition or fortune, and Dasha Mata is the goddess who turns a family's dasha from bad to good. Her vrat is a folk observance of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, kept by married women for husband, children and home, and its story is told from memory, mother to daughter, rather than read from a Purana.
The best-known story is a folk retelling that borrows King Nal and Queen Damayanti from the Mahabharata. Damayanti kept the Dasha Mata vrat and wore its thread; the king, thinking a plain cotton thread unworthy of a queen, broke it and threw it into the fire. From that day their dasha turned: they lost their kingdom and wealth and wandered in hardship, parted from each other. When Damayanti kept the vrat again with full faith and tied on a new thread, their fortune came back, the king regained his kingdom and the family was united again.
The details change from village to village, and many homes tell ten stories over the ten days from Holi, ending with this one on Dashami; the lesson is the same everywhere, that faith and patience carry a family through bad times.
Dasha Mata is a day for the household's fortune: women ask the goddess to keep the family's dasha good through the year, and the ten-knotted thread at the neck is a reminder of that prayer until the next Dashami. The peepal, worshipped as the home of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, stands for a long and sheltering life.
It closes the Holi season, on the tenth day counted from the colours and soon after Sheetala Ashtami, or Basoda. In the amanta calendars of western and southern India the same day is called Phalguna Krishna Dashami; the tithi is the same, only the month's name differs.
Wear the new thread of ten knots through the year; tradition holds that it keeps the family's dasha favourable.
Offer water at a peepal's root and light a lamp under it in the evening; peepal worship is believed to bring long life and to ease troubled times.
If your family brings home a little peepal bark from the puja, keep it with the family's savings, as tradition does, as a sign of lasting prosperity; take only a loose flake, without harming the tree.
Plant a peepal or care for one; tradition counts tending a peepal among the most meritorious of acts.
Give grain, a meal or clothes to a woman or family in need; the vrat asks that a household's good fortune be shared.
Remember Damayanti: tradition holds that faith and patience, not fear, turn a bad dasha.
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 | Thursday, 4 April 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Monday, 24 March 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | Friday, 13 March 2026 | past |
| 2027 | Thursday, 1 April 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Monday, 20 March 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, Dasha Mata Vrat is on Thursday, 1 April 2027: Chaitra Krishna Dashami in the North's purnimanta reckoning, the tenth day of the fortnight that opens with Holi, and Dashami runs 10:16 PM (31 Mar) to 12:45 AM (2 Apr). In amanta calendars the same day is called Phalguna Krishna Dashami.
Three honest reasons. The tithi can be running at the deciding moment on two days or on none. North India reckons the month purnimanta and the south and west amanta, which names the same krishna fortnight differently. And almanacs differ on which moment of the day decides an observance. The instants above are the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of them.
There is no separate classical muhurat: the puja is done in the morning of Dashami, after sunrise (6:11 AM), and families who time it use one of the morning's good choghadiyas (Shubh: 6:11 AM to 7:45 AM; Chal: 10:51 AM to 12:25 PM; Labh: 12:25 PM to 1:58 PM; Amrit: 1:58 PM to 3:32 PM; Shubh: 5:05 PM to 6:39 PM). If the morning is not possible, the Abhijit muhurat (12:00 PM to 12:50 PM) is the usual choice.
The best-known katha is a folk retelling of King Nal and Queen Damayanti: the king broke Damayanti's Dasha Mata thread and threw it into the fire, and their fortune turned; they lost their kingdom and wandered in hardship until Damayanti kept the vrat again and tied on a new thread, and their good days returned. The full telling is given above.
Dasha Mata is a folk form of the goddess who governs a family's dasha, its condition and fortune. Married women of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh worship her at the peepal tree on Chaitra Krishna Dashami and ask her to keep the household's fortune good through the year.
After an early bath, the women of a family or lane go to a peepal with a thali of roli, haldi, mehndi, kajal, rice, flowers, water, a lamp and raw cotton thread. They water and worship the tree, wind the thread around it as they walk around, hear the katha, and wear a new thread of ten knots around the neck.
Raw cotton thread, a new dora of ten knots coloured with haldi, roli, haldi, mehndi, kajal, akshat, flowers, a lota of water, a ghee lamp, incense, and a home-made sweet such as lapsi or halwa with fruit for the naivedya, all carried on one thali.
It is a thread of raw cotton, coloured with haldi and tied in ten knots, which is worshipped at the peepal and worn around the neck after the puja. Women keep it on through the year as a sign of the vow, and replace it with a new one at the next Dasha Mata.
Many homes tell one story a day for the ten days from Holi to Dashami. The stories differ from family to family; the tale of King Nal and Queen Damayanti is the central one, told on Dashami, and Rajasthani tellings close with the short stories of Ganesha and of Lapsi-Tapsi. This guide gives the central katha, which is the one every telling shares.
No. Gujarat's Dashama vrat is a different observance of ten days that begins on the new moon of Ashadha, in July or August, with an image of Dashama on a camel and an immersion at the end. Dasha Mata of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is a single day of peepal worship ten days after Holi, which this page computes.
Most women keep the vrat with a single meal after the morning puja, simple and sattvic, and some keep that meal free of salt. Those who are ill, elderly or pregnant can keep a lighter vow; the puja and the katha matter more than the fast.
Dasha Mata is worshipped with folk songs and bhajans that differ from region to region, and there is no single standard aarti; many homes close the puja with a general aarti such as 'Om Jai Jagdish Hare'.
Tradition sees Brahma at the peepal's root, Vishnu in its trunk and Shiva at its crown, and in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that among trees he is the ashvattha, the peepal. A long-lived tree that shelters many, it stands for the lasting good fortune the vrat asks for.
