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Sankranti · the Sun enters a new sign
Fri, 15 Jan
Makar Sankranti 2027 is on Friday, 15 January. The Sun enters Capricorn at 9:10 PM on 14 Jan 2027 in New Delhi.
2028: Saturday, 15 January 2028
Sun enters Capricorn
14 Jan, 9:10 PM
In Tamil Nadu this day is Thai Pongal: Bhogi to Kaanum Pongal, Thu 14 Jan to Sun 17 Jan →
Also called Uttarayan, Magh Bihu. 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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Friday, 15 January 2027
Makar Sankranti is a solar observance: it is kept when the Sun enters Capricorn in the sidereal zodiac. That instant is computed below.
The ingress falls after sunset. The rule used here is the widely-published one: punya kaal belongs to the day of the ingress unless the Sun crosses after sunset, in which case it is kept the following day. That is why the date above is a day later than the instant.
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.
Makar Sankranti is the day the Sun enters Makara (Capricorn) in the sidereal zodiac and begins its northward course, Uttarayan: a day for a holy dip, an offering of water to the Sun, sesame and jaggery, khichdi and generous daan. In New Delhi it falls on Friday, 15 January 2027, and the punya kaal for the bath and the daan is 7:14 AM to 5:46 PM, with its most valued part, the maha punya kaal, 7:14 AM to 9:00 AM. Tamil Nadu keeps the same day as Thai Pongal, Gujarat as Uttarayan, Assam as Magh Bihu and Punjab as Maghi.
| Muhurat | Time in New Delhi | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Punya Kaal (snan and daan) | 7:14 AM to 5:46 PMThe Sun entered Capricorn at night, so the punya kaal is the next day, sunrise to sunset. | The window that carries the merit of the Sankranti: the bath, the daan of sesame, jaggery, khichdi and warm clothes, the arghya and the tarpan. The dharmashastra gives the hours after the Sun's entry into Makara to these acts and keeps them to daylight. When the entry is by day, the window runs from it to sunset; when it comes after sunset, the whole of the next day, sunrise to sunset, is the punya kaal, and the festival is kept that day. |
| Maha Punya Kaal | 7:14 AM to 9:00 AMFrom sunrise, for five ghatis (a sixth of the day). | The first five ghatis of the punya kaal, a sixth of the day: its most valued part, at which families aim the holy dip and the first daan. In a year when the Sun enters Makara at night, it opens at the next sunrise. |
| Sunrise (Surya arghya) | 7:14 AMThe upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction. | Water is offered to the rising Sun from a copper lota on Sankranti morning, with red flowers, rice, a pinch of sesame and jaggery. The Sun rises in New Delhi at 7:14 AM; offer the arghya soon after, while the Sun is low. |
| Brahma Muhurta (the early bath) | 5:26 AM to 6:20 AMThe 14th of the night's fifteen muhurtas, ending one muhurta before sunrise. | The muhurtas before dawn, when bathers enter the Ganga at Prayagraj, Haridwar and Ganga Sagar and many families bathe at home with sesame. In a year when the punya kaal opens later in the day, the early bath is still kept by custom, and the daan is then given inside the punya kaal. |
| Sunset (the punya kaal closes) | 5:46 PMThe upper edge of the Sun leaving the horizon. | By the classical rule the merit of a sankranti belongs to daylight, so the punya kaal ends at sunset in New Delhi. The holy dip and the daan are not carried into the night; when the Sun enters Makara after dark, they move to the next day. |
| Auspicious choghadiya (day) |
| The day's Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Chal choghadiyas. Families who like to begin a purchase, a journey or new work in a good choghadiya use these; for the bath and the daan, the punya kaal comes first. |
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Friday, 15 January 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.
Wake before sunrise. Rub a little sesame (til) paste on the body, or add a few black sesame seeds and a few drops of Ganga jal to the bath water. Bathe at a river or a sangam if you can reach one safely, at home if not, and wear clean, bright clothes; warm ones are fine, it is January.
Fill a copper lota with water and add roli or red sandalwood, a red flower, a few grains of rice, a pinch of sesame and a little jaggery. Face east and pour it in a slow stream towards the rising Sun, saying Om Suryaya Namah or the arghya verse three times. Let the water fall into a plant or a clean vessel, not on your feet.
Hold water, rice, sesame and a coin in the right hand, say your name, gotra and place, and that you will bathe, worship and give daan on Makar Sankranti for the well-being of the family. Let the water fall to the ground.
Light a ghee lamp and incense before an image of Surya, Vishnu or your family deity. Offer roli, rice, red flowers, sesame, jaggery and a til laddoo. Many families also place before the deity the uncooked khichdi (rice, urad dal, salt and ghee) that will be given away.
Recite the Gayatri mantra or the Surya mantra on a mala, or the Aditya Hridayam once; it is in the Valmiki Ramayana, where the sage Agastya teaches it to Rama. Read the stories of Bhishma and of Ganga Sagar with the family.
Families who keep it offer water with black sesame to their ancestors, facing south, naming each one. A sankranti is one of the days the tradition sets aside for it.
Inside the punya kaal (7:14 AM to 5:46 PM), give sesame, jaggery, uncooked khichdi, ghee, a blanket or warm clothes and some money to someone in need, a temple or a priest. Give with respect, quietly if you like (gupt daan), and never things that are torn or worn out.
Give green fodder, or a little jaggery, to a cow and grain to the birds. In Gujarat the cow is fed on Uttarayan morning; in Kumaon children call the crows with sweet ghughute the next day.
Cook khichdi of new rice and urad dal with ghee, offer it as bhog and eat it together, with til laddoos, gajak or chikki. In Bihar the meal is dahi-chura with tilkut; in Tamil Nadu the sweet pongal is boiled over in a new pot.
Give til-gud to neighbours and elders and touch their feet. In Maharashtra the words travel with the sweet: til-gul ghya, god god bola, take sesame and jaggery and speak sweetly. It is a day for mending a quarrel.
Where kites are flown, use cotton thread, never glass-coated or nylon (Chinese) manja, which cuts birds and riders and is banned in many states. Keep children off unguarded roofs and away from power lines, and stop at dusk, when birds fly home.
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.
ॐ ह्रां ह्रीं ह्रौं सः सूर्याय नमः
Om Hraam Hreem Hraum Sah Suryaya Namah
Meaning: Om, the seed syllables of Surya, and salutation to Surya.
When and how: 108 times on a mala, facing east, in the morning; it is the Sun's planetary mantra, used through the year on Sundays as well.
Makara is the sign of Shani, and Shani is the son of Surya. A popular telling says the father and son were long estranged, and that on this day Surya comes to his son's house; Shani, it is said, welcomed him with black sesame, all he had to offer, and the visit ended the quarrel. So sesame is offered to the Sun on Sankranti and shared as til-gud, with the words that go with it: eat the sweet and speak sweetly.
The Mahabharata tells of Bhishma, struck down by Arjuna's arrows and lying on a bed of them, who had the boon of choosing the hour of his death. He waited, teaching Yudhishthira the duties of kings, until the Sun had turned north, and gave up his body in Uttarayan. The Bhagavad Gita, in its eighth chapter, names the six months of the Sun's northern course among the bright path of those who reach the highest; that is why Uttarayan is held auspicious.
Bengal remembers the descent of the Ganga. The sixty thousand sons of King Sagara had been burnt to ash at the ashram of the sage Kapila, and only the water of the heavenly Ganga could free them. Bhagiratha brought her down; she followed his chariot to the sea, and tradition says she reached Kapila's ashram and the ocean on Makar Sankranti. That is why pilgrims gather for the Ganga Sagar Mela, where the river meets the Bay of Bengal, on this day.
Makar Sankranti is one of the few Hindu festivals fixed by the Sun, not the Moon: it is the Sun's entry into sidereal Makara, which is why it falls on 14 or 15 January and moves only slowly over the centuries. It closes kharmas, the month of the Sun in Dhanu when weddings and new beginnings are set aside, and opens Uttarayan, the six months tradition calls the day of the gods. Astronomically the Sun begins to rise further north each day from the winter solstice, about three weeks earlier; the festival keeps the name from the age when the solstice and the entry into Makara fell together.
It is a harvest festival across India: the sugarcane, sesame and new rice of winter go into its sweets, and the daan of sesame, jaggery, blankets and khichdi shares the harvest when the cold is sharpest. The same day is Pongal, Uttarayan, Magh Bihu, Maghi, Khichdi and Poush Sankranti, and it is one of the main bathing days of the Magh Mela at Prayagraj.
Bathe with a little sesame and offer sesame in the water to the Sun. Tradition counts sesame among the most purifying offerings, and on Makar Sankranti it is the gift of the day.
Give sesame, jaggery and uncooked khichdi in the punya kaal, as families in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar do. It is believed that what is given on a sankranti returns many times over; give what you can, with respect.
Give a blanket or warm clothes to someone who sleeps outdoors. Of all the Sankranti daan, this is the one that meets a real need in January.
Offer green fodder or jaggery to a cow and grain to birds; it is a traditional act of gratitude for the harvest.
Recite the Aditya Hridayam, or listen to it attentively, after the arghya. Rama recited it before his battle, at Agastya's advice, and families keep it as a prayer for strength and clarity.
Offer water with black sesame to your ancestors, facing south. A sankranti is one of the days the tradition sets aside for remembering them.
Because Makara is Shani's sign, some families light a sesame-oil lamp and give black sesame in his name on this day. It is a custom of respect, not a cure for anything.
Share til-gud with someone you have quarrelled with and speak kindly. Tradition says the sweetness of the day should reach the tongue as well as the plate.
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 | Monday, 15 January 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Tuesday, 14 January 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | Wednesday, 14 January 2026 | past |
| 2027 | Friday, 15 January 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Saturday, 15 January 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.
In 2027, for New Delhi: Some calendars print the punya kaal from a fixed table: the same sunrise every year and an entry time moved on by an average year. The Sun enters Makar at 9:10 PM on 14 January, after sunset, so the punya kaal is the next day, sunrise to sunset.
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.
Friday, 15 January 2027. The Sun enters Capricorn at 9:10 PM on 14 Jan 2027 in New Delhi, which is after sunset, so the punya kaal is kept the following day.
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.
In New Delhi, Makar Sankranti is on Friday, 15 January 2027. It follows the Sun's entry into Makara, which this page computes for your city. When the entry falls before sunset, that day is the festival; when it falls after sunset, the punya kaal and the festival move to the next day. That is why it is 14 January in some years and 15 January in others.
The punya kaal is the daylight window after the Sun enters Makara, kept for the holy dip, the arghya and the daan; in New Delhi it is 7:14 AM to 5:46 PM. The maha punya kaal, its first five ghatis, is 7:14 AM to 9:00 AM, the most valued time for the bath and the first daan. When the Sun enters Makara at night, both move to the next day from sunrise.
It marks the Sun's entry into Makara and the start of Uttarayan, the six months of the Sun's northward course that tradition holds auspicious. It ends kharmas, the month in which weddings are set aside, and it is the harvest festival of winter, shared through the daan of sesame, jaggery, khichdi and blankets. Popular tradition also remembers it as the day Surya visits his son Shani.
The classic daan of the day is sesame (black and white), jaggery, uncooked khichdi of rice and urad dal, ghee, and a blanket or warm clothes, with a little money. Give it inside the punya kaal (7:14 AM to 5:46 PM), in daylight, to someone in need, a temple or a priest. There is no rule by zodiac sign; the classical list suits everyone.
Bathe early with a little sesame, offer water to the rising Sun from a copper lota with red flowers, rice, sesame and jaggery, and take a sankalp. Light a lamp before Surya or your family deity, offer sesame, jaggery and til laddoos, chant the Gayatri or the Surya mantra, give your daan in the punya kaal and eat khichdi with the family. The step-by-step vidhi above follows that order.
Khichdi of new rice and urad dal is the meal of the day across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, so much so that the festival is called Khichdi there; it is cooked, offered and given away. So yes, rice is eaten. Only in a year when Sankranti falls on an Ekadashi do families keeping the Ekadashi fast avoid rice and cook their khichdi the next day.
Kite flying is the festival's great pastime in Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra and Telangana: a day outdoors in the winter Sun, on the rooftops, with family and neighbours. Tradition links it to welcoming the Sun's northward turn. Fly with cotton thread only, never glass-coated or nylon manja, keep away from power lines and stop at dusk when the birds fly home.
Makar Sankranti is the one festival on which Maharashtrian families welcome black: new black sarees and kurtas are worn, especially by newly-weds, along with jewellery of sugar-coated sesame. The usual reason given is the season, black taking in the warmth of the winter Sun; it is a regional custom, not a rule for everyone.
Pongal, Uttarayan, Magh Bihu, Maghi and Khichdi are regional names for the same solar festival, kept on the day the Sun enters Makara, with their own customs; Pongal runs for four days around it. Lohri is different: it is Punjab's bonfire night on the eve of Makar Sankranti, and Maghi follows it the next morning.
Almost everywhere in India, under different names: Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Sankranti in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi in Punjab, Khichdi in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Poush Sankranti in Bengal, Makara Vilakku at Sabarimala in Kerala, Ghughutiya in Kumaon, and Maghe Sankranti in Nepal.
Sankranti means the Sun's passage from one sign to the next, which happens twelve times a year; Makar Sankranti is its entry into Makara. Astronomically the Sun's northward movement begins at the winter solstice, about three weeks earlier; the festival keeps the name Uttarayan from the age, many centuries ago, when the solstice and the entry into Makara fell together.
In Maharashtra, married women invite each other home between Makar Sankranti and Ratha Saptami for haldi-kunku: turmeric and kumkum are applied, til-gul is served and each guest is given vaan, a small useful gift such as a steel bowl, a plant or a book. A bride's first Sankranti is marked with special care.
Makar Sankranti ends kharmas, so the season for weddings and griha pravesh reopens with it. The Sankranti day itself is kept for the bath, worship and daan; for a griha pravesh or wedding, families choose a muhurat on a suitable day after it. Buying gold or new things on the day is a personal choice, not a ritual of the festival.
The day begins with a full bath, and most families bathe with sesame and wash their hair as part of it. Many North Indian homes keep the day vegetarian because it is a day of snan and daan, while harvest feasts elsewhere differ; Magh Bihu in Assam is a feast with fish and meat. Follow your family's custom.
No remedy comes with a guarantee. The upay in this guide, from sesame in the bath to a blanket for someone in the cold, are traditional acts of purification, gratitude and generosity that families have kept for generations. Keep them for what they mean, and seek proper advice for health, money or family matters.
