Karva Chauth in 2026 falls on Thursday, 29 October.
The festival is held in October or November, in the Vikram Samvat month of Kartika. It falls on the fourth day of the waning phase of the moon, called Krishna Paksha. In Sanskrit scriptures it is known as Karaka Chaturthi.
What the day is
Karva Chauth is a Hindu festival celebrated by Hindu women in Northern India, Western India and Nepal. Women keep a fast from sunrise until moonrise, traditionally for the safety and long life of their husbands.
The word karva refers to a small earthen pot of water, and chauth means fourth. The fast is traditionally observed in Nepal, Fiji and the Indian states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. In Andhra Pradesh the same occasion is celebrated as Atla Tadde.
How the day unfolds
- A few days before, married women buy new karvas, or spherical clay pots, and paint designs on them. They also buy adornments, jewellery and puja items such as Karva lamps, matthi and mehndi.
- In Punjab, the pre-dawn meal called sargi always includes fenia. By tradition it is sent or given to the fasting woman by her mother-in-law.
- The fast begins at dawn, and fasting women do not eat or drink during the day. On the day women bathe, wear fine clothes and apply mehndi.
- In the evening, women hold a community ceremony in which a version of the Karva Chauth story is narrated.
- After the moon rises, the woman looks at it through a sieve or the cloth of a dupatta, then looks at her husband's face. He offers her water, and with her first sip the fast is broken.
Regional customs
In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, participants exchange karvas seven times. The first six feris describe activities forbidden during the fast, and the seventh describes the lifting of those restrictions. In Rajasthan, a fasting woman asked whether she is satiated gives a traditional reply.
Jal se Dhapi, Suhaag se na Dhapi
In Uttar Pradesh, a priest or an elderly woman of the family narrates the story of Veeravati, and idols of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha are made from mud.
Legends linked to the festival
According to the legend of Queen Veeravati, she was the only sister of seven brothers. Her brothers created the appearance of moonrise with a mirror in a pipal tree, and she broke her fast by mistake. When she repeated the fast, the legend says, Yama was forced to restore her husband to life.
According to a Mahabharata legend, Draupadi observed the fast on Krishna's advice during Arjuna's absence. According to the legend of Karva, a woman named Karva bound a crocodile that had caught her husband.
A changing observance
In modern North India the festival is regarded as a romantic occasion symbolising the love between a husband and wife. The observance is also spreading among some women from communities, such as migrants in Mumbai, that did not traditionally celebrate it.
What next
Moonrise timings for individual cities for Karva Chauth 2026 are not yet known. Which date the festival falls on in other years is also not yet known.
