Makar Sankranti 2026 — Wednesday 14 January
మకర సంక్రాంతి 2026
Pausha Sankramana (Sun enters Makara Rashi) · Sankranti / Pongal / Uttarayan · Punya Kaal 07:13 – 12:31 IST · Maha Punya Kaal 07:13 – 09:24 IST (Hyderabad)
Makar Sankranti 2026 (also called Sankranti / Pongal / Uttarayan) falls on Wednesday, 14 January 2026. Marks the Sun's transit (Sankramana) into Capricorn (Makara Rashi). End of Dakshinayana (southern movement) and start of Uttarayana (northern movement). One of the few solar-calendar festivals in Hinduism. Primary observance: Pre-dawn til-snan (sesame bath), Surya namaskara, til-gud (sesame-jaggery) sweet offering and exchange, gopuja, donation of til + warm clothing + blankets, Bhishma Ashtami (8 days later), bonfires (Bhogi the previous day). Recommended muhurat: Punya Kaal 07:13 – 12:31 IST · Maha Punya Kaal 07:13 – 09:24 IST (Hyderabad).
Makar Sankranti 2026 — Date & Muhurat
| Festival Date | Wednesday, 14 January 2026 |
| Telugu Masa & Tithi | Pausha Sankramana (Sun enters Makara Rashi) |
| Primary Muhurat | Punya Kaal 07:13 – 12:31 IST · Maha Punya Kaal 07:13 – 09:24 IST (Hyderabad) |
| Alternative Names | Sankranti / Pongal / Uttarayan |
All timings computed using Lahiri Ayanamsa Swiss Ephemeris for Hyderabad (17.385°N, 78.486°E). For exact local timings in other cities use our Today's Panchangam tool.
Significance of Makar Sankranti 2026
Marks the Sun's transit (Sankramana) into Capricorn (Makara Rashi). End of Dakshinayana (southern movement) and start of Uttarayana (northern movement). One of the few solar-calendar festivals in Hinduism.
Key Rituals on Makar Sankranti 2026
Pre-dawn til-snan (sesame bath), Surya namaskara, til-gud (sesame-jaggery) sweet offering and exchange, gopuja, donation of til + warm clothing + blankets, Bhishma Ashtami (8 days later), bonfires (Bhogi the previous day).
Makar Sankranti 2026 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)
Items to procure 1-2 days before Makar Sankranti 2026:
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Til (sesame seeds — black + white) |
| 2 | Jaggery (bellam) |
| 3 | Pongal rice + new harvest grain |
| 4 | Surya Yantra/photo |
| 5 | Red flowers + saffron |
| 6 | Ghee lamp + camphor |
| 7 | Coconut + bananas |
| 8 | New clothes (light cotton) |
| 9 | Sugarcane stalks |
| 10 | Til-gud laddoos for distribution |
Regional Variations of Makar Sankranti 2026
4-day Telugu festival: Day 1 Bhogi (bonfire + Bhogi-mantulu), Day 2 Sankranti proper (sun worship + til-gud), Day 3 Kanuma (cattle festival), Day 4 Mukkanuma. Tamil Nadu: Pongal (4 days). Gujarat: Uttarayan kite festival. North India: Lohri (previous evening) + Khichdi. Punjab: Lohri bonfire.
Why Makar Sankranti Is Reckoned by the Sun
Almost every Hindu festival is fixed by the moon — by a tithi in a bright or dark fortnight — which is why the dates move across the Gregorian calendar by two or three weeks from year to year. Makar Sankranti is the exception. It is fixed by the sun alone, by the moment the sun leaves Dhanu rasi and enters Makara, and so it falls within a day of the same mid-January date every year.
That moment is called the Sankranti, and it begins Uttarayana — the sun's six-month northward journey. The tradition treats this as the turn from the dark half of the year to the light: nights begin to shorten, the harvest is in, and the cold begins to break. The Mahabharata has Bhishma lying on his bed of arrows holding on to his life until Uttarayana begins, because the northward passage is regarded as the auspicious half. Older texts call Uttarayana the day of the devas and Dakshinayana their night.
There is a second story attached to the day: Surya, who had been estranged from his son Shani, comes to Shani's house — Makara is Shani's rasi — and the two are reconciled. Because of this the day is kept as a day for repairing relations. Old grievances are set aside, sesame-and-jaggery sweets are exchanged with the words that go with them, and in many households the day is used to visit people one has not spoken to in a while.
The sesame and jaggery are not decorative. Til is warming, jaggery is the harvest's own sugar, and the sweet made of the two is handed over with a request — take this sesame and jaggery, and speak sweetly. A harvest festival, a solar turning point and a day of reconciliation are all the same day.
Makar Sankranti Puja Vidhi — Step by Step
The observance is built around the Punya Kaal — the window around the Sankranti moment itself, when bathing, daana and the sun-facing prayers are held. That window is on this page in the muhurat panel, because the Sankranti instant and therefore the window differ by city.
| Step | What is done |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sesame bath before sunrise — Bathe before sunrise, with sesame seeds or sesame oil added to the water. Where a river, tank or the sea is reachable, the bath is taken there; where it is not, the household bath with a little Ganga jal added is accepted. |
| 2 | Surya Arghya — Facing east, offer water from a copper vessel three times to the rising sun, with red flowers, kumkuma and a few grains of rice in the water. |
| 3 | Surya Namaskara and the Gayatri — Offer the twelve namaskaras where the household keeps them, and chant the Gayatri, which is a sun mantra. |
| 4 | Sankalpa in the Punya Kaal — State the intention for the daana and the vrat inside the Punya Kaal window shown above. This is the step the whole day is arranged around. |
| 5 | Puja of Surya and the household deity — Offer a lamp, dhupa, red flowers, jaggery and sesame. Many households also offer to the new grain of the harvest at this point. |
| 6 | Naivedyam of the season — Offer what the harvest gave — new rice, jaggery, sesame, sugarcane, groundnut, the season's first pongal or kheer cooked in fresh milk. |
| 7 | Daana — Give away sesame, jaggery, rice, dal, ghee, a blanket, warm clothing or cooked khichdi. Til-daana is the giving specifically named for this day. |
| 8 | Pitru tarpanam — Where the family keeps it, offer tarpanam with sesame and water for the ancestors. Uttarayana's beginning is a customary time for it. |
| 9 | Go-puja — The cattle are washed, their horns painted, garlands and bells put on, and they are fed first. In the South this has a day of its own the day after. |
| 10 | Visiting and exchange — Carry til-gul or ellu-bella to neighbours and relatives and exchange the greeting that goes with it. This is the reconciliation half of the festival and it is not optional in the regions that keep it. |
The sesame bath, the arghya to the sun and the daana are the three that every regional version keeps. Everything else — the kites, the bonfire, the four-day sequence, the cattle worship — belongs to a particular region, and no household is expected to keep all of it.
Is There a Fast on Makar Sankranti?
Makar Sankranti is a feast rather than a fast, and this is the point most often misunderstood. There is no prescribed vrat on the day itself.
| Practice | What is customary |
|---|---|
| On the day | No fast. New grain, jaggery, sesame, ghee and the first pongal or kheer of the harvest are eaten and shared. Eating well is part of the observance. |
| The night before | Some households take only a light sattvic meal the previous night so that the pre-dawn bath and the Punya Kaal worship are done on a light stomach. |
| During the Sankranti window | Food is customarily not cooked or eaten during the Punya Kaal itself in some families; the bath, arghya and daana are completed first and the meal follows. |
| What is avoided | Meat, alcohol, onion and garlic are set aside for the day in households that keep the distinction, as on other festival days. |
The one restriction that is widely kept is on the Sankranti moment itself — bath, prayer and giving come before eating. Beyond that the day is a harvest meal, and treating it as a fasting day is a misreading of it.
Mantras Chanted on Makar Sankranti
These are the sun mantras used at the arghya and through the Punya Kaal.
| Mantra | What it means |
|---|---|
| ఓం సూర్యాయ నమః Om Suryaya Namah | The simplest salutation to Surya, used while pouring the arghya water and while offering the lamp. |
| ఓం ఘృణిః సూర్యాయ నమః Om Ghrini Suryaya Namah | The Surya mantra chanted at sunrise, customarily a hundred and eight times facing east. |
| ఓం భూర్భువః స్వః తత్సవితుర్వరేణ్యం భర్గో దేవస్య ధీమహి ధియో యో నః ప్రచోదయాత్ Om bhur bhuvah svah, tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat | The Gayatri, which is addressed to Savitr, the sun. Makar Sankranti is a customary day to chant it in count, since the festival is the sun's own. |
| Til gul ghya, god god bola | Not a mantra but the sentence the day turns on, said in Maharashtra while handing over the sesame-jaggery sweet: take this til and gul, and speak sweetly. The Telugu and Kannada equivalents accompany the same exchange. |
Chant at whatever pace lets the words stay clear. Tradition counts attention, not speed, and a short count said with care is held better than a long one rushed. If a syllable is uncertain, follow your family priest or your temple's recitation rather than a transliteration.
How Makar Sankranti Is Kept Region by Region
No other festival changes its name and its shape so completely from state to state. The sun's entry into Makara is the one thing common to all of them.
| Region | How the day is kept |
|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | Kept over four days — Bhogi, Makara Sankranti, Kanuma and Mukkanuma. Bhogi opens with a pre-dawn bonfire of old and unwanted things, and Bhogi pallu, a mix of regi pallu, petals, coins and sugarcane, is poured over children's heads for protection. Muggulu with gobbemma are drawn at every doorway, ariselu and sakinalu are made, and Kanuma is the cattle's day. Haridasus and decorated gangireddu bulls go from street to street. |
| Tamil Nadu | Kept as Pongal, four days — Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal. On Thai Pongal new rice is boiled with milk and jaggery in a fresh clay pot until it boils over, and the boiling over is the moment of the festival; the cry of pongalo pongal goes up then. Kolam at the door, sugarcane, turmeric tied to the pot. Mattu Pongal honours the cattle. |
| Karnataka | Called Suggi or Makara Sankramana. Ellu-Bella — a mix of sesame, jaggery, copra, groundnut and roasted gram — is carried house to house on a plate along with sugarcane and bananas, and children go in new clothes to hand it over. Cattle are decorated and in some districts led over a fire in the Kichchu Haisodu custom. |
| Maharashtra | Til-gul laddus and halwa are exchanged with the sentence that goes with them. Married women hold Haldi-Kunku gatherings and give small utensils or useful items as vaan. Black is worn on this one day, against the usual custom, because it holds the winter warmth. |
| Gujarat and Rajasthan | Kept as Uttarayan, and the sky belongs to kites from before sunrise until after dark. Undhiyu and chikki are the food. Ahmedabad and Vadodara hold the largest kite gatherings, and the following day, Vasi Uttarayan, continues it. |
| Punjab and Haryana | Lohri is kept the night before with a bonfire, rewri, gajak, popcorn and groundnut thrown into the fire, and the day itself is Maghi, marked with a pre-dawn bath and a visit to the gurdwara. |
| Uttar Pradesh and Bihar | Called Khichdi. The bath at Prayagraj, Varanasi or Haridwar is central, khichdi of rice and urad dal is cooked and given away, and the Magh Mela begins at the Sangam. |
| West Bengal and Odisha | Poush Sankranti and Makara Chaula. Pithe and puli made with new rice, date palm jaggery and coconut, and the Gangasagar Mela at the mouth of the Hooghly draws pilgrims for the bath. |
| Assam | Magh Bihu, also called Bhogali Bihu — the harvest feast. Temporary bamboo and thatch meji and bhela ghar are built, a feast is held in them through the night, and the meji is burned at dawn. |
| Kerala | Sabarimala's Makaravilakku falls on this day, at the end of the pilgrimage season, and is the largest observance in the state. |
Uttarayana, and why the date barely moves
Uttarayana means the northward passage. From the winter solstice the sun's rising point begins to move north along the horizon, and the tradition marks that turn at the sun's entry into Makara. Because it is an event in the sun's own path and not in the moon's, the festival lands on the same one or two Gregorian dates every year while lunar festivals swing across three weeks.
It does drift, but very slowly. The sidereal reckoning our panchangam uses places the ingress against the fixed stars, and precession moves that point by roughly one day in seventy years or so. This is why old texts place the festival close to the solstice itself and it now sits a little later. The date at the top of this page is computed from the ingress itself rather than carried forward from the previous cycle.
Uttarayana is treated as the auspicious half of the year, and the months that follow are the customary season for marriages, housewarmings, upanayanam and the other samskaras, which are largely avoided in the preceding weeks. If you are looking for a date for one of those, the muhurtam pages rather than this one carry the computed windows.
Daana on Makar Sankranti — what is given and why
Giving is the one act the shastra emphasises on this day, and the items named are all things that answer the season. Sesame and jaggery, because the cold needs warming food. A blanket or warm clothing, because the night is the coldest of the year. Cooked khichdi, because it feeds whoever takes it immediately. Ghee, new rice and dal from the harvest, because the harvest is the reason there is anything to give.
In the traditional reckoning the giving is done after the bath and before the household eats, and it is given to whoever actually needs it rather than routed through an institution. Households that keep the older form give thirteen of an item, or give to thirteen people, though the number is custom rather than rule.
The reconciliation half of the day works the same way. The sweet is carried to the house of the person one has fallen out with, and handed over with the sentence about speaking sweetly. The festival makes the approach easy, because everyone is carrying sweets to everyone.
More Questions About Makar Sankranti
Why does Makar Sankranti always fall on nearly the same date when other festivals move?
Is Makar Sankranti the same as Pongal, Lohri and Uttarayan?
What is Punya Kaal and why does it matter?
Why sesame and jaggery specifically?
Why do people fly kites on this day?
Can Makar Sankranti be observed without a river or the sea nearby?
Points Households Most Often Get Wrong
| # | Point |
|---|---|
| 1 | Treating it as a fasting day — There is no prescribed fast on Makar Sankranti. The new grain, the sesame and the jaggery are meant to be eaten and shared. |
| 2 | Doing the bath and daana after the Punya Kaal has closed — The window around the Sankranti moment is the point of the day. Check the muhurat panel above for your city and plan the morning around it. |
| 3 | Assuming the date is the same as the solstice — The solstice and the sidereal entry into Makara are no longer the same day. The festival follows the ingress, which is what this page computes. |
| 4 | Buying sesame sweets and skipping the exchange — The til-gul, ellu-bella and Bhogi pallu customs exist to be carried to other houses. Eaten at home they lose the half of the festival that is about repairing relations. |
| 5 | Flying kites with nylon or glass-coated manja — Coated and synthetic string injures birds and people every year and is banned in several states. Cotton thread keeps the custom without the harm. |