Festival · Surya Dev

Makar Sankranti

Name: Makar Sankranti
Start: 2027-01-15
End: 2027-01-15
Location: Lucknow

The Sun enters sidereal Makara (Capricorn); a major day of snana, daan and Surya worship.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 26.8393°, 80.9231° Asia/Kolkata (UTC+05:30) North Indian · Lahiri (calibrated)

Panchang for 15/01/2027 (Fri) All dates

Next date January 2027 15 Friday in 103 days

CategoryFestival Major
DeitySurya Dev
Defining tithi / momentExact moment: 21:14 (previous day)

Timings on Friday, 15 January 2027

Punya Kaal 06:56 to 17:34 10 h 38 min · 15/01/2027 (Fri)
Maha Punya Kaal 06:56 to 08:42 1 h 46 min · 15/01/2027 (Fri)

Rule applied: Smarta — Makara Sankranti at night: the Punya Kaal moves to the next day, from sunrise. (Setting: Sankranti Punya Kaal: classical ghati spans per Sankranti type (as in most North Indian Panchangs))

Why this date?

Makara Sankranti at night: the Punya Kaal moves to the next day, from sunrise.

Puja vidhi

Mantra & Bhakti

All mantras, aartis and stotras for this festival

Recipes, stories and temples

Prasad to make

Story for children

Thank you, Sun! Makar Sankranti and Pongal

Across India

How this festival is celebrated in different regions, with the regional names and each date's rule.

Read the regional guide

How the date is determined

It is the moment the Sun enters sidereal Makara (Capricorn).
The day and Punya Kaal follow the classical ghati spans for each kind of Sankranti (ghati = 1/30 of the daytime): Makara 40 after, Karka 30 before, Mesha and Tula 10 before and after, Vrishabha, Simha, Vrishchika and Kumbha 16 before, Mithuna, Kanya, Dhanu and Meena 16 after, kept within sunrise–sunset; Maha Punya Kaal is 5 ghatis. A Sankranti at night before midnight counts in the same day's afternoon, after midnight in the next morning (Makara always the next day).
Sidereal positions use the ayanamsa of your calculation profile; a different ayanamsa can shift the moment by several minutes.

Traditional variation

If the Sankranti moment falls after sunset, most North Indian Panchangs observe it the next day. Tamil, Kerala and Bengal rules for the solar-month start differ slightly.

This is the date given by the rule shown above for the selected place. It is not the only valid date: regional Panchangs, family customs and sampradayas may observe it on a different day.

Rule source: Sidereal solar ingress (profile ayanamsa); observed the next day if the ingress is after sunset

Traditions may vary by region and Panchang convention. Times are shown for the selected place, time zone and calculation profile.

Calculated with engine 1.4.2 · rules rules-2026-09-29-a0a4505e · profile north-lahiri-calibrated v1 · ayanamsa lahiri_drik_compat · astronomy-engine@2.1.19 · Asia/Kolkata

Dates in 2026

Makar Sankranti — 2026
Date	Defining tithi / moment	Time windows	Decision notes
14/01/2026 (Wed)	Exact moment: 15:13	Punya Kaal 15:13 to 17:34 (2 h 21 min) Maha Punya Kaal 15:13 to 16:59 (1 h 46 min)	Daytime Sankranti (Ayana: Makara 40 ghatis after, Karka 30 ghatis before), within sunrise–sunset.

Dates in 2027

Makar Sankranti — 2027
Date	Defining tithi / moment	Time windows	Decision notes
15/01/2027 (Fri) Next	Exact moment: 21:14 (previous day)	Punya Kaal 06:56 to 17:34 (10 h 38 min) Maha Punya Kaal 06:56 to 08:42 (1 h 46 min)	Makara Sankranti at night: the Punya Kaal moves to the next day, from sunrise.