Recurring / Monthly · Once every month, year-round
Also known as Sankashti Ganesh Chaturthi · Sankatahara Chaturthi
When it's kept
Recurring or moving vrats are best checked against this month's panchang for the exact next date.
Significance
Sankashti — literally 'deliverance from difficulty' — is kept to seek Lord Ganesha's help in removing obstacles from a devotee's path, whether in health, work, or family matters. It is one of the most widely kept monthly vrats among Ganesha devotees.
The story
Puranic accounts describe several of Ganesha's own obstacle-removing feats — most often recalled is the tale of the Kolhapur or Mathura-associated Sankashti legend, in which a devotee's fast and Ganesha-worship on this tithi relieves a specific hardship, giving the day its name and its enduring practice of fasting until moonrise.
Rituals
Across India
Especially prominent in Maharashtra, where it is kept by a large share of Ganesha-devotee households every month without fail, and in other Ganesha-centric traditions across Western and Southern India. Angarki Chaturthi (on a Tuesday) draws the largest observance of the year.
Questions
Sankashti means 'deliverance from difficulty'. The vrat is kept monthly, on the fourth tithi of the dark fortnight, to seek Lord Ganesha's help in removing obstacles.
Traditionally only after moonrise in the evening, when the devotee offers arghya (water) to the moon before eating.
When Sankashti Chaturthi falls on a Tuesday, it is called Angarki Chaturthi and is considered the most powerful occurrence of the vrat in the year.
Book a pooja in your name, or check this month’s panchang for the exact next date.
