Sankranti 2026
Makar Sankranti 2026 is on Wednesday, 14 January 2026: the Sun enters sidereal Capricorn at 3:07 pm IST. All twelve Sankrantis of 2026, each to the minute.
Read your own chart, free →The Sankrantis of 2026
| Sankranti | The Sun enters | Date | Time (IST) | Kept with it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makar Sankranti | Makara (Capricorn) | Wednesday, 14 January 2026 | 3:07 pm | Uttarāyaṇa — the Sun turns north; Kharmās ends |
| Kumbha Sankranti | Kumbha (Aquarius) | Friday, 13 February 2026 | 4:08 am | — |
| Meena Sankranti | Meena (Pisces) | Sunday, 15 March 2026 | 1:03 am | Kharmās begins |
| Mesha Sankranti | Mesha (Aries) | Tuesday, 14 April 2026 | 9:32 am | Vaisakhi — the solar new year; Kharmās ends |
| Vrishabha Sankranti | Vrishabha (Taurus) | Friday, 15 May 2026 | 6:22 am | — |
| Mithuna Sankranti | Mithuna (Gemini) | Monday, 15 June 2026 | 12:53 pm | — |
| Karka Sankranti | Karka (Cancer) | Thursday, 16 July 2026 | 11:39 pm | — |
| Simha Sankranti | Simha (Leo) | Monday, 17 August 2026 | 7:58 am | — |
| Kanya Sankranti | Kanya (Virgo) | Thursday, 17 September 2026 | 7:52 am | — |
| Tula Sankranti | Tula (Libra) | Saturday, 17 October 2026 | 7:51 pm | — |
| Vrischika Sankranti | Vrischika (Scorpio) | Monday, 16 November 2026 | 7:43 pm | — |
| Dhanu Sankranti | Dhanu (Sagittarius) | Wednesday, 16 December 2026 | 10:25 am | Kharmās begins |
What a Sankranti is
A Sankrānti is the moment the Sun enters a new sign — twelve in a year, one each solar month. The signs are the sidereal ones that Indian almanacs use (the Lahiri ayanāṁśa), about 24° from the tropical signs of Western astrology; that is why Makar Sankranti falls in mid-January, weeks after the Sun reaches tropical Capricorn at the December solstice.
Makar Sankranti, the Sun's entry into Makara, begins Uttarāyaṇa, the Sun's northward half of the year. Meṣa Sankranti is the solar new year, kept as Vaisakhi. While the Sun is in Dhanu and in Mīna — from Dhanu Sankranti to Makar Sankranti, and from Mīna Sankranti to Meṣa Sankranti — many communities keep Kharmās and set weddings, engagements and housewarmings aside.
The times are the moment of the ingress, for the Sun's apparent place (the convention India's almanacs print); almanacs differ among themselves by a few minutes, from small differences in how they reckon the ayanāṁśa. The day a Sankrānti is kept — its puṇya kāla, the window for the bath and charity — is reckoned around that moment, and the rule differs from one Sankrānti to another and by region, so one that falls late in the day may be kept that day or the next: follow your own almanac for the day.
The new and full moons of the year are on Amavasya and Purnima 2026.
See the day from your own chart
The almanac is the same for everyone in a city. Your chart says which of these hours and days lean your way, from your own Moon and your own periods.