Karva Chauth 2026: fasting rules and sargi

The rules of the fast

• Karva Chauth in the texts: the Karaka vrata of the Narada Purana Text

  The Narada Purana (Purvabhaga, chapter 113, verses 43–50) gives the rite of the ‘Karaka’ vrata on Kartik Krishna Chaturthi. After bathing and dressing, the woman worships Ganesha, places before him ten karvas (pots) filled with cooked food and offers them, then gives them to married women and brahmins. At night, when the moon rises, she offers arghya with due rite and eats sweet food. The text gives the right to this vrata to women, and says it is kept for twelve or sixteen years and then completed with an udyapana, or kept for life.

  Sources: Narada Purana, Purvabhaga 113.43–50 (the Karaka vrata), Sanskrit Wikisource; Naradiya Mahapurana (Sanskrit), Nag Publishers edition; The Narada Purana, part 4 (English translation), Motilal Banarsidass

• Which Chaturthi, whom to worship, who keeps it Text

  According to Gita Press’s ‘Vrat-Parichay’, the vrata is kept on the Kartik Krishna Chaturthi that holds at moonrise. Shiva and Parvati, Swami Kartikeya and the Moon are worshipped; Drik Panchang adds Ganesha and puts Parvati’s puja first. The vrata is kept above all by married women, and ‘Vrat-Parichay’ also names girls married that year.

  Sources: Gita Press, Vrat-Parichay (Pt. Hanuman Sharma), pp. 152–153 (Karaka Chaturthi); Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth puja vidhi

• From sunrise to moonrise, without food or water Custom

  In common practice the fast is kept from sunrise until the moon is seen, without food or water; the sankalpa Drik Panchang gives says the same. The Narada Purana does not use the word ‘nirjala’; it says to eat after the arghya at moonrise. So going without water is given here as the common practice.

  Sources: Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth 2026, New Delhi; Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth puja vidhi; Webdunia, Karva Chauth sargi and karva, 6 October 2025; Wikipedia: Karva Chauth

• The evening puja and the katha Text

  The puja is done after sunset, in the evening muhurat; women often worship together and tell and hear the Karva Chauth katha. According to ‘Vrat-Parichay’, karvas or laddoos of flour roasted in ghee with khand are offered as naivedya.

  Sources: Gita Press, Vrat-Parichay (Pt. Hanuman Sharma), pp. 152–153 (Karaka Chaturthi); Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth puja vidhi

• Health first

  If you are pregnant, unwell, elderly or on regular medication, keep a hard or waterless fast only after asking your doctor and your elders. A fast is kept in spirit; taking a lighter rule within your strength is still a fast.

What to eat in the sargi

Sargi is a folk custom, not a rule of the texts.

• What sargi is Custom

  Sargi is the meal eaten before the fast begins, before sunrise. By custom the mother-in-law makes it or sends it for her daughter-in-law; the custom is strongest in Punjab, and the practice differs somewhat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

  Sources: Wikipedia: Karva Chauth; Webdunia, Karva Chauth sargi and karva, 6 October 2025; Webdunia, what a karva is and what sargi is, 4 November 2020

• What the sargi thali holds Custom

  In common practice the sargi has pheni (fine vermicelli soaked in milk), fruit, dry fruits and coconut, along with suhag items and clothes. In Uttar Pradesh many homes eat soot pheni with milk and sugar the evening before.

  Sources: Webdunia, Karva Chauth sargi and karva, 6 October 2025; Wikipedia: Karva Chauth

• Finish the sargi before sunrise

  The fast is counted from sunrise, so eat and drink the sargi before it. New Delhi’s sunrise is in the timings box above.

What not to eat

• No meal before moonrise Text

  The Narada Purana says to eat after offering arghya at moonrise, and the rule in the Karva Chauth katha given in ‘Vrat-Parichay’ is the same: the meal comes after moonrise. In the katha, Veeravati eats early after seeing a false moon her brother shows her; so offer arghya only after seeing the moon yourself.

  Sources: Narada Purana, Purvabhaga 113.43–50 (the Karaka vrata), Sanskrit Wikisource; Naradiya Mahapurana (Sanskrit), Nag Publishers edition; Gita Press, Vrat-Parichay (Pt. Hanuman Sharma), pp. 152–153 (Karaka Chaturthi)

• Neither food nor water by day Custom

  In the common waterless practice nothing is eaten or drunk after the sargi until the moon is seen. Homes that follow another practice for health reasons can go by what their elders or their purohit say.

  Sources: Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth puja vidhi; Webdunia, what a karva is and what sargi is, 4 November 2020; Wikipedia: Karva Chauth

How to break the fast

• Arghya to the moon, then the meal Text

  When the moon rises, worship it and offer arghya from the karva, then break the fast. According to ‘Vrat-Parichay’, the cooked naivedya (in the karvas) and dakshina are given to a brahmin, arghya is offered to the moon, and then the meal is eaten; the Narada Purana says sweet food.

  Sources: Gita Press, Vrat-Parichay (Pt. Hanuman Sharma), pp. 152–153 (Karaka Chaturthi); Narada Purana, Purvabhaga 113.43–50 (the Karaka vrata), Sanskrit Wikisource; Drik Panchang: Karwa Chauth puja vidhi

• Seeing through a sieve, and water from the husband’s hand Custom

  In common practice the woman looks at the moon, and then at her husband, through a sieve (or a dupatta), and breaks the fast with a first sip of water from her husband’s hand. This is a folk custom; the texts do not prescribe it.

  Sources: Wikipedia: Karva Chauth

• Baya: the karva and gifts for the mother-in-law Custom

  After the puja the baya is given. According to ‘Vrat-Parichay’, 13 karvas or laddoos from the naivedya, a lota, a cloth and one special karva are given to the husband’s parents; Wikipedia names halwa, puri and mathri, given to the mother-in-law or sister-in-law.

  Sources: Gita Press, Vrat-Parichay (Pt. Hanuman Sharma), pp. 152–153 (Karaka Chaturthi); Wikipedia: Karva Chauth

Read next

• Karva Chauth: moonrise time in your city
• The Karva Chauth katha
• Karva Chauth wishes in Sanskrit, with meaning
• Karva Chauth greeting card
• Ahoi Ashtami

Frequently asked questions