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Karwa Chauth 2026

Karwa Chauth 2026 Moonrise Time by City

There is no one national moonrise — the fast breaks at your own city's chandrodaya, and that shifts with longitude. Kolkata's moon rises over an hour before Mumbai's.

The full moon rising over a city skyline on Karwa Chauth, seen through a decorated chalni sieve
PanchangBodh Editorial
6 min read
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Every news site prints one Karwa Chauth moonrise time, usually Delhi's — and for most of the country it is simply wrong. The moonrise you wait for on Karwa Chauth is your own city's chandrodaya: the moment the moon actually clears the horizon where you are standing. That moment is fixed by longitude and latitude, so it is never a single national figure — it moves across India from east to west, and dips later still at the lower latitudes of the south.

On Thursday, 29 October 2026 the spread is wide. In Kolkata, far to the east, the moon rises first at about 7:42 PM. New Delhi sees it at 8:12 PM, and Mumbai — further south and west — only at about 8:56 PM, a full 74 minutes after Kolkata. A woman in Mumbai who broke her fast on a copied Delhi time would end her vrat 44 minutes before her own moon had even risen. That is why this page lists the chandrodaya for each city, not one figure for all.

Karwa Chauth 2026 at a glance

🗓️

Vrat day

Thu, 29 October 2026

🌙

Earliest moonrise

Kolkata 7:42 PM

🏙️

New Delhi moonrise

8:12 PM

🌃

Latest moonrise

Mumbai 8:56 PM

↔️

Spread across India

About 74 minutes

⏰

Reach the chalni

About 10 min early

The moonrise spread, city to city

Three anchor cities, from earliest to latest

Kolkata

7:42 PM

Earliest — eastern India

New Delhi

8:12 PM

North-India standard

Mumbai

8:56 PM

Latest — south-west coast

These three cities frame the whole range. Kolkata, in the east, sees the earliest moonrise; the moon then rises later the further west and south you travel, so Mumbai's comes last. Everything else falls between them — Lucknow and Patna a little before Delhi, Jaipur and the Rajasthan cities a little after, and the western and southern cities later still. Find your own city in the full table below rather than borrowing a neighbour's minute.

Moonrise time for 40 cities

Your local chandrodaya on 29 October 2026

The table below gives the moonrise for 29 October 2026 in forty cities, the north-Indian cities first and the rest after. Read each time as the moment the moon clears the horizon in that city — the instant you can offer argh through the chalni and break the fast. If your town is not listed, pick the nearest city at a similar longitude and confirm the minute against your local panchang.

CityMoonrise (29 Oct)
New Delhi8:12 PM
Noida8:11 PM
Ghaziabad8:11 PM
Gurugram8:13 PM
Faridabad8:12 PM
Meerut8:09 PM
Agra8:13 PM
Lucknow8:01 PM
Kanpur8:05 PM
Varanasi7:57 PM
Prayagraj8:01 PM
Patna7:47 PM
Jaipur8:23 PM
Jodhpur8:36 PM
Udaipur8:38 PM
Kota8:27 PM
Bikaner8:30 PM
Chandigarh8:07 PM
Ludhiana8:10 PM
Amritsar8:12 PM
Jalandhar8:10 PM
Ambala8:08 PM
Dehradun8:03 PM
Shimla8:04 PM
Jammu8:09 PM
Srinagar8:04 PM
Gwalior8:15 PM
Kolkata7:42 PM
Ranchi7:53 PM
Raipur8:14 PM
Mumbai8:56 PM
Pune8:53 PM
Nagpur8:24 PM
Ahmedabad8:47 PM
Surat8:51 PM
Indore8:34 PM
Bhopal8:26 PM
Hyderabad8:36 PM
Bengaluru8:51 PM
Chennai8:39 PM

How to use these timings

Reach the chalni early, and verify against your own panchang

Three things make the difference on the night. First, reach for the chalni about ten minutes before the time listed for your city — the moon can crest a minute or two early on a clear horizon, and you want the sieve, the diya and the water already in hand. Second, remember the time is your local moonrise, not a national clock; do not act on a Delhi headline if you are in the west or the south. Third, a tall building, a hill or haze on the horizon can delay the sighting by several minutes, so treat the table as the earliest possible moment and confirm the actual tara-darshan with your own eyes. When you see the moon, offer argh, look at it and then at your husband through the chalni, take the first sip and morsel, and the vrat is complete.

Live Panchang

See moonrise and panchang for your exact city

The table covers forty cities. For your own town's moonrise, tithi and choghadiya on 29 October — or any day — open the live panchang and read it for your location.

Today's PanchangToday's Choghadiya

Karwa Chauth moonrise — your questions

Why the time shifts, tara-darshan and breaking the fast

What is the Karwa Chauth 2026 moonrise time?+
There is no single time — the moon rises at a different minute in every city. On Thursday, 29 October 2026 it rises earliest in Kolkata at about 7:42 PM, at 8:12 PM in New Delhi, and latest in Mumbai at about 8:56 PM. That is a spread of roughly 74 minutes across the country, which is why you must read the moonrise for your own city rather than one national figure.
Why is the moonrise time different in each city?+
The moonrise you wait for is your own city’s chandrodaya — the moment the moon clears your horizon — and that depends on longitude and latitude. Cities in the east see the moon first, so it rises later the further west you go, and later again at the lower latitudes of the south. Kolkata’s moon is up more than an hour before Mumbai’s, so a single printed time cannot be right for everyone.
What time does the moon rise in Delhi and Mumbai on Karwa Chauth 2026?+
In New Delhi the moon rises at about 8:12 PM on 29 October 2026, and the NCR cities — Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad — are within a minute or two of that. In Mumbai it rises much later, at about 8:56 PM, because Mumbai lies further south and west. Pune, Surat and Bengaluru are also in the late group, close to 8:50 PM.
How early should I be ready with the chalni?+
Be ready about ten minutes before the moonrise listed for your city. On a clear horizon the moon can appear a minute or two early, and you want the chalni, the diya, the water and the sweets already in hand. A high horizon, tall buildings or haze can instead delay the sighting, so treat the listed time as the earliest possible moment, not a guarantee.
How do you break the Karwa Chauth fast at moonrise?+
When the moon is sighted, offer argh with water, then look at the moon and at your husband through the chalni — the sieve — as tradition holds. After the tara-darshan and the puja, take the first sip of water and a morsel of food from your husband’s hand, and the nirjala vrat is complete. Until the moon rises the fast is kept without food or water.
My city is not in the table — how do I find my moonrise?+
Pick the nearest listed city at roughly the same longitude and latitude and treat its time as a close guide. For the exact minute, open the live panchang and read the moonrise for your own location, since even a hundred kilometres can shift it by a few minutes.
Karwa Chauth 2026 — full guide →
Source & Disclaimer: Moonrise times are computed for the cities named, in IST, using the Lahiri ayanamsha, and give the geometric chandrodaya at each city. A high horizon, tall buildings or haze can delay the actual sighting by a few minutes, so treat the listed time as the earliest possible moment and confirm the moon with your own eyes. Verify your local timing on the panchang before you break the vrat. Anyone fasting who is pregnant, unwell or elderly should follow a doctor's advice rather than a strict nirjala vrat.