Anant Chaturdashi 2027

About Anant Chaturdashi

Anant Chaturdashi falls on the fourteenth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada. Anant means endless, and on this day Vishnu is worshipped in that form, as the Lord who has no beginning and no end, often shown resting on the serpent Shesha, who is also called Anant. Many families keep the Anant vrat as a vow for the wellbeing and steadiness of the home.

The heart of the puja is the anant sutra, a thread coloured with turmeric or kumkum and tied with fourteen knots. It is placed before a symbolic form of Anant, often made of kusha grass, and worshipped with flowers, sandal paste, incense and sweets. After the puja, men usually tie the thread on the right arm and women on the left, and it is worn for some days or until the next year, as family custom says. The vrat katha, the story of Sushila and her husband Kaundinya and their devotion to Anant, is read aloud. Many keep a fast or eat one simple meal.

In Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and beyond, this is also the last day of Ganeshotsav. The large public Ganesha idols worshipped for ten days are taken out in long processions with dhol tasha, dancing and the cry of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya'. In Mumbai and Pune the visarjan processions go on through the night and into the next morning, and families who have kept Ganesha at home for the full ten days also say goodbye on this day.

In the Digambara Jain community, the day closes the Das Lakshana festival.

The Anant puja is usually done in the morning while the Chaturdashi tithi is present, and each family follows its own custom for the thread and the fast.