Dattatreya Jayanti 2026
दत्तात्रेय जयंतीWednesday 23 December 2026 · in 53 days
Datta Jayanti celebrates the birth of Lord Dattatreya, in whom Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are worshipped as one. It is kept at dusk on the full moon of Margashirsha.
Pujas for Dattatreya Jayanti, in order
Dattatreya Jayanti 2026: date and timings
- Date
- Wednesday 23 December 2026
- Tithi
- Margashirsha Purnima
- Purnima begins
- 10:48 AM, 23 December
- Purnima ends
- 6:58 AM, 24 December
- Sunrise
- 7:10 AM
- Sunset
- 5:29 PM
Times for New Delhi (IST). Use the city button above for your own city.
Other years
Dattatreya Jayanti 2027: date and timings
- Date
- Monday 13 December 2027
- Tithi
- Margashirsha Purnima
- Purnima begins
- 11:56 PM, 12 December
- Purnima ends
- 9:39 PM, 13 December
- Sunrise
- 7:04 AM
- Sunset
- 5:25 PM
How to observe
- Keep a fast through the day if that is your family's custom.
- At dusk, place Dattatreya's image in a decorated cradle and sing birth songs.
- Offer flowers, tulsi and sweets, and perform aarti.
- Pray by an audumbar tree or visit a Datta temple.
- Share prasad with family and visitors after the evening worship.
For your chart
Add your birth details to see whether Dattatreya Jayanti lines up with your birth nakshatra or tithi.
Coming up after Dattatreya Jayanti
About Dattatreya Jayanti
Dattatreya Jayanti, or Datta Jayanti, falls on Margashirsha Purnima. Dattatreya is worshipped as the combined form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and is usually shown with three faces and six arms, standing by an audumbar tree, with a cow behind him and four dogs at his feet.
He was born to the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, who was honoured far and wide for her devotion and purity of heart. In the story, the three gods came to her hermitage to see this devotion for themselves, and were so pleased by her that they blessed her with a son who carried all three of them. That son was Dattatreya, whose name means the one given, son of Atri. He is revered as the first guru, and is said to have learned from twenty-four teachers found in nature, among them the earth, water, the sky, the moon and the bee.
Datta Jayanti is kept with great devotion in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Datta temples at Ganagapur in Karnataka and at Audumbar and Narsobawadi in Maharashtra draw large gatherings, and many temples hold a week of recitation and bhajans leading up to the day.
Dattatreya is believed to have been born at dusk, so the main worship is held in the evening. In many temples and homes the image is placed in a decorated cradle and gently rocked while birth songs are sung, followed by aarti and prasad. Devotees offer flowers, tulsi and sweets, pray by the audumbar tree, and some keep a fast through the day. Because the birth is celebrated at dusk, the day is chosen by the Purnima present in the evening. The date shown above is worked out this way for your place.