Vivah Panchami 2026
विवाह पंचमीMonday 14 December 2026 · in 44 days
Vivah Panchami is the anniversary of the wedding of Rama and Sita. In Janakpur and Ayodhya the divine wedding is celebrated afresh every year, with a barat, songs and all the rituals of a Hindu wedding.
Pujas for Vivah Panchami, in order
Vivah Panchami 2026: date and timings
- Date
- Monday 14 December 2026
- Tithi
- Margashirsha Shukla Panchami
- Panchami begins
- 4:48 PM, 13 December
- Panchami ends
- 7:17 PM, 14 December
- Sunrise
- 7:05 AM
- Sunset
- 5:25 PM
Times for New Delhi (IST). Use the city button above for your own city.
Other years
Vivah Panchami 2027: date and timings
- Date
- Friday 3 December 2027
- Tithi
- Margashirsha Shukla Panchami
- Panchami begins
- 1:44 PM, 2 December
- Panchami ends
- 4:14 PM, 3 December
- Sunrise
- 6:57 AM
- Sunset
- 5:23 PM
How to observe
- Offer prayers to Rama and Sita with a lamp, flowers and sweets.
- Sing or listen to wedding songs and bhajans about the divine couple.
- Read or listen to the story of the bow and the wedding in Janakpur.
- Visit a Ram temple, or join a local re-enactment of the wedding if there is one.
- Keep a fast if that is your family's custom, and share prasad in the evening.
For your chart
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Coming up after Vivah Panchami
About Vivah Panchami
Vivah Panchami falls on Shukla Panchami in the month of Margashirsha. In the story, King Janaka of Mithila set a test for those who wished to marry his daughter Sita: to lift and string the great bow of Shiva. Kings came from far and wide and could not even move it. Rama lifted it with ease, and as he drew the string the bow broke. Sita placed the garland around his neck, and the wedding was held in Janakpur with joy in both kingdoms.
The day is celebrated most grandly in Janakpur in Nepal, believed to be the land of Sita, and in Ayodhya, the city of Rama. At the Janaki temple in Janakpur and in temples across Ayodhya, the wedding is held as a living ritual over several days: a barat sets out with music, elephants or decorated carts and the images of Rama, and the tilak, kanyadaan and pheras are carried out as they would be for a family wedding. Mithila in Bihar and Ram temples across north India join in with bhajans, Ram katha and wedding songs.
At home, families keep the day with prayers to Rama and Sita, a lamp, flowers and sweets, and the singing of wedding songs, especially the Maithili songs that treat Sita as a daughter of every house. Some keep a fast and read or listen to the story of the wedding.
By custom, many families in Mithila and in parts of north India do not hold their own weddings on Vivah Panchami, even though it celebrates a wedding. They keep the day for the wedding of Rama and Sita alone. This is a matter of family and regional tradition, and each family follows what its elders practise. The Panchami shown above is worked out for your place.