Panchang and calendar
Sankashti chaturthi in Vedic astrology
Updated
Sankashti chaturthi: how the API computes it
Sankashti chaturthi is the 4th tithi (lunar day) of the dark half of each lunar month. It is kept as a fast for Ganesha. There are 12 or 13 in a year. It differs from most other fasts in one way: the fast is broken when the Moon rises. So the moonrise time at your place matters, not only the sunrise.
The Moon rises at different times in different cities. So the date can differ between two cities in the same time zone. When Sankashti falls on a Tuesday, it is called Angaraki Sankashti and is seen as especially strong.
GET /v1/vrats returns every Sankashti chaturthi in a calendar year for the place you send. Each comes with the date the fast is kept. The API works out moonrise from the real position of the Moon. So use the user's latitude and longitude, not the city of your server.
Show the moonrise time on the card, because the person fasting needs it more than the date.
Get it from the API
GET /v1/vrats
# New York
curl "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/vrats?year=2026&latitude=40.7128&longitude=-74.006&timezone=America/New_York" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY"{
"year": 2026,
"place": {
"latitude": 40.7128,
"longitude": -74.006,
"timezone": -5,
"timezone_info": {
"source": "zone",
"offset_hours": -5,
"zone": "America/New_York",
"abbreviation": "EST",
"dst": false,
"dst_hours": 0,
"ambiguous_resolved_by_fold": null,
"note": "read from the IANA tz database at this instant, so daylight saving and historical offset changes are included"
},
"note": "this zone changes offset during the year; each time uses the offset in force on its own date (UTC-5 in January, UTC-4 in July) and ends with that offset"
},
"convention": "purnimanta",
"vrats": [
{
"date": "2026-01-02",
"kaal": "sunrise",
"decided_by": "the tithi holds sunrise on no day; kept on the civil day it mostly falls in",
"coverage": 0,
"kaal_at": "2026-01-02T07:20:10-05:00",
"slug": "purnima",
"name": "Pausha Purnima",
"masa": {
"name": "Pausha",
"purnimanta": "Pausha",
"amanta": "Pausha",
"adhika": false,
"paksha": "shukla",
"tithi": 15
},
"tithi": {
"starts": "2026-01-02T08:23:58-05:00",
"ends": "2026-01-03T05:02:54-05:00"
}
},
{
"date": "2026-01-02",
"kaal": "madhyahna",
"decided_by": "the only day the tithi holds madhyahna",
"coverage": 1,
"kaal_window": {
"starts": "2026-01-02T11:04:13-05:00",
"ends": "2026-01-02T12:56:14-05:00"
},
"slug": "purnima-vrat",
"name": "Pausha Purnima vrat",
"masa": {
"name": "Pausha",
"purnimanta": "Pausha",
"amanta": "Pausha",
"adhika": false,
"paksha": "shukla",
"tithi": 15
},
"tithi": {
"starts": "2026-01-02T08:23:58-05:00",
"ends": "2026-01-03T05:02:54-05:00"
}
},
{
"date": "2026-01-06",
"kaal": "moonrise",
"decided_by": "the tithi holds moonrise on no day; kept on the civil day it mostly falls in",
"coverage": 0,
"kaal_at": "2026-01-06T20:43:56-05:00",
"slug": "sankashti-chaturthi",
"name": "Lambodara Sankashti",
"masa": {
"name": "Magha",
"purnimanta": "Magha",
"amanta": "Pausha",
"adhika": false,
"paksha": "krishna",
"tithi": 4
},
"tithi": {
"starts": "2026-01-05T21:32:09-05:00",
"ends": "2026-01-06T20:23:03-05:00"
}
}
],
"counts": {
"ekadashi": 24,
"pradosh": 24,
"sankashti-chaturthi": 13,
"masik-shivaratri": 12,
"purnima": 13,
"purnima-vrat": 13,
"amavasya": 12,
"darsha-amavasya": 12
}
}Where the API returns it
| GET | /v1/vrats | Monthly fasting days (vrats) for a year and place |
What the API reference says
Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.
- GET /v1/vrats · Monthly fasting days (vrats) for a year and placeReturns every Ekadashi, Pradosh, Sankashti Chaturthi, Masik Shivaratri, Purnima and Amavasya in a calendar year.
Feature page: Panchang and muhurat. Who uses it: Publishers and media. The classical rules the API follows are in the rulebook.
How we check the numbers
Every value here starts from planet positions worked out from NASA JPL planet data (DE440). We test them against NASA JPL Horizons, NASA's planet position service. On 25,571 positions from 1850 to 2149, the Sun and planets agree within 0.001 arc seconds. The Moon agrees within 0.011. On 2,000 random birth charts, the rising sign agrees with Swiss Ephemeris within 0.004 arc seconds. An arc second is 1/3,600 of a degree. A practicing astrologer reviews the rules behind these answers. See how we test.
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Today's panchang
Tithi (lunar day), nakshatra, sunrise, rahu kaal and the choghadiya (good and bad parts of the day) for your own city.
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John Doe, New York
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