Shrivinayaka Chaturthi 2025

A small image of Vinayaka receives its first flowers as the household waits for the midday worship. Shrivinayaka Chaturthi is the fourth lunar day, or Chaturthi (the fourth tithi, or lunar day), in the Shukla Paksha (the bright fortnight) of Bhadrapada, the lunar month that generally falls across August and September. Its Gregorian date changes from year to year.

What the day commemorates

Vinayaka is a name of Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity honoured as remover of obstacles and lord of auspicious beginnings. In common Hindu practice, this day marks Ganesha's worship with a household or community image, prayers, offerings, and—where that custom is followed—the later immersion of the image. The observance is known in many places as Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chaturthi.

The supplied Purana passage calls the Bhadrapada bright-fortnight Chaturthi Shiva, meaning auspicious, and says that bathing, charity, fasting, and recitation performed on it bear greatly increased fruit through the grace of Dantin, another name of Ganesha. It also gives particular importance to gifts of jaggery, salt, and ghee, to sweet jaggery cakes, and to feeding Brahmins. Women are described as worshipping with jaggery, salt, and cakes, especially in relation to their mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law; young unmarried women are specifically encouraged to perform the worship.

When to observe it

The governing period is madhyahna, the midday window. The observance therefore belongs to the Chaturthi tithi of Shukla Paksha in Bhadrapada, with the midday period governing the principal worship. Local almanacs may show different civil dates when a tithi spans more than one sunrise, so the date should be checked for the place of observance rather than fixed in advance on the Gregorian calendar.

A traditional warning also concerns seeing the Moon on this Chaturthi. The cited passage says that Moon-sighting can bring a false accusation of wrongdoing and gives a Vishnu Purana mantra for removing that fault if Moon-sighting occurs. This rule is preserved in many calendar traditions, although the practical seriousness attached to it varies by family and region.

A day of worship and restraint

A vrata, or religious observance involving discipline, may include fasting, a simple diet, prayer, charity, and Ganesha puja. Householders commonly clean the worship space, install or picture Ganesha, offer flowers, lamps, incense, fruit, sweets, and water, recite Ganesha names, and perform the principal worship during madhyahna. Those unable to fast may take permitted foods according to family practice. The day can be observed quietly at home or publicly in a community setting.

The festival also opens into a larger cycle of Ganesha devotion. In some regions, the installation and immersion of an image form the centre of public celebration; elsewhere, the observance remains chiefly a midday household vrata. Related Chaturthi observances occur throughout the lunar year, but Bhadrapada Shukla Chaturthi is the widely recognised annual festival.

Shrivinayaka Chaturthi honours Vinayaka, a name of Ganesha, and falls on Chaturthi, the fourth lunar day, in the Shukla Paksha, or bright fortnight, of Bhadrapada. It is understood as an especially auspicious day for worship, restraint, charity, and prayer connected with the removal of obstacles.

The Bhavishya Mahapurana passage associated with this observance says that bathing, dana (charity), upavasa (fasting), and japa (recitation) performed on the day gain greatly increased merit through the grace of Dantin, “the tusked one.” It names jaggery, salt, ghee, jaggery cakes, and feeding Brahmins among meritorious offerings. The same passage gives a particular place to women's worship and to worship by unmarried girls.

A separate traditional instruction warns against seeing the Moon on this Chaturthi, associating that sight with false accusation. A mantra from the Vishnu Purana is prescribed in the cited material for easing the resulting fault. Thus the observance combines devotion to Ganesha with fasting, generosity, household worship, and attention to the Moon's place in the day's religious discipline.

Begin with a bath and clean clothing, then prepare a clean place for Ganesha worship. A clay image, metal image, or picture may be installed according to household practice. Light a lamp, offer water, flowers, incense, fruit, and sweets, and recite Ganesha names or prayers. Perform the principal puja during madhyahna, the midday window governing this observance.

A vrata means a disciplined religious observance. Classical practice associated with this Chaturthi includes fasting, bathing, dana (charity), and japa (repetition of a sacred name or mantra). The Bhavishya Mahapurana passage also names gifts of jaggery, salt, and ghee, sweet jaggery cakes, and feeding Brahmins as meritorious acts. Modern households often keep a full fast, a fruit-and-milk fast, or a simple vegetarian diet; the appropriate form depends on health and family tradition.

Where public or household image worship includes immersion, that ceremony may take place after the chosen period of worship. Some families keep the observance entirely at home. Moon-sighting is traditionally avoided on this Chaturthi; if the Moon is seen, the cited Vishnu Purana mantra may be recited according to local practice.