Satyanarayan Puja 2028: Date, Rituals & Significance

Purnima runs 11 Jan, 12:46 → 12 Jan, 09:33.

A kalash and an image or picture of Satyanarayan are set on a low altar with banana leaves and stalks; the puja follows the sixteen upacharas, then the katha is read aloud in five chapters while the household and guests listen. The prasad — sapatha or panjiri — is made of equal (five) parts wheat flour (or semolina / broken wheat), sugar, ghee, mashed banana and milk, and everyone present must take some. Aarti and dana close it.

The katha's five chapters give the vow to Narada, then four tales: a poor Brahmin and a woodcutter lifted from want by the puja; a childless merchant, Sadhu, who prospers but twice forgets his promised puja and twice meets disaster — imprisoned on a false charge, his ship's cargo turned to water — until his wife and daughter complete the vow; and a king, Tungadhwaja, who slights the prasad and loses everything until he takes it with respect.

Source: Vrata-katha and Puranic tradition

Monthly tithi-vratas and their kathas are set out in the Nibandha and Vrata literature and elaborated in the popular Vrat Katha collections; each has a 'great' annual counterpart (Maha Shivratri, Maha Ashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Kaal Bhairav Jayanti, Skanda Shashti) and a plain monthly form kept as a standing vow.

• Nibandha and Vrata-katha literature

1. The puja is done on a full moon or on occasions such as a housewarming, a wedding or a new job.
2. A kalash and an image of Satyanarayan are set in a mandap of banana stems, and the deity is worshipped with tulsi, flowers and panchamrit.
3. The five chapters of the katha from the Skanda Purana are read, followed by aarti and the sheera prasad shared with guests.

• Pan-Indian. Kept as a household vrat across India; one of the most common home pujas in North, East and South India.

• Sapatha prasad — Equal parts wheat flour or semolina, sugar, ghee, mashed banana and milk, cooked to a halwa; everyone present must take a share.

Satyanarayan Puja is kept on the day when Purnima prevails at sunrise. That day is Wednesday, 12 January 2028. Purnima holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Satyanarayan Puja recurs on the Purnima (or any auspicious day) of the lunar month. The puja has no fixed date — it is most common on the full moon and on Kartika, Vaishakha and Chaitra Purnima, and on Ekadashi, but is done whenever there is cause for thanksgiving. It needs only a priest or an elder to read the katha and can be as simple or elaborate as the household wishes. Because it follows the tithi (or nakshatra), the Gregorian date moves each month, and the parana time follows the moonrise or the puja hour rather than sunrise.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.