Champa Ṣaṣṭhī falls on Mārgaśīrṣa Śukla Ṣaṣṭhī and is a major observance in Karnataka and Maharashtra for Śiva in his heroic form as Khaṇḍobā, also called Mallāri or Mailāra. It closes the six-day Khaṇḍobā navarātra that begins on the Pratipadā of the same fortnight. Tradition holds that Śiva took the form of Mārtaṇḍa Bhairava to slay the demons Maṇi and Malla, fighting for six days and killing them on the Ṣaṣṭhī. Temple processions, flower worship (hoovina pooje) and village fairs mark the day. How the day is fixed: The day is Mārgaśīrṣa Śukla Ṣaṣṭhī, the sixth tithi of the bright fortnight, taken as the tithi prevailing at local sunrise. Keep in mind: Because the day falls in the bright fortnight, amānta and pūrṇimānta calendars give it the same month name. In the Tamil and Malayalam solar calendars it usually falls in Kārttikai or Vṛścikam. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Processions and fairs: Khaṇḍobā shrines in northern Karnataka and the Maharashtra border districts see the heaviest public observance, with palanquin processions and fairgrounds known as jatre. At Jejuri turmeric bhaṇḍārā is thrown to cries of Yeḷkot yeḷkot jay Malhār until the whole fort turns yellow. Vows and household offerings: Devotees fulfil vows, including horse vows, and have flower worship performed. At home families fill the taḷī and offer vāṅgyācē bharīt with bājrī bhākrī as naivedya. In other Śiva temples: Other Śiva temples keep a simpler Ṣaṣṭhī pūjā with bilva leaves and lamps. Worth remembering: The same tithi is kept as Subrahmaṇya Ṣaṣṭhī for Murugan in Tamil and wider South Indian usage, and Kukke's great rathotsava on this day belongs to that observance. Skanda Ṣaṣṭhī in Aippasi is a separate six-day Murugan vrata. Khaṇḍobā is the kuladevatā of many families, and each house keeps its own kuḷācāra for the navarātra, the taḷī and the naivedya. Village fairs and vows differ from shrine to shrine, and household detail should not be read as one fixed vidhi for the whole region. Follow the way the elders of your own house have kept the day.
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