Aṅgārakī Sankashti is the monthly Sankashti Caturthī when it falls on a Tuesday, and it is counted the most meritorious Sankashti of the year. Tradition holds that Aṅgāraka, the planet Mars and son of Bhūmi, won Gaṇeśa's favour through long austerity, and that Gaṇeśa appeared to him on a Tuesday Kṛṣṇa Caturthī and granted that the day would carry his name. Devotees keep it hoping to clear long-standing debts and stubborn obstacles, and many hold that one Aṅgārakī brings the merit of many ordinary Sankashtis. How the day is fixed: The day is a Kṛṣṇa-pakṣa Caturthī that prevails at local moonrise and falls on a Tuesday. Because it depends on the weekday it has no fixed month, and it comes once or twice in some years and not at all in others. The month's name stays: Aṅgārakī is a Tuesday title, not a thirteenth monthly name. The month's own Sankashti form, such as Gaṇādhipa or Lambodara, is kept, and Aṅgārakī is added to it. 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. The fast: The fast is the ordinary Sankashti fast, kept with more care than usual, from sunrise until the moon is seen. Evening pūjā and arghya: Gaṇeśa is worshipped in the evening, often with dūrvā, modaks and recitations of the Atharvaśīrṣa. When the moon rises arghya is offered, and only then is the fast broken. Temple crowds: In Maharashtra queues form overnight at Siddhivināyaka in Prabhadevi and at Chinchpokli's Chintāmaṇi in Mumbai, at the Aṣṭavināyaka shrines and at Dagḍūśeṭh in Pune. Gaṇeśa temples elsewhere also see far larger crowds than on an ordinary Sankashti. Worth remembering: Aṅgārakī does not replace the month's Sankashti or create a separate śāstric fast. The link with Mars, including the belief that the day eases Kuja doṣa, and the extra temple crowds are popular custom layered on the ordinary Sankashti. Maharashtrian homes make ukaḍīce modak, some Kannada families offer twenty-one modaks, Kerala temples fill for Gaṇapati homa and offerings, and Tamil and Telugu elders note the Tuesday in the pañcāṅga and keep the fast with extra care. Whether one takes only water or fruit and milk, and what is offered, vary from house to house. Follow the elders of one's own house.
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