Gajānana Sankashti is the Āṣāḍha form of the monthly Sankashti Chaturthi vrata, named for Gaṇeśa as 'the elephant-faced'. The name recalls the Śiva Purāṇa story in which Pārvatī shapes a boy from the turmeric paste of her bath and sets him to guard the door, Śiva strikes off his head without knowing who he is, and, to console her grief, restores him with the head of the first creature his gaṇas find, an elephant. The boy is named Gajānana and declared first to be worshipped before every undertaking. The Mudgala Purāṇa also counts Gajānana among Gaṇeśa's eight incarnations, the one who subdues Lobhāsura, the demon of greed. How the day is fixed: The vrata falls on the Kṛṣṇa-pakṣa Caturthī of amānta Āṣāḍha and is kept on the day the Caturthī prevails at local moonrise. Month names: The month is Āṣāḍha in the amānta reckoning and Śrāvaṇa in the pūrṇimānta reckoning. Tamil households call it Āḍi and Kerala calls it Karkkiṭakam, but the Sankashti is the same day in each case. Keep in mind: Because moonrise is reckoned for each place, the day of the vrata can move by one between cities. This year: The 2027 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. Fast and evening pūjā: Devotees fast through the day or keep to phalāhāra. The evening pūjā offers durvā grass, red flowers and modaka or laḍḍu to Gaṇeśa. Arghya to the moon: The fast is broken only after the risen moon has been seen and offered arghya. When monsoon clouds hide the moon, many families bow toward its direction once the moonrise time has passed. Stotra, shrine and story: In Maharashtra the Saṅkaṭanāśana Gaṇeśa Stotra is recited before moonrise, and in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka devotees visit the local Gaṇeśa shrine in the evening. Because the elephant-head story is the one most families already know, this Sankashti is often when children first hear it in full. Worth remembering: Each month's Sankashti carries its own name of Gaṇeśa, and Gajānana is the Āṣāḍha one. It is separate from Vināyaka Chaturthī, the great Gaṇeśa festival of Bhādrapada Śukla Caturthī, when the same story is told again. How the day is kept depends on family and regional custom. Some households keep a strict fast and others take fruit and milk, some worship at home and others at the temple, and the monthly vrata is common in Maharashtra and the South but kept by only some families elsewhere. The surest guide is the practice the elders of one's own house have followed.
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