Ganadhipa Sankashti 2025 Date

About Ganadhipa Sankashti

The Margashirsha-month Sankashti, named for Ganadhipa — 'lord of the ganas', Shiva's attendant troops. Its vrat katha is the one all other Sankashtis defer to: Hanuman kept this very fast on the advice of the vulture-king Sampati, and its merit is what carried him across the ocean to Lanka.

Of the thirteen monthly Sankashti Chaturthis, each honours a different form of Ganesha; Ganadhipa belongs to Margashirsha (Kartika Krishna Chaturthi in the Amanta calendar). The katha read on this day comes from the Ramayana cycle. Stranded on the southern shore and unsure he could leap to Lanka, Hanuman was instructed by Sampati — Jatayu's elder brother, called Pakshiraja, king of birds — to observe the Ganadhipa vrat. The strength to cross the sea is credited to this fast, which is why the day is held to remove seemingly impossible obstacles. The same katha also recounts King Dasharatha's accidental killing of Shravan Kumara. Devotees keep a strict fast from sunrise until moonrise and break it only after sighting the moon, eating only fruit, roots and tubers — sabudana khichdi, potato and peanuts are the usual Maharashtrian fare.