Sankashti Chaturthi Vrat श्री गणेश
The monthly Chaturthi fast for Shri Ganesha, broken only after sighting the moon.
Vrat mantra
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
Om Gam Ganapataye Namah
What you can eat — and what to avoid
✓ You can have
- Through the day: phalahar — fruits, milk, sabudana
- After moonrise: modak / laddu prasad, then a sattvik meal
- Fruits and fresh fruit juices
- Milk, curd, paneer, butter, ghee
- Sabudana — khichdi, kheer or vada
- Kuttu (buckwheat) and singhara flour rotis / puris
- Samak (barnyard millet) rice
- Makhana, dry fruits and nuts
- Potato, sweet potato, arbi — cooked with sendha namak
- Sendha namak (rock salt) only
- Tea, coffee or coconut water in moderation
✗ Avoid
- All grains — wheat, rice, semolina (sooji), besan, oats
- Pulses and legumes — dal, chana, rajma, soy
- Regular table / sea salt (use only sendha namak)
- Onion and garlic
- Non-vegetarian food and eggs
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Heavy spices — keep to jeera, kali mirch, green chilli
Step-by-step vrat vidhi
Sankalpa — the vrat morning
Wake early, bathe and wear clean clothes. With water, akshat and a flower in the right palm, state your name, the vrat (Sankashti Chaturthi Vrat), its count if it is a series, and your prayer — then release the water.
Morning puja
Bathe early, take the sankalpa and worship Shri Ganesha with durva, red flowers, sindoor and dhoop-deep, chanting "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah".
Keep the fast through the day
Keep the fast as prescribed — sunrise to moonrise · phalahar. Spend free moments in japa of "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah", and keep the mind sattvik: no anger, gossip or harsh speech.
Katha & evening puja
After moonrise, repeat the Ganesha puja, read the Sankashti katha, offer modak/laddu bhog and sing the aarti before breaking the fast.
Chandra arghya at moonrise
Sight the moon, offer arghya of water (with a little milk, akshat and flowers) toward it, and pray to Ganesha for removal of sankat (troubles).
Paran — breaking the fast
At moonrise — offer arghya (water) to the moon, do the evening Ganesha puja, then break the fast with modak or prasad.
Daan & prasad
Share the prasad with everyone present and give some daan (food, fruit or dakshina) as per capacity — the vrat is completed by giving.
Special rules for this vrat
- The fast is broken only after moonrise — moonrise time differs city to city, so check your local Panchang.
- Angarki Sankashti (when Chaturthi falls on a Tuesday) is considered the most powerful.
- Tulsi is never offered to Shri Ganesha.
Family and regional traditions (parampara) vary — where yours differs, follow your parampara. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone unwell or on medication should keep a softened vrat (fruit and milk) or skip it — a vrat is bhakti and restraint, never hardship to the body.
Choose another vrat
What is a Vrat Vidhi?
A vrat vidhi is the procedure for keeping a sacred fast — from the morning sankalpa (vow), the deity's puja, the discipline of the fast through the day, the katha (vrat story) and aarti, to the paran (breaking of the fast) at its proper time. Each vrat has its own food rules: most allow phalahar (fruits, milk, sabudana, kuttu and singhara flour, samak rice, with sendha namak only), some are kept nirjala (without even water, like Karwa Chauth), and a few carry one defining rule — no grains on Ekadashi, nothing sour on the Santoshi Mata vrat, no salt on the Ravivar vrat.
Pick a Dev or Devi to see the complete vidhi of their vrat — the day, the fast type, what you can eat and what to avoid, the paran rule, mantra, katha and aarti — and use the linked samagri checklist where one exists. A vrat is bhakti and self-restraint, never hardship: children, the elderly, pregnant women and the unwell should keep a softened form, and family traditions (parampara) always come first.