Kharmas 2026-27: Dates, Why No Weddings, When It Ends
Kharmas (Dhanurmas) begins around 16 December 2026 and this year it does not end on the usual 14th of January. Here is the real end date, why weddings pause, and what you can still do.
Reviewed by Vidhata Editorial Desk · Updated
In this article
What Kharmas is
Kharmas, more properly called Dhanurmas or Dhanurmaas, is the month the Sun spends transiting Dhanu rashi, the sidereal sign of Sagittarius. In Gujarat this period is called Kamurta. In Maharashtra it is Dhundurmas. The name changes by region but the astronomy and the practice behind it do not.
Dhanu is ruled by Jupiter, Guru to the Sun's own fire. A king visiting his teacher's house does not sit on the throne. That is the classical image practitioners use to explain why the Sun, otherwise the planet of authority and command, is treated as subdued for this one month a year. The Sun is still the Sun. It simply is not in a position to bless new beginnings the way it does the rest of the year.
This is why Kharmas is the one month almost every Hindu household, regardless of region or sampradaya, pauses weddings, housewarmings and other major starts. It is solar, not lunar, so it does not shift around the way festivals tied to tithis do. It arrives the same way every year: the Sun crosses into Dhanu, stays there roughly a month, and the restriction lifts the moment it crosses into the next sign, Makara (Capricorn).
When Kharmas starts and ends in 2026-27
Kharmas 2026 begins at Dhanu Sankranti, the Sun's sidereal entry into Sagittarius, which falls around 16 December 2026. The exact minute of that ingress is still being finalised on our panchang engine, so take the start date as a close approximation rather than a to-the-minute figure. For everything that matters in daily life, from this date onward is Kharmas.
The end date is the one most people get wrong, and this year it genuinely is different from most years.
Kharmas ends at Makar Sankranti, the Sun's entry into Makara. Everyone expects that to be 14 January, because for most of the last several decades it has been. In 2027 it is not. The Sun's sidereal ingress into Makara happens at 21:10 IST on 14 January 2027, which is after sunset. Punya kaal, the auspicious window a Sankranti is actually observed in, is always reckoned from sunrise. A Sankranti that lands after sunset has no daylight left to be observed in on that date, so the observance, and with it the end of Kharmas, moves to the next sunrise.
That means Makar Sankranti 2027, and the end of Kharmas, is 15 January 2027, not the 14th.
If you have grown up assuming Makar Sankranti is always 14 January, this is worth remembering and worth telling the rest of your household, because it is exactly the kind of detail that gets missed when people set wedding dates off last year's calendar instead of this year's.
Why weddings and griha pravesh pause
Vivah, griha pravesh, mundan, and most other samskaras performed as fresh starts are matters the Sun as a planet of vitality and command is asked to preside over. During Kharmas, with the Sun positioned in its guru's house rather than its own, that presiding function is considered weakened. It is not that the Sun turns inauspicious. It is that it is not in a position of strength to give its full support to a new beginning.
The same logic extends, with varying strictness by family and region, to buying a house, starting a major business venture, laying a foundation, or any other act meant to mark a fresh and lasting start. The common thread across all of these is permanence. A marriage, a new home, a new venture, these are things you want built on a strong foundation, and Dhanurmas is considered the wrong month to lay one.
This is a solar restriction, which is why it is observed so consistently across such different regional traditions, from Gujarat's Kamurta to Maharashtra's Dhundurmas to the plain Kharmas of the Hindi belt. Lunar restrictions come and go with the calendar. This one is fixed to where the Sun actually is.
What you can do during Kharmas
The restriction is specific, not total, and this is where a lot of people over-correct out of caution.
Daily worship continues exactly as before, and in fact Kharmas is considered an especially good month to intensify it. Japa, path, and recitation done through this period are held to carry extra merit, precisely because the Sun's humbled position in Dhanu is read as a month of discipline and service rather than one of celebration.
Surya puja and Vishnu puja in particular are recommended through Kharmas. Since Dhanu belongs to Jupiter and the month is framed as the Sun in service to its guru, worship of Vishnu, who is associated with Jupiter in several traditions, and continued worship of the Sun itself, are both considered fitting rather than contradictory.
Charity, especially feeding people and giving to those in need, is widely practised through this period and is not discouraged in any tradition this writer has come across. If anything, Kharmas donations carry the same extra-merit framing as the worship does.
Routine life goes on. Kharmas does not touch ordinary work, travel, schooling, medical treatment, or day-to-day commerce. The pause is specifically for the class of events meant to mark a new permanent start: weddings, housewarmings, mundan, and similarly weighted samskaras. Engagements and preparatory steps that are not the wedding itself are, in most traditions, treated more leniently, though families differ on this and it is worth checking with your own purohit if it matters to you.
When can you marry after Kharmas
The restriction lifts the moment Makar Sankranti is observed, which this cycle is 15 January 2027. From that date the Sun is in Makara and auspicious samskaras resume, subject to the usual seasonal considerations like the following month's own good and bad periods.
Being past Kharmas does not by itself mean any date is a good wedding date. Shubh muhurat for vivah or griha pravesh still depends on the tithi, nakshatra, weekday, and several other factors layered on top of the sankranti calendar, and it depends on your own birth chart and the city the ceremony will happen in. If you are trying to fix a date for a wedding or a housewarming once Kharmas ends on 15 January 2027, Ask Acharya can work out the window that actually suits your chart rather than a generic calendar date, and you can check your own placements first with a free kundali if you have not already had one drawn up.
The short version worth keeping in your head through this period: Kharmas 2026-27 runs from around 16 December 2026 to 15 January 2027. Weddings and housewarmings wait. Worship, japa and charity do not.
Frequently asked
Common questions
When does Kharmas 2026 start and end?+
Kharmas 2026-27 starts around 16 December 2026, when the Sun enters sidereal Dhanu (Sagittarius) at Dhanu Sankranti, and ends on 15 January 2027, when the Sun enters Makara (Capricorn) at Makar Sankranti.
Is Makar Sankranti 2027 on the 14th or the 15th of January?+
It is the 15th. The Sun's sidereal ingress into Makara falls at 21:10 IST on 14 January 2027, which is after sunset. Since punya kaal is reckoned from sunrise, the observance moves to the following sunrise, 15 January 2027. This is different from most recent years, where Makar Sankranti fell on the 14th.
Why are weddings not held during Kharmas?+
During Kharmas the Sun is transiting Dhanu, the sign ruled by Jupiter. The Sun is treated as being in service to its own guru rather than acting with full strength, so it is considered unable to give full support to new beginnings like marriage, housewarming, or mundan. The restriction is solar and applies for the whole month regardless of the lunar calendar.
What can I still do during Kharmas?+
Daily worship, japa, scriptural recitation, Surya puja, Vishnu puja, and charity all continue through Kharmas and are considered especially meritorious during this period. Ordinary life, travel, work, and medical matters are unaffected. The pause applies specifically to samskaras meant to mark a new permanent start, such as weddings, griha pravesh, and mundan.
Is Kharmas the same as Dhanurmas or Kamurta?+
Yes. Dhanurmas and Dhanurmaas are the more precise names, referring directly to the Sun's transit of Dhanu rashi. Kharmas is the common Hindi-belt name. In Gujarat the same period is called Kamurta, and in Maharashtra it is called Dhundurmas. All refer to the identical solar window.
Can I get engaged or buy a house during Kharmas?+
Most traditions reserve the strict restriction for the wedding ceremony, griha pravesh, mundan, and similarly weighted samskaras meant to mark a lasting new start. Engagements and preparatory steps are treated more leniently in many families, but this varies, so it is worth checking with your own family priest if it matters to you.
Everything above is read from sidereal positions computed with the Swiss Ephemeris and the Lahiri ayanamsa. Tools that work tropically will give a different answer for the same birth details, which is worth knowing before comparing two readings. How the free astrology apps compare on what they compute with.