2026 Bhanu Saptami Dates

What is Bhanu Saptami?

Bhanu Saptami is the rare alignment of Surya's tithi with Surya's day. It is kept with sunrise arghya, the Aditya Hridayam, and often a one-day fast. Because it depends on a tithi-weekday coincidence, only a handful occur each year — the dates on this page are computed exactly for Delhi.

Surya worship

The Sun is the pratyaksha devata — the visible deity — and his Saptami rites go back to the oldest strata of the tradition. Achala and Ratha Saptami (the Magha Shukla Saptami) is the greatest Saptami of the year; Bhanu Saptami extends that worship to every Sunday-Saptami coincidence.

The arghya at sunrise

The central rite is simple and is performed at sunrise while the Saptami tithi still runs. After bathing, the devotee stands facing east and offers arghya — water poured from a copper vessel, often with a little roli, red flowers and akshat — letting it fall through the light of the rising Sun. The Aditya Hridayam or the Gayatri is recited, and many keep a fast until midday or take a single meal. Where a river bath is customary it is taken before sunrise.

Bhanu Saptami and Ratha Saptami

Bhanu Saptami is the meeting of Surya's tithi with Surya's day: any Saptami falling on a Sunday. It therefore occurs a handful of times a year rather than on a fixed date, and can fall in either fortnight. Ratha Saptami is different — it is the single annual Saptami of Magha Shukla, marking the turn of Surya's chariot toward the northern course. When a Bhanu Saptami coincides with that Magha Saptami, the two are kept together, and that conjunction is held to be the most significant of the year.

Significance

Surya is the pratyaksha devata, the deity one can actually see, and his worship is among the oldest continuous layers of the tradition. The Saptami rites are kept for health and vitality, for clarity and steadiness of purpose, and in jyotisha for the strengthening of a weak or afflicted Sun, which is read as the significator of vitality, the father and self-authority. These are the reasons tradition gives for the observance.

Bhanu Saptami samagri

Gather these before the sunrise arghya:

• A copper vessel (tamba lota) for the arghya
• Clean water, with Ganga jal if available
• Roli or kumkum
• Red flowers
• Akshat (unbroken rice)
• A ghee lamp
• Incense (dhoop)
• Jaggery and wheat as offering
• Seasonal fruit