Sankranti

Sankranti (Saṅkrānti) — the moment the Sun crosses from one zodiac sign into another. The name comes from the Sanskrit "sam-" + "kranti" (from the root "kram" — "to step") — "crossing," "transition." There are 12 Sankrantis a year, one per month, and one of them — Makara Sankranti — is especially honoured.

Place in the system

The panchanga describes the state of the sky. Sankranti is not one of the five angas of the panchanga: it is a solar marker of the Hindu calendar, marking the Sun's crossing of sign boundaries. The signs here are sidereal — their boundaries are reckoned with the ayanamsha (Lahiri), so Sankrantis do not coincide with the dates the Sun enters signs by the tropical zodiac. Each month the Sun passes through one sign (exactly 30° of arc, taking roughly 29 to 32 days), and the moment of crossing is the sankranti.

12 Sankrantis a year (by the months of the solar calendar):

• Makara Sankranti (January, the Sun enters Capricorn) — the most honoured: it opens Uttarayana, the Sun's northward path
• Kumbha Sankranti (February, the Sun enters Aquarius)
• Mina Sankranti (March, the Sun enters Pisces)
• Mesha Sankranti (mid-April, the Sun enters Aries) — the Hindu solar new year begins here
• ... and so on through all 12 signs.

Practical meaning

Sankranti is a favourable time for rites connected with the Sun. Tradition holds these days especially strong for offerings to Surya.

The sankranti background works through the solar cycle. It is a period of crossing, and in it the usual supports can be unstable — but in that instability there is also a chance for renewal.

In Indian folk practice sankrantis are days of honouring the Sun. Many devout Hindus perform special rites and charity on these days.

In daily practice

Sankranti is a monthly window for bathing, giving (dana), and spiritual practice. The moment of crossing itself is not traditionally set aside for starting new worldly things — the usual supports are unstable in that hour.

Sankranti also suits rites of purification: fasting, offerings to Surya, meditation on sunlight.

Sankranti also suits offerings to ancestors: tarpana on a sankranti is held to be especially effective.

How much a sankranti is yours personally is refined by Tara Bala. Sankranti sets the general solar background, and the personal layer shows how far it matches your life.

Further notes

The rites are concentrated not over the whole day of a sankranti but in the punya kala — a favourable window around the moment of crossing itself; its length and boundaries are reckoned differently by different traditions and different classes of sankranti. It is in the punya kala that bathing and giving (dana) are customary. Reciting the mantra "Om Hram Hrim Hraum Sah Suryaya Namaha" or its short form "Om Suryaya Namaha," and offering sesame, are traditional practices of this window.