Grahan 2026: Chandra Grahan and Surya Grahan dates

What is Sutak?

Sutak is the inauspicious period before an eclipse. For a lunar eclipse it begins 9 hours (three prahars) before the eclipse starts, and for a solar eclipse 12 hours (four prahars) before. It ends when the eclipse ends. During Sutak temples close, cooking and eating are avoided, and puja is not performed; children, the elderly, the sick and pregnant women are traditionally exempted from fasting.

Sutak applies only where the eclipse can be seen. An eclipse that happens below your horizon — for example a solar eclipse at night in India — has no Sutak there. A penumbral lunar eclipse, where the Moon only dims slightly and no part is in the Earth's full shadow, is not treated as a grahan, so it has no Sutak either.

What to do during a grahan

• Before Sutak: put tulsi leaves or kusha grass in stored water, milk and cooked food.
• During the eclipse: chant or meditate — mantra japa is said to be many times more fruitful. Avoid eating, sleeping and starting new work.
• Pregnant women traditionally stay indoors and avoid using knives or needles.
• After the eclipse ends (moksha): bathe, sprinkle Ganga jal in the house, change clothes and give charity (daan) — grain, clothes or money.
• Never look at a solar eclipse with the naked eye, sunglasses or through a phone screen; use certified eclipse glasses or a pinhole projector. A lunar eclipse is safe to watch.

How these times are calculated

Eclipse contacts are computed with the Astronomy Engine library from the positions of the Sun and Moon, and visibility is checked for each city: an eclipse counts as visible when the Moon (or Sun) is above the horizon during the eclipse. Times are in IST and rounded to the minute. The Moon's rashi and nakshatra at the peak are sidereal (Lahiri), as used in Indian astrology.