Sarva PanchangSarva Panchang
Sankranti

Kanya Sankranti

Also called: Vishwakarma Jayanti, Kanya Sankramana

Marks the Sun's transit into Virgo (Kanya). Classified as a Shadashitimukha Sankranti. Across modern India, Kanya Sankranti is universally celebrated as Vishwakarma Jayanti (or Vishwakarma Puja), honoring the divine architect and engineer of the cosmos who created the celestial cities, weapons, and chariots.

Key facts

Paksha
Shadashitimukha Class
Lunar month
Sun enters Kanya (Virgo) in Bhadrapada / Ashwin
Observed on
The day the Sun enters Kanya Rashi (~September 16-17)
Deities
Lord Vishwakarma (Divine Architect), Surya Dev

The story

The Vishwakarma Purana and Mahabharata celebrate Lord Vishwakarma as the source of all crafts, arts, architecture, and technology. Craftsmen, engineers, and workers worship their tools as sacred instruments of divine creativity.

Practices

  • Cleaning, polishing, and worshipping machines, tools, vehicles, and industrial workshops
  • Applying vermilion and sandalwood paste to machinery and reciting Vishwakarma Stotras
  • Distributing sweets among coworkers, factory staff, and artisans
  • Kite-flying competitions in parts of West Bengal and eastern India

Regional variations

  • Widely observed across factories, transport hubs, and engineering units in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh

Common questions

Why is Vishwakarma Puja celebrated on a fixed solar date?
Unlike many Hindu festivals governed by lunar tithis, Vishwakarma Puja is calculated directly from the solar transit of Kanya Sankranti, falling around September 17 each year.

Types of Sankranti