Festival · 2027
Rishi Panchami 2027 — Saturday, 4 September 2027
Rishi Panchami, the day after Ganesh Chaturthi, is set aside to honour the seven great rishis, the Saptarishi, and Arundhati, and to remember what we owe to those who handed knowledge down.
In 2026
Tuesday, 15 September 2026
- Tithi
- Shukla Panchami: 15 Sep, 7:44 AM – 16 Sep, 8:59 AM
- Lunar month
- Bhadrapada
- Sunrise / sunset
- 6:05 AM / 6:26 PM
- Madhyahna moment
- 12:16 PM
| Puja muhurat | 11:02 AM – 1:30 PM |
|---|---|
| Madhyahna | 11:02 AM – 1:30 PM |
Rule: Bhadrapada Shukla Panchami prevailing at madhyahna; if on both days, the first.
In 2027
Saturday, 4 September 2027
- Tithi
- Shukla Panchami: 4 Sep, 12:26 PM – 5 Sep, 11:17 AM
- Lunar month
- Bhadrapada
- Sunrise / sunset
- 6:00 AM / 6:39 PM
- Madhyahna moment
- 12:20 PM
| Puja muhurat | 12:26 PM – 1:35 PM |
|---|---|
| Madhyahna | 11:04 AM – 1:35 PM |
Rule: Bhadrapada Shukla Panchami prevailing at madhyahna; if on both days, the first.
Times follow New Delhi’s sunrise and sunset. In other cities the muhurat shifts by some minutes, and occasionally the day by one. Full festival calendar
What is Rishi Panchami?
Rishi Panchami falls on the fifth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada. It is not a festival of a deity in the usual sense but a day of remembrance for the Saptarishi, the seven sages of the tradition. The most common list names Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Vasishtha, and Arundhati, Vasishtha’s wife, is worshipped with them. In the night sky the seven rishis are identified with the stars of the Great Bear, with Arundhati as the faint companion of Vasishtha.
The rishis are remembered as the seers of the Vedas and the founders of the gotras by which many Hindu families still trace their lineage. Honouring them is a way of acknowledging the rishi rin, the debt owed to teachers and sages, which the tradition places alongside the debt to the gods and to the ancestors. For many people the day is simply one of gratitude for learning, discipline and the teachers in their own lives.
In many families, especially in the north and west, Rishi Panchami is kept mainly by women. Older custom connects the vrat with purification after any lapse in the rules once observed during menstruation, and some families still describe it that way. Many others today see it simply as a day of gratitude to the rishis, and keep it for that reason alone. Both are found, and the puja itself is the same.
The observance is marked by simplicity. The bath is taken with twigs of the apamarga plant, and the day’s food is plain, often limited to what grows without ploughing. That restraint reflects the forest life of the rishis themselves, who lived on what the earth gave without labour.
How it is observed
- The day begins with a bath, traditionally in a river or with water in which apamarga twigs have been used; some also clean their teeth with an apamarga twig.
- Seven small heaps of rice or seven betel nuts are set out to represent the Saptarishi, with an eighth for Arundhati, and worshipped with flowers, sandal and lamps.
- The Rishi Panchami vrat katha is read or heard, usually around midday, when the puja is done.
- Many keep a fast or eat once in the day, avoiding grains grown with the plough and eating fruit, roots or rice grown without ploughing.
- Some families offer food and gifts to a learned person or a teacher as a way of honouring the rishis in the living.
- Where it is the custom, the vrat is kept for a set number of years and then formally concluded with an udyapan.
How the date is fixed
Rishi Panchami is kept on Bhadrapada Shukla Panchami, on the day the Panchami prevails at madhyahna, the middle fifth of the daylight, because the puja is done at midday. If the Panchami covers madhyahna on both days, we take the first. The date and the madhyahna window are shown above.
Where practice differs
Rishi Panchami is kept most widely in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and in Nepal it is the last day of the Teej festival, when women bathe with datiwan twigs and worship the rishis. Among the Maheshwari community of Rajasthan, rakhi is tied on Rishi Panchami rather than on Raksha Bandhan. In Maharashtra the day falls in the middle of the Ganesh festival and the simple meal of the day is a well-known custom. Rishi Panchami falls in the waxing fortnight, so north and south alike call its month Bhadrapada. Families differ on who keeps the vrat, how strict the fast is, and how many years it is kept.
Dates and times are computed by our own engine (sunrise, tithi and kalas for New Delhi, Lahiri ayanamsa). In another city, or in an almanac of another tradition, the day can differ by one — follow your family’s tradition.
Questions people ask
Who are the Saptarishi worshipped on Rishi Panchami?
The list most often used names Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Vasishtha. Arundhati, Vasishtha’s wife, is worshipped with them. Other texts give slightly different lists.
Why is apamarga used on Rishi Panchami?
Bathing with apamarga, and cleaning the teeth with its twig, is the traditional purifying act of the day. It belongs to the same idea of simple, forest-like living as the meal without ploughed grain.
Can men keep Rishi Panchami?
Yes. In many families it is kept mainly by women, but honouring the rishis is open to anyone, and some men and whole families keep the puja together.
What is eaten on Rishi Panchami?
Food is kept simple. Many avoid grain grown with the plough and eat fruit, roots, curd, or rice and vegetables that grow without ploughing; others simply eat one plain meal.