Saṅkrānti
सङ्क्रान्ति
Everyday Hindi: संक्रांति
The Sun's entry into a sidereal rasi; twelve each year.
Definition
A saṅkrānti ('passage') is the moment the Sun enters a new sidereal rasi, so there are twelve in a year, each beginning a solar month. Makara Saṅkrānti (around 14 January) and Meṣa Saṅkrānti (around 14 April, the solar new year in several regions) are widely observed. Saṅkrāntis also govern the lunar calendar, since a lunar month without one becomes an adhika māsa.
Articles that use this term
- PanchangaExplainer
Sankranti: the Sun's twelve sign entries
Why Makar Sankranti stays near 14 January while Diwali wanders, how the twelve sankrantis are classed, and the slow drift that will move the date.
6 min read · 26 September 2026
- PanchangaExplainer
Adhika masa: the leap month
Twelve lunar months fall about eleven days short of the solar year. How the calendar inserts a thirteenth month, when it does so, and what the rare lost month is.
6 min read · 25 September 2026