Kharmas 2026–27: Dates, What to Avoid and What Is Fine

Kharmas (खरमास) is the name North India gives to the two months of the year when the Sun is in Dhanu (Sagittarius) or Meena (Pisces). For about thirty days each time, many families do not hold weddings and some other ceremonies. Daily life, worship and work go on as usual.

This guide gives the 2026–27 dates, where the rule comes from, what the books avoid and what custom adds, and what is perfectly fine.

Kharmas 2026–27 Dates

Kharmas is counted by the Sun, so it begins and ends at a sankranti — the moment the Sun enters a new sidereal sign — and not at a new or full moon. That is why its dates stay almost the same every year.

The times are for India (IST), computed with the Swiss Ephemeris and the Lahiri ayanamsa. Because the Sun enters Makara after sunset on 14 January 2027, your calendar may keep the Makar Sankranti festival and its punya kaal on 15 January; check your local panchang.

A calendar can also differ from these times by a day for two other reasons. Many almanacs avoid the hours around the sankranti itself — B.V. Raman, for example, counts 16 ghatis, about six and a half hours, on each side — so a date right at the edge may be left out. And a calendar that uses another ayanamsa puts the sankranti itself at a different moment: with Raman's ayanamsa it comes about a day and a half earlier.

Where the Rule Comes From

Muhurta Chintamani, the muhurta handbook Rama Daivajna wrote around 1600, lists in its Vivaha prakarana the months — counted by the Sun's sign — in which weddings are held: with the Sun in Mesha, Vrisha, Mithuna, Vrischika, Makara or Kumbha. Dhanu and Meena are not on the list. (Karka to Tula are left out too, but those months fall mostly in Chaturmas, which closes them anyway.)

So the classical basis is a rule about weddings, written by the Sun's sign. The same book also keeps the start of building out of both these months, and entering a new house out of the December–January one, by rules of their own that the next section explains. The word Kharmas does not appear in the book; it is the popular name. A well-known folk story explains it: in these months the Sun's horses rest and donkeys (khar) draw his chariot, so the Sun's strength is low. It is a story, not a rule, but it is how most people remember the month.

Some Hindi calendars and newspapers also call this period malmas. The same word is used for the adhika (extra) lunar month, which is a different thing — and there is no adhika month between October 2026 and December 2027.

What Is Avoided in Kharmas

• Weddings. This is the part that rests on the classical rule above, and almost every North Indian calendar shows no wedding dates in Kharmas.
• Building and entering a new house, by the books as well. For bhoomi pujan and the start of construction, the Vastu prakarana of Muhurta Chintamani leaves the Sun in Dhanu and in Meena out of its months, and Narada, quoted there, warns against both. For entering a new house, the book's Griha-pravesha prakarana asks for the Sun's northern course (Uttarayana, from Makar Sankranti until the Sun enters Karka), and its Samskara prakarana names griha pravesh, with mundan and janeu (upanayana), among the rites not done in the southern course. The December–January Kharmas falls wholly in the southern course, so the books close it to all three. Narada counts Kartika and Margashirsha as "middling" months for a new house. Some calendars choose griha pravesh by the lunar month alone, which is why they list December dates. Moving back into an old house, or into one rebuilt after damage, is different: the book asks for no such check.
• Other ceremonies, by custom. Many families also avoid engagement and buying a house or land in Kharmas. In the March–April Kharmas, which falls in the northern course, many families also wait for mundan, janeu and griha pravesh; there the books go by each rite's own months, and calendars differ. How strictly all this is kept varies by family and region.
• Regional names and differences. In Gujarat the same period is called Kamurta. Tamil practice follows its own solar months and does not map exactly onto Kharmas: Margazhi (the Sun in Dhanu) is widely kept free of weddings, while Panguni (the Sun in Meena) is treated differently in different calendars. Families in the South should follow their own panchangam.

What Is Fine in Kharmas

Kharmas is about when to begin certain ceremonies. It is not a bad month for living, and there is nothing to fear in it.

• Worship, charity and fasting carry on, and many people treat these weeks as especially suited to them. In the South, Margazhi is a month of devotion in its own right, with the Thiruppavai sung at dawn.
• Work, study, exams, travel and everyday purchases are not affected.
• Medical treatment is never postponed for a muhurat. A doctor's date always comes first.
• Festivals that fall in these weeks are celebrated as usual. In 2027 Holi falls inside the Meena Kharmas, and Chaitra Navratri begins before it ends.
• Rites with a fixed time of their own — a naming ceremony on the 11th or 12th day, for example — are done on their day.

Kharmas and the Other Closed Periods

Kharmas is often confused with the other periods that pause weddings. They are counted in different ways, so they fall at different times and close different things:

When two of these overlap, a date has to clear all of them. That is why the open wedding seasons in 2026–27 are shorter than usual.

Kharmas and the 2026–27 Wedding Season

This year Kharmas sits beside a rarer rule. Jupiter enters Leo on 31 October 2026, and a strict reading of Muhurta Chintamani (Simhastha Guru) closes weddings until 25 January 2027. So the wedding calendar looks like this:

• Calendar view (as many printed calendars publish it): weddings from 21 November to 15 December 2026, a break for Kharmas, then from 15 January 2027 — closing again for the Meena Kharmas from 15 March to 14 April 2027.
• Strict view (with Simhastha): no wedding dates until 25 January 2027; then open to 14 March, closed for Kharmas, and open again from 15 April to 25 June 2027.

The full two-view table, with the reasons, is in Simhastha Guru 2026–27 and wedding dates.

Planning Around Kharmas

• If a wedding is planned for January 2027, the first dates after Kharmas come from 15 January in the calendar view and from 25 January in the strict view.
• For any particular day, check the panchang for your own city — the tithi and nakshatra at sunrise and the day's windows: see today's panchang and the choghadiya for your city. For a wedding, begin with the couple's kundli matching.
• If two lists disagree about a date near Kharmas, the reason is often the sankranti hour (some calendars also avoid the hours around it) or the city. Why muhurat dates differ explains this and eight other reasons.