Anant Chaturdashi 2027
14 September 2027

Anant Chaturdashi carries two observances on the same day. For many it is Ganesh Chaturthi’s close, when the idol kept through ten days of Ganeshotsav is taken in procession and immersed, with a prayer for his return next year. For others, it is Ananta Vrat, the worship of Vishnu in his form as Ananta, the endless one, with a sacred thread of fourteen knots (ananta sutra) tied on the wrist.

The story of the Ananta Vrat, as the Bhavishya Purana tells it, is Krishna’s own advice to Yudhishthira during the Pandavas’ years of hardship: that keeping this vrat and wearing the ananta sutra would bring back their lost kingdom. Families who keep this vrat tie the fourteen-knotted thread, dyed with turmeric, on the right wrist for men and the left for women, and many homes keep both observances together where the two fall on the same day.

• Cotton thread and turmeric for the ananta sutra
• Image of Vishnu, or a darbha grass figure
• Roli, akshat and kalava
• Tulsi leaves
• Flowers and a garland
• Diya and ghee
• For the visarjan: flowers, modak and items for the final aarti

Source: Bhavishya Purana, Krishna’s advice to Yudhishthira

During their years of exile and hardship, Yudhishthira asked Krishna how the Pandavas could win back the kingdom they had lost. Krishna told him of the Ananta Vrat, the worship of Vishnu as Ananta, the endless one, kept on the Chaturdashi of Bhadrapad’s bright fortnight.

He told Yudhishthira of a poor Brahmin, Kaundinya, whose wife had once tied this very thread of fourteen knots on her wrist in faith; when Kaundinya, not knowing what it was, cut it off and threw it into the fire, misfortune followed him until he learned, after a long search, what he had destroyed and took up the vrat himself to win Ananta’s grace back.

Krishna told Yudhishthira that keeping the vrat and wearing the ananta sutra, as Kaundinya had learned to, would restore what had been lost, and the Pandavas kept it through their final year of hardship before regaining their kingdom.

What to do

• Tie the ananta sutra only after it has been offered in the puja, since tradition holds the thread sacred once Vishnu’s blessing has been asked over it.
• If your family’s Ganeshotsav ends today, keep the final aarti unhurried, since the idol’s farewell is as much a part of the day as its arrival ten days ago.
• Choose a nearby, safe spot for the visarjan, or a bucket or artificial tank at home, where a river or pond is not easily or safely reached.

What to avoid

• The ananta sutra is not cut off once tied, in memory of the katha’s warning; it is usually worn until it wears through and falls away on its own, or is replaced the following year.
• Avoid a hurried or careless immersion; tradition asks for the same respect at the idol’s farewell as at its welcome ten days before.

In Maharashtra, Anant Chaturdashi is best known as the last and largest day of Ganesh visarjan, with processions filling the streets of Mumbai and Pune. Where the Ananta Vrat is kept instead, mainly in parts of North India, the day centres on the fourteen-knotted thread rather than an idol’s immersion; many households keep both together, since the two fall on the same Chaturdashi.