Every year this confusion arises. I write article every year explaining this.
Rule for observing karwachauth:
- Purnimant Kartika Krishna paksha Chaturthi which is Amavasyant Ashwin Krishna Paksha Chaturthi
According to North Indian System Krishna Paksha comes first and then Shukla Paksha. According to South Indian, Gujarat, Maharatra System Shukla Paksha comes first followed by krishna paksha. Hence we have difference.
Nirnaysindhy says:
"Karwa Chauth to be observed at moonrise (chandrodaya vyapini) and poorvaviddha, best if its tritiya viddha. If visible during both days take the first one, if not visible on both days then take the second one".
The specific time for karwa chauth is moonrise time. This means the chaturthi tithi needs to be visible at the moonrise time. Chaturthi tithi appearing at the sunrise time cannot be taken if it appears on moonrise time on either days.
Now what most people, online site do is take the tithi visible at the sunrise and they think karwa chauth is always fourth day from the Purnima, is wrong from the above quote dharmashastra from Nirnaysindhu.
In 2009: Average moonrise time in india and america varies from 8 PM to 10 PM (depends on the location). The moon should be visible when chaturthi tithi is rising. If it doesn't happen on both days THEN only take the rising tithi. If the tithi changes to chaturthi just before moonrise then that day should be taken no matter even if tritiya is in morning or not.
Please visit http://www.mypanchang.com/panchang2009.html to visit panchang for your city to find moonrising time for your city. In India tritiya tithi finishes at 9:46 AM on October 7th 2009 and then Chaturthi tithi comes and it persists till next day morning on October 8th till 8:28 AM but not long enough to hit moonrise time on October 8th 2009. Hence Karwa Chauth in India is on October 7th, 2009.
Now whenever tithi changes it changes the same instance all over the world. This means if tritiya ends on 9:46 AM in India on October 7th 2009 then It will end at the same time in Europe, America, Australia everywhere as well. Now time difference between London and India is 5 hours 30 minutes. London is observing daylight saving at this time and hence time difference is 4 hours 30 minutes. Please subtract 4 hours 30 minutes from 9:46 AM of October 7th 2009 and you will get Tritiya ending time for London, UK and Chaturthi entering time for London UK. Los Angeles, USA, Seattle, USA is 12 hours 30 minutes behind India. To find Tritiya ending times in those places we have to subtract 12 hours 30 minutes from 9:46 AM of October 7th 2009. This will give you Tritiya ending time for Seattle, and USA like wise New york, USA is 9 hours 30 minutes behind from India (due to summer time, winter 10 hours 30 minutes). So subtract 9 hours 30 minutes from Tritiya ending times 9:46 AM on October 7th 2009 and It will give you Tritiya ending time of New York and Chaturthi rising time of New York.
Now remember when countries are behind in time from USA means we have to subtract the time zone difference from India time and When countries are ahead in time from India we have to add the time difference to the indian time. After doing that step check the local parameters like Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise, Moonset. This times will vary from place to places all over the world. For more details please read http://www.mypanchang.com/Why-there-is-a-one-day-difference-in-hindu-festival-dates-in-India-and-America.php. In our case Moonrise timings are important.
Now based on that we hace calculated following tritiya ending times tithi for various places in the world.
- India: October 7th 2009, 9:46 AM
- London UK: 5:16 AM of October 7th 2009 (Panchang will represent this as 29:16)
- New York, USA: 00:16 AM of October 7th 2009 (Panchang will represent this as 24:16)
- Seattle, Los Angeles, USA: 21:16 PM of October 6th 2009
Now let's see when Chaturthi ends in these places.
- India: 8:28 AM of October 8th 2009
- London UK: 27:58 of October 7th 2009 (means 3:58AM of October 8th 2009)
- New York, USA: 22:58 of October 7th 2009
- Seattle, Los Angeles, USA: 19:58 PM of October 7th 2009
Now let's apply average moonrise timings to these cities (For actual moonrise timings please visit tp://www.mypanchang.com/panchang2009.html) which is rougly 8 to 10 PM. Now if we apply that it's clear that on October 8th 2009 during moonrise timings chaturthi tithi is not there. Hence October 8th cannot be taken as a karwa chauth. In certain parts of USA chaturthi tithi isn't visible during moonrise but it is not visible on either days and hence take the next day as per that rule we have calculated Karwa chauth dates for following places in the world:
Now remember most cities or calendar makers in india do not follow dharmashatra properly. Hence they can't explain you the detailed calculations done by pannchang siddhantis to determine real festival dates. Pundit Mahesh Shastri is a panchang siddhanti and he has put this detailed calculation of Karwa Chauth for you.
Karwa Chauth dates for 2009
- Hawaii: October 6th 2009
- Entire World except Hawaii: October 7th 2009
for more details please visit http://www.mypanchang.com/. Please feel free to share this article with your friends and family.
Shubham Bhavatu
Pundit Mahesh Shastri
Seattle, WA
August 21 2009
