Jitiya 2027: Jivitputrika Vrat Date and Navami Parana

Jitiya, or Jivitputrika vrat (जितिया, जीवित्पुत्रिका व्रत), is the fast that mothers in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Mithila country of Nepal’s Terai keep on the eighth day of the waning Moon. Calendars that end the month at the full moon call that fortnight Ashwina Krishna; calendars that end it at the new moon call it Bhadrapada Krishna. It is the same Ashtami either way. In 2027 the fast falls on Thursday, 23 September 2027, with nahay-khay on Wednesday 22 September and the fast broken on the Navami, Friday 24 September.

The Ashtami Runs From 04:37 on 23 September to 02:58 on 24 September

No festival table on the site carries a Jitiya row, so the boundaries come from the site’s tithi code, which is checked on every build against 86 tithi openings and closings in the generated festival tables and has not strayed from them by more than 1 min. On that working the Saptami hands over to the Ashtami at 04:37 on 23 September, in the dark before dawn, and the Ashtami gives way to the Navami at 02:58 on 24 September, again before dawn. That is a tithi of 22 hours 21 mins, and it covers the whole of Thursday’s daylight and evening.

Nahay-Khay, the Fast and the Parana, Day by Day

Jitiya is kept over three days by custom. The household bathes and takes a single plain meal on the first day, the nahay-khay (नहाय खाय), a name it shares with the first day of Chhath. The second day is the fast itself, on the Ashtami. The fast is broken on the Navami, the parana. Read off the New Delhi daily panchang, the sunrise tithis are:

• Wednesday 22 September, nahay-khay: Krishna Saptami at the 06:09 sunrise
• Thursday 23 September, the fast: Krishna Ashtami at the 06:09 sunrise, and still at the 18:17 sunset
• Friday 24 September, parana: Krishna Navami at the 06:10 sunrise

This page gives no clock time for breaking the fast. Families take that hour from their own almanac or priest, and the only instant the site can supply is the one above, the Ashtami’s end at 02:58, which in every city below comes hours before the 24 September sunrise.

Eight Cities, One Fasting Day

Each city below was tested on its own sunrise and sunset, computed by the solar function behind the city panchang pages. The cells give the tithi current at that instant.

The fasting day does not move. Kolkata, with the earliest sunrise on the list, still meets an Ashtami 48 mins old; the tithi outlasts every sunset here by more than 8 hours and is gone at least 2 hours before any 24 September sunrise.

The nahay-khay column is where the cities part. The Shashthi ends at 05:52 on 22 September. Patna, Varanasi, Ranchi and Kolkata see the Sun before that, so their almanacs read the Shashthi at that sunrise and the Saptami holds no sunrise at all. Further west the order flips: in Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai the Sun comes up after the Shashthi has ended, so it is the Shashthi that holds no sunrise there, and the 22 September dawn is a Saptami dawn. Because the custom ties nahay-khay to the day before the fast rather than to a tithi, the civil day is 22 September in both groups; a local almanac will simply name a different tithi beside it.

The Saptami-Viddha Question, and Why 2027 Escapes It

In some years the Mithila almanacs and the Banaras almanacs put Jitiya on different days. The disagreement is over an Ashtami that begins during the Saptami’s day, a saptami-viddha (सप्तमी विद्धा) Ashtami, and whether such a day can carry the fast. This page does not settle that. It can show what the 2027 instants give each reading. The Saptami is current from 05:52 on 22 September until the Ashtami takes over, so no part of 22 September between sunrise and sunset contains any Ashtami. The Ashtami arrives only at 04:37 on 23 September, ahead of sunrise. A reading that keeps the sunrise Ashtami takes 23 September; a reading that refuses a Saptami-touched day also takes 23 September, since that day’s sunrise, daylight and sunset are Ashtami throughout. On these figures the two conventions name the same civil day this year. Check your own almanac before planning around it.

A Fast Inside Pitru Paksha

The fortnight that holds Jitiya is also the fortnight of the ancestors. The 2027 festival table opens Pitru Paksha on Wednesday 15 September and closes it with Sarva Pitru Amavasya on Thursday 30 September. The Jitiya fast sits 8 days into that span and 7 days before its end, so households that keep both will find the shraddha days and the Jitiya days falling in the same weeks.

What the Vrat Is Kept For, and Its Story

By the custom’s own account, mothers keep Jitiya for the welfare and long life of their children. This page reports that purpose and makes no claim about what the fast does. Household custom keeps the day as a nirjala fast, without water. Anyone pregnant, on medication or with a medical condition should ask their doctor before keeping a waterless fast.

The vrat-katha recited on the day is the story of Jimutavahana, a prince who offers himself to Garuda in place of a young Naga who was to be taken that day. The page keeps to that outline. Details of the telling, and of the worship that goes with it, vary from region to region and are best taken from your own family.

Jitiya 2027 at a Glance

• Nahay-khay: Wednesday, 22 September 2027
• Jitiya fast (Ashwina / Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami): Thursday, 23 September 2027, in every city tested
• Ashtami: 04:37 on 23 September to 02:58 on 24 September (computed)
• Parana (Navami): Friday, 24 September 2027; no parana time is given here
• Pitru Paksha: 15 September to 30 September

The rest of the month’s fasts are on the September 2027 vrat and tyohar list, and the Bhadrapada 2027 page explains how the two month reckonings divide these weeks. For your own town’s sunrise use the panchang tool; the festival hub lists the observances in the site’s tables. In Hindi: जितिया 2027: जीवित्पुत्रिका व्रत की तारीख और नवमी पारण.