Anant Chaturdashi 2026अनंत चतुर्दशी
Anant Chaturdashi 2026 is on Friday, September 25, 2026. The Kaundinya katha, the fourteen knot Anant sutra, the Vishnu puja and the Ganesh visarjan that closes Ganeshotsav.
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The story of Anant Chaturdashi
Ananta is the endless one: Vishnu in the form that has no beginning and no end, resting on Shesha between the ages. The katha is of Kaundinya and his wife Sushila, who was given the Anant sutra, a thread of fourteen knots, and prospered by it. Her husband, proud of his own learning, tore it off and threw it into the fire, and everything they had went with it. He wandered for years asking the trees and the animals where Ananta was, until Vishnu himself, appearing as an old brahmin, told him that the thread was never the point: what he had thrown away was his own trust.
The same Chaturdashi closes the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi. The murtis that came home with drums are carried back to the water and immersed, with the cry of Ganpati Bappa Morya, pudhchya varshi lavkar ya. Both halves of the day say one thing: what is endless is not the form you can hold, and the clay is given back to the river every year so that nobody forgets it.
How Anant Chaturdashi is celebrated
| Anant sutra | a cotton or silk thread of fourteen knots, dyed in turmeric, is worshipped and tied on the arm: right for men, left for women. |
| Vishnu puja | Ananta Padmanabha is worshipped with fourteen of each offering, and the Anant Chaturdashi katha is read. |
| The vrat | a day fast broken after the puja; many keep it for fourteen years and then formally conclude it (udyapan). |
| Ganesh visarjan | the Ganesh murti is given aarti and taken in procession to be immersed, ideally in a clay-friendly way. |
Maharashtra sees the largest visarjan processions of the year, from Lalbaugcha Raja onward; Kerala keeps Ananta Padmanabha at Thiruvananthapuram, the city named for him; and in Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand the Anant sutra is the older, quieter half of the day.
Anant Chaturdashi checklist: what to arrange in advance
The non-perishable samagri you can order ahead of the day. Each link opens an Amazon search for that item in your own country’s store.
Fresh items, flowers, fruit, sweets and leaves, are best bought from your local market on the day.
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Frequently asked questions
When is Anant Chaturdashi in 2026?
Anant Chaturdashi is on Friday, September 25, 2026, ten days after Ganesh Chaturthi on September 14, 2026.
What is the Anant sutra and how is it worn?
A thread with fourteen knots, for the fourteen lokas, worshipped with the puja and then tied on the upper arm: the right arm for men and the left for women. It is usually kept until the next Anant Chaturdashi.
Why is Ganesh visarjan done on this day?
The ten day Ganeshotsav that begins on Ganesh Chaturthi ends on this Chaturdashi, so the murtis installed then are immersed now, returning the clay to the water it was shaped from.
What does the Kaundinya katha teach?
That the thread was never the source of the fortune. Kaundinya lost everything the moment he treated his wife’s devotion as superstition, and got it back only when he stopped searching for Ananta as a place and understood it as what has no end.
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Dates are verified against authoritative Panchang sources (Drik Panchang, New Delhi). Traditions vary by family and region; for muhurat and puja vidhi please also consult your family panditji.