Pongal 2026: 14 or 15 January

Both calendars use the same rule: a sankranti before sunset belongs to that day. They differ on when the sankranti happens.

The rule

Thai Pongal falls on the Makara sankranti, the Sun's entry into Capricorn, and Thai 1 is that day. The Tamil rule gives a sankranti occurring before sunset to the same civil day, and one after sunset to the next.

Two instants

Computed on the Drik method, the sankranti in 2026 was at 3:07 pm IST on 14 January, before sunset, so the rule gives the 14th.

Tamil calendars place Thai 1, and Pongal, on the 15th. They follow the Tamil Vakya reckoning, under which the sankranti falls later than the Drik one.

How often the two differ

The two reckonings put the start of a Tamil month on different days about one month in five. Between April 2024 and March 2027, Drik would move 8 of 36 Tamil month starts by a day; Purattasi 2026 is one of them (Drik 17 September, the Tamil listings the 18th). In other years the two agree: in 2022 the Drik sankranti was at 2:30 pm on the 14th, and both calendars kept Pongal that day.

The Tamil dates on this site therefore follow the published Tamil month-start listings.