Uttarayana

What it is

Sanskrit gives the name: uttara means north, and ayana means movement, path or journey. So the word names the Sun's journey north. Astronomically, the period runs from just after the winter solstice to the summer solstice, roughly 21 December to 21 June. The Earth leans about 23.4 degrees on its axis, so the Sun's position in the sky drifts north and then back south through the year. After the summer solstice the Sun turns south, a half called Dakshinayana. The Indian solar calendar also describes Uttarayana as the Sun's passage through the zodiac, and the Surya Siddhanta ties the solstice and equinox points to four of the twelve rashis, or signs.

In the texts

The Surya Siddhanta, whose author is named as Mayasura, places Uttarayana between Makara Sankranti and Karka Sankranti, which fall around 14 January and 16 July now. Latadeva described the pair as half revolutions of the Sun. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a scholar and mathematician, proposed an older Vedic reading: the time from the spring equinox to the autumn equinox, when the Sun stays north of the equator. He pointed to a tradition that Uttarayana is the daytime of the gods at the North Pole. Hindu cosmology counts these six months as the day of the devas and the other half as their night. Ayurvedic writing calls the period Adana Kala, a time of taking away, when heat is said to dry the body and reduce strength.

Marking the season

Devotees treat the northward half of the year as an auspicious time and take on rituals within it. Pilgrimage to Prayag, where three rivers meet, is a common practice, with bathing at the confluence. The Mahabharata tells how Bhishma, mortally wounded in war, held off death until Uttarayana, since he could choose his hour. The Bhagavad Gita says that those who die while the Sun moves north reach a higher spiritual state. Builders worked with the cycle too. Many Indian temples face east; the western gate at Angkor Wat catches the winter solstice sunrise, and at the Modhera Sun Temple the summer solstice sun stands overhead.

Festivals nearby

Several observances fall close to the opening of Uttarayana. Makara Sankranti marks the Sun's entry into Capricorn. Pongal is kept in Tamil Nadu and Lohri in northern India. Gujarat holds an international kite festival, known there as Uttarayan. These are separate festivals: they cluster around the same seasonal turn, but they are not another name for the astronomical period. The Gujarati, Tamil and northern Indian celebrations each have their own customs, and the sources treat them as distinct from Uttarayana itself.

A date that drifts

People often assume that Makara Sankranti begins Uttarayana. In astronomical terms the Sun's northward turn starts right after the winter solstice, which in 2022 fell on 22 December, so the period opened on 23 December. The two events coincided about 1,700 years ago, and precession has pulled them apart since. Makara Sankranti was on 21 December in 272 CE and on 31 December in 1000 CE; it now falls on 14 January and in 9000 years will land in June. Uttarayana remains tied to the day after the solstice. Makers of Drika Panchangas use the tropical Sun to fix it.

How Uttarayana is kept

Devotees treat the northward half of the year as an auspicious stretch and take on rituals within it. A common practice is pilgrimage to Prayag, at the meeting of three rivers, to bathe there. Around the same turn of the season, communities keep Makara Sankranti, Pongal in Tamil Nadu and Lohri in the north, and Gujarat flies kites at a festival people call Uttarayan. Classical Ayurvedic writing pairs the six months with Adana Kala, a time when heat is said to draw moisture and strength from the body and the land.

When and where

Uttarayana begins the day following the winter solstice, near 21 December, and runs to the summer solstice, near 21 June. In the sidereal reckoning it spans Makara Sankranti to Karka Sankranti, roughly 14 January to 16 July. The festival day is kept on 14 or 15 January.

It is kept in India, where Hindu solar calendars are followed and where Makara Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri and the Gujarat kite festival are observed. Pilgrims go to Prayag to bathe. Temple alignments tied to the solstice are seen at the Modhera Sun Temple in India and at Angkor Wat, whose western gate marks the winter solstice sunrise.

What Uttarayana means

Those who keep it read the Sun's turn north as a holy season. The Mahabharata tells how Bhishma, mortally wounded, held back his death until Uttarayana, since he could choose his hour. The Bhagavad Gita says that those who die while the Sun moves north reach a higher spiritual state. Hindu cosmology calls these six months the day of the devas, and the six months of Dakshinayana their night; together they make one full day in the reckoning of the gods.

Days Uttarayana is marked

Questions people ask about Uttarayana

See also

Chota Char DhamFour Himalayan shrines in Uttarakhand, visited in one season each yearFire templeA consecrated sanctuary where Zoroastrians tend sacred fires and gather for worshipKailash Mansarovar YatraA high-altitude pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in TibetPrayer wheelA cylindrical wheel spun in Tibetan Buddhist practice to accumulate merit and wisdom

Good reading and sources

• Uttarayana on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.