Chandra Grahana
Festival Pooja & Pandit Booking
Want a Pandit-led pooja for this festival at home, or online if you live abroad? Dharmayana connects you with verified Pandits for all major Hindu festivals — Diwali, Navratri, Shivratri, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi and more.
You can book:
- Festival pooja at home with a verified Pandit
- Online / virtual pooja with live video and digital prasad
- Same-day sankalp for time-sensitive festivals
Bookings, samagri lists and Pandit assignment are all handled inside the Dharmayana app — choose the festival, pick a date and the rest is taken care of.
Prarthana, Mantras & Vrat Katha
Every festival has its own prarthanas, stotras and vrat kathas. Reading or listening to them on the festival day is the simplest way to observe the tradition at home.
Inside the Dharmayana app you can listen to:
- 1000+ prarthanas, mantras and stotras with clear audio
- Festival-specific kathas — Lakshmi, Durga, Shiva, Ganesha, Krishna
- Multilingual versions: Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and more
Browse the full collection of prarthanas or get the app to play them on the festival morning without ads.
Festival Date, Tithi & Muhurat
Hindu festivals are tied to a specific Tithi, not a fixed date — so the day shifts every year and even varies slightly across cities.
Open the Panchanga for the festival day to see the exact Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana and Shubh Muhurat for pooja in your location.
The Dharmayana app keeps track of all upcoming festivals on the Hindu calendar and reminds you in advance.
Personalised Astrology Around Festivals
Festivals are also a good time to look at your kundali — many families plan sankalp, donations or new beginnings around them.
Inside the app you can:
- Generate your personal Vedic kundali
- Talk to a Jyotisha for guidance around career, relationships or health
- Run kundali matching before fixing a marriage during the festival season
All of this is available inside the Dharmayana app — no fixed schedule, use it whenever you need it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chandra Grahana?
A Chandra Grahana is treated less as astronomy and more as the demon Rahu swallowing the Moon — payback for Vishnu beheading him at the churning of the ocean. Only eclipses visible to the naked eye count ritually; penumbral ones are ignored by the panchanga.
Why is Chandra Grahana observed?
The story comes from the Samudra Manthana. When the gods shared the amrita (nectar of immortality), the asura Svarbhanu slipped into their line. The Sun and Moon spotted him and Vishnu beheaded him mid-sip — but the nectar had already touched his throat. His head became Rahu, his body Ketu, and both periodically seize the Moon in revenge. Because of this, the nine hours before a Chandra Grahana are called Sutak — a polluted window when temples close, cooking stops, and idols are not touched. (Surya Grahana gets twelve hours because the Sun is the stronger luminary.) Eclipse time itself is considered powerful for japa: a single Gayatri or Mahamrityunjaya recitation is said to count many times over. After the Moon emerges, devotees bathe — ideally in a river at Kurukshetra or Prayag — and discard cooked food, keeping only grains shielded by Kusha grass or Tulasi leaves.
What are the other names for Chandra Grahana?
Chandra Grahana is also known as Chandra Grahan and Lunar Eclipse.
Which prarthanas are recited on Chandra Grahana?
Rahu Mantra and Chandra Gayatri Mantra are recited on Chandra Grahana. You can listen to them with audio on this page.
Book Pandit & Festival Pooja
on the Dharmayana App
Book Chandra Grahana Pooja on the Dharmayana App
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