Surya 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 Surya Grahana?
Hindu tradition reads a solar eclipse not as geometry but as the demon Rahu swallowing Surya in revenge for an old grudge from the churning of the ocean. Because Surya is briefly under Rahu's malefic grip, the eclipse is treated as a religious event with strict rules of fasting, bathing and japa.
Why is Surya Grahana observed?
The story comes from the Samudra Manthan in the Vishnu and Bhagavata Puranas. When Mohini was sharing the nectar of immortality with the devas, an asura named Svarbhanu sneaked into their line. Surya and Chandra spotted him, and Vishnu cut off his head with the Sudarshana Chakra — but the nectar had already touched his throat, so the head lived on as Rahu and the body as Ketu. They have hunted the two luminaries ever since. Practically, this means Sutak — an impure window of four prahars (about 12 hours) — begins before the eclipse, but only where it is visible to the naked eye; penumbral eclipses are ignored. Eating, sleeping, oil massage and intimacy are avoided. Texts like Nirnay Sindhu and Dharma Sindhu instead prescribe bathing, japa, homa and post-eclipse charity, whose merit is said to multiply manyfold.
What are the other names for Surya Grahana?
Surya Grahana is also known as Solar Eclipse.
Which prarthanas are recited on Surya Grahana?
Ketu Mantra is recited on Surya Grahana. You can listen to it with audio on this page.
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