Anant Chaturdashi (25 September): The Fourteen-Knot Thread, Puja Vidhi and Ganesh Visarjan
Friday, 25 September 2026 is Anant Chaturdashi — the fourteen-knot thread is tied, and Ganesha leaves after ten days. Puja vidhi, the katha, and a Rahu Kaal clash worth planning around.
Friday, 25 September 2026 is Anant Chaturdashi — Chaturdashi of Bhadrapada Shukla Paksha, kept for Vishnu in his form as Ananta, the endless. It is also the tenth and final day of Ganesh Chaturthi, so for most households the day holds two things at once: a thread tied on in the morning, and a farewell in the evening.
Timings — and one clash to plan around
The Chaturdashi tithi runs from 23:18 on 24 September to 23:06 on 25 September, which means the entire waking day of the 25th falls under it. That is unusually clean; there is no narrow window to chase. Sunrise is 06:11 and sunset 18:13.
The one thing to plan around: Rahu Kaal falls 10:42 to 12:12, and it cuts straight through the midday hours when this puja is often done. Keep the Anant puja and the tying of the sutra either before 10:42 or after 12:12. Morning, soon after the bath, is the simplest choice. The nakshatra is Shatabhisha.
The thread and its fourteen knots
The Anant sutra is the heart of this vrat — a cotton or silk thread, dyed yellow with turmeric, tied with fourteen knots. It is worshipped alongside Vishnu and then tied on the arm: men on the right, women on the left. The fourteen knots are counted as the fourteen lokas, the worlds Vishnu is said to hold. Some families keep the old thread through the year and replace it at the next Anant Chaturdashi; others release it into water after a set number of days.
Puja vidhi
- Bathe and set up a clean platform with a kalash. Place an image of Vishnu resting on Shesha — the Ananta form specifically, not a generic Vishnu image, where you have one.
- Spread darbha grass and, in the older form of the vrat, place a small image of Ananta made from it.
- Lay the fourteen-knot sutra before the deity and worship it along with him — the thread is not an accessory here, it is one of the objects of the puja.
- Offer panchamrit, tulsi, yellow flowers, sandalwood, a ghee lamp and fourteen items of naivedya where the family keeps that count — commonly fourteen puris and a sweet.
- Read or hear the Anant vrat katha, perform aarti, then tie the sutra on the arm.
- Keep a fast through the day, breaking it after the puja.
The katha — Kaundinya's pride
Sushila, daughter of the sage Sumantu, married the sage Kaundinya. On the way to his ashram she saw women keeping the Anant vrat, learned it, and took the fourteen-knot thread herself. The household prospered steadily after that. In time Kaundinya, seeing the wealth, took the credit for it, and in irritation at the thread — a piece of string, as he saw it — threw it into the fire. Everything went. He wandered for years looking for Ananta, and found him only after he had given up the last of his pride, whereupon what had been lost was returned.
There is a second thread to the day: the Mahabharata has Krishna advising Yudhishthira to keep this vrat during the exile, as the way back to what the Pandavas had lost. Both stories are about the same thing — the vrat is kept by those who have lost something and are asking, without demanding, for it to come back.
Ganesh Visarjan
The same day closes the ten days that began on 14 September. Households that took the full sankalp carry the murti out today — with aarti before it leaves the house, a procession where there is one, and immersion. Take the murti out of the house after the Anant puja is done, not before.
One practical note that matters more each year: plaster-of-Paris murtis and chemical paints do not dissolve and damage the water they go into. If your murti is clay, a bucket or drum of water at home works, and the sludge can go to a plant or a garden. Many cities now provide artificial immersion tanks; using one is not a compromise on the vidhi.
Then the words, the same every year — Ganpati Bappa Morya, pudhchya varshi lavkar ya.