Lala Ramswaroop Calendar January 2026: Vrat, Festivals and Auspicious Muhurat List

Every January, lakhs of homes across North India reach for one calendar before planning anything important — a wedding date, a Griha Pravesh, a fast, or simply the date of the next Ekadashi. That calendar is the Lala Ramswaroop Panchang. This guide lays out the complete Lala Ramswaroop Calendar January 2026, with every major Vrat, Tyohar (festival), and auspicious Muhurat explained in one place, so you don’t have to flip through pages to find what you need.

January 2026 is an unusually eventful month on the Hindu calendar. It carries the shift from Paush month to Magh month, and inside that shift sit some of the year’s most-observed occasions — Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Mauni Amavasya, and Basant Panchami. Below is a clear, date-wise look at all of them.

Major Festivals in the Lala Ramswaroop Calendar — January 2026

Date	Day	Festival	What It Marks
Jan 1, 2026	Thursday	New Year’s Day	Beginning of the Gregorian calendar year
Jan 13, 2026	Tuesday	Lohri	Punjab’s bonfire harvest festival
Jan 14, 2026	Wednesday	Makar Sankranti	Sun’s entry into Capricorn; start of Uttarayan
Jan 23, 2026	Friday	Basant Panchami (Saraswati Puja)	Worship of Goddess Saraswati, deity of knowledge
Jan 26, 2026	Monday	Republic Day	India’s Constitution Day

Vrat and Tithi Dates — January 2026

Date	Day	Vrat / Tithi	Meaning
Jan 3, 2026	Saturday	Paush Purnima	Full moon of Paush month; ideal for Satyanarayan Katha and river baths
Jan 7, 2026	Wednesday	Sankashti Chaturthi	Monthly fast for Lord Ganesha
Jan 14, 2026	Wednesday	Shattila Ekadashi	Ekadashi observed with six uses of til (sesame)
Jan 16, 2026	Friday	Krishna Paksha Pradosh Vrat	Evening fast for Lord Shiva
Jan 18, 2026	Sunday	Mauni Amavasya (Magh Amavasya)	Silent new moon; Snan-Daan and ancestor worship
Jan 29, 2026	Thursday	Jaya Ekadashi	Ekadashi linked to freedom from past sins
Jan 30, 2026	Friday	Shukla Paksha Pradosh Vrat	Evening Shiva fast for family wellbeing

A point worth noting: Shattila Ekadashi and Makar Sankranti fall on the same date this year, January 14. Since Ekadashi rules discourage eating rice and grains, many families complete their Sankranti khichdi daan (charity) earlier in the day, or push certain rituals to the Dwadashi morning that follows.

Lohri and Makar Sankranti: The Harvest Fortnight

Lohri, on January 13, belongs mainly to Punjab, Haryana, and neighbouring states, tied closely to the Rabi harvest. Families light a bonfire in the evening, offer til (sesame), popcorn, peanuts, and gajak into the flames, and sing folk songs around it. A family’s first Lohri after a wedding or the birth of a child is usually celebrated with extra warmth, since it’s treated as the community welcoming the newest member.

Makar Sankranti follows the very next day, January 14, when the sun moves into Capricorn (Makar Rashi) and Uttarayan begins — six months during which the sun is considered to travel northward. Unlike most Hindu festivals, which follow the lunar calendar and shift every year, Sankranti is a solar event, so it lands on almost the same Gregorian date annually. Holy dips, khichdi daan, and til-gud sweets mark the day, and it is also considered the point after which the “inauspicious” period for major ceremonies traditionally lifts.

Mauni Amavasya: A Day Built Around Silence

Mauni Amavasya, on January 18, is the new moon of the Magh month and one of the year’s most spiritually significant Amavasyas. “Maun” means silence, and many devotees observe a Maun Vrat — avoiding speech for part or all of the day — alongside an early morning holy bath and Tarpan (offerings to ancestors). It’s traditionally linked to the Magh Mela and Kumbh-related river bathing along the Ganga, and is regarded as one of the more powerful days in the year for inward reflection rather than outward celebration.

Basant Panchami: Welcoming Spring with Saraswati Puja

Basant Panchami, on January 23, opens the door to spring and is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, worshipped for wisdom, learning, music, and the arts. Schools, colleges, and music schools across North India typically hold Saraswati Puja ceremonies on this day, and yellow — echoing the mustard fields in bloom at this time of year — is the traditional colour worn.

On this day, students in particular pray to Goddess Saraswati for wisdom and success in their studies, and it’s considered a favourable date for starting anything related to learning or the arts.

One Festival, Many Regional Names

A feature unique to the Indian festival calendar is how a single astronomical event carries different names in different states. Makar Sankranti on January 14 is Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat (known for kite-flying), Magh Bihu in Assam, and Khichdi in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The rituals differ from state to state, but the underlying reason — the sun’s shift into Capricorn and the start of the harvest season — stays the same everywhere.

Vivah Muhurat in January 2026

Once Uttarayan begins on Makar Sankranti (January 14), the wedding season, which pauses in the preceding weeks, generally resumes. Following Sankranti, the Lala Ramswaroop Calendar typically marks several favourable dates through the rest of January, supported by:

• A cluster of favourable Yogas in the last week of the month
• A supportive placement of Guru (Jupiter) and Shukra (Venus)
• Suitable Nakshatra combinations for weddings

Conclusion

January 2026 opens the year on a genuinely full note — from the warmth of Lohri and Makar Sankranti, into the quiet reflection of Mauni Amavasya, and closing with the creative energy of Basant Panchami. With two Ekadashi fasts, a Purnima, an Amavasya, and the wedding season reopening after Uttarayan, this Lala Ramswaroop Calendar January 2026 gives North Indian households a complete, date-wise reference to plan the month around.

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