Cheti Chand 2027

About Cheti Chand

Cheti Chand is the Sindhi new year and the birth anniversary of Jhulelal, and in 2027 it falls on Thursday, 8 April 2027. Sindhi Hindu families mark it with a Behrana Sahib offering, a procession that ends at water, and a community meal. The name means the moon of Chet, the Sindhi form of Chaitra.

The name is plain Sindhi. Chet is the month Chaitra, chand is the moon. Cheti Chand is the day the new moon of Chet is first sighted, which is why most panchangs place it a day after the Chaitra Shukla Pratipada that Maharashtra and the Deccan keep. The crescent has to be visible; the tithi alone is not enough.

That one-day gap is the commonest source of confusion about the date. Drik Panchang and most Sindhi community calendars put Cheti Chand on Chaitra Shukla Dwitiya, the day after Gudi Padwa and Ugadi. The central government's restricted-holiday list groups all of them on one line and one date. If a family calendar and an office calendar disagree by a day, this is why. Ask the family.

Why does Cheti Chand matter so much to Sindhis?

Cheti Chand is a new year that doubles as a day for holding on to a language and a place, because Sindhi Hindus are one of the few large communities in India without a home state. After Partition in 1947 they left Sindh, which went to Pakistan, and resettled in Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal, Gandhidham and dozens of other towns. Sindhi was added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution only in 1967, through the Twenty-first Amendment, moved in the Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Yashwantrao Chavan and given presidential assent on 10 April that year. The government's own note said Sindhi was not a regional language of any defined area, but had been the language of a province of undivided India and would have remained so but for Partition.

Cheti Chand processions are often called Sindhiyat rallies for exactly that reason, and the culture programmes around them carry Sindhi songs, Chej dancing and children reciting in a script many of them no longer read at school.

Jhulelal, as the community tells it

Sindhi tradition holds that Uderolal was born at Nasarpur on the Indus, to a Lohana family, on Cheti Chand in Vikram Samvat 1007, which is 950 CE. You will see "born in 1007" written without the calendar attached; the Vikram year is what is meant, not the Common Era year.

He is understood as an avatar of Varun Dev, the water god of the Indus, and the story tells of the community praying at the river for deliverance from a ruler named Mirkhshah who had ordered conversions. The child who was born of those prayers grew into the figure called Jhulelal, who argued before the ruler that Hindus and Muslims worshipped the same God and that forced conversion had no sanction.

The shrine at Odero Lal in Sindh is used by Sindhi Hindus and Sindhi Muslims alike, the latter honouring it as the tomb of Sheikh Tahir, and a forty-day observance called Chalio is kept later in the year for the same saint. This shared devotion is part of the story, not a footnote to it, and it is worth knowing before repeating the more combative retellings.

Many Sindhi families also keep the Guru Granth Sahib at home or in a tikana, their community prayer hall, alongside murtis. Sindhi Hindu practice has long drawn on Guru Nanak's teachings as well as on Jhulelal, so do not be surprised by a Sindhi household that holds both.

How is Cheti Chand celebrated?

Cheti Chand is celebrated with a jyot, the Behrana Sahib, the palav prayer, a juloos with Chej dancing, an immersion at the water and a community meal.

1. The jyotA lamp is lit at home or in the tikana and kept burning through the day. In many places an akhand jyot burns from the night before.
2. Assembling the BehranaA thali is prepared with the jyot, misiri (rock sugar), fota (cardamom), fal (fruit), akha (rice), a kalash of water with a coconut on top, cloth and flowers, and a small image of Jhulelal.
3. PalavThe community prayer is said standing, palms joined, asking Jhulelal to carry the year across safely.
4. The juloosThe Behrana is carried out, often balanced on a devotee's head, through the neighbourhood, with bhajans, dhol and the call of "Ayo Lal Jhulelal".
5. ChejSindhi folk dancing around the procession, danced with sticks or with clapping, by men and women of all ages.
6. ImmersionThe procession ends at a river, lake or the sea, where the Behrana is offered to the water, the element Jhulelal is identified with.
7. The mealBack at the hall, a community lunch that any visitor may join.

What is eaten

Sindhi festival food is its own cuisine, and Cheti Chand is one of the days it shows up in full. Expect tahiri, the saffron sweet rice with ghee and dry fruit that is almost obligatory; sai bhaji, spinach cooked down with chana dal and vegetables; Sindhi kadhi with its roasted-besan base and vegetables, served with plain rice; kala chana; aloo tuk, potatoes fried twice and pressed flat; and koki, the thick onion flatbread. Sweets run to mishri, laddoo and burfi. Dal pakwan usually belongs to breakfast rather than the festival lunch.

What to write

Chet

The Sindhi name for the lunar month Chaitra

Behrana Sahib

The thali of lamp, rock sugar, cardamom, fruit, rice and a kalash, carried in procession and offered to water

Jyot

The oil lamp lit for Jhulelal and kept burning through the day

Palav

The standing community prayer to Jhulelal, said with joined palms

Chej

Sindhi folk dance performed at Cheti Chand gatherings

Tikana

A Sindhi community prayer hall, often housing the Guru Granth Sahib alongside murtis

Tahiri

Sweet saffron rice with ghee and dry fruit, the festival's signature dish

Cheti Chand jyoon lakh lakh wadhayoon

"A hundred thousand congratulations on Cheti Chand" in Sindhi

Ayo Lal Jhulelal

"Jhulelal has come", the chant heard through the procession

Sindhi households keep Diwali as well, and Sindhi traders settled in Gujarat often mark Bestu Varas with their neighbours, but Cheti Chand is the year that belongs to the community itself.

How to wish someone on Cheti Chand

Cheti Chand carries two things at once: a new year and the memory of a community that left Sindh in 1947 and rebuilt elsewhere. A wish that names Jhulelal, or the tahiri, or the family's own city of resettlement, lands far better than a generic new-year line. Sindhi speakers say Cheti Chand jyoon lakh lakh wadhayoon, and the chant heard everywhere that day is Ayo Lal Jhulelal.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.

When is Cheti Chand in 2026 and 2027?

Cheti Chand is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 19 days later than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions