Makara Sankranti in Karnataka is the festival of ellu-bella: a mixture of white sesame, jaggery, dried coconut, roasted peanuts and fried gram, carried from house to house on a plate with a piece of sugarcane and sakkare acchu, small figures moulded in sugar. Girls in new clothes make the rounds in the evening. In the old Mysuru villages, cattle are painted, garlanded and driven leaping through a line of fire.
The story
The Sun enters Makara and turns north, and the harvest of sugarcane, sesame and groundnut is in. The words said with the plate ask for a year of kind speech.
In Bengaluru the day has a spectacle of its own. At the cave temple of Gavi Gangadhareshwara, cut from the rock in the sixteenth century, the setting Sun on Sankranti evening shines between the horns of the stone Nandi and lights the linga inside for a few minutes.
ಎಳ್ಳು ಬೆಲ್ಲ ತಿಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಮಾತಾಡಿ
Eat sesame and jaggery, and speak good words
Said as the plate is handed over
How it is kept
- Ellu biroduThe exchange of ellu-bella between households, with sugarcane, bananas and red berries.
- Sakkare acchuSugar poured into wooden moulds of birds, fruit and animals.
- Kichchu haayisuvuduDecorated cattle are run across burning straw at dusk, to protect them through the year.
- RangoliLarge patterns at the doorstep, and the first huggi (pongal) of the new rice.
- KitesFlown in the north of the state.
Why this date
Makara Sankranti is the day the Sun enters sidereal Makara; when that happens after sunset the festival is kept the next day. It falls on 14 or 15 January.
Makara Sankranti in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Wednesday | |
| 2027 | Friday | |
| 2028 | Saturday | |
| 2029 | Sunday | |
| 2030 | Monday | |
| 2031 | Wednesday |
More Kannada festivals
13 FebruaryRatha Saptamiರಥಸಪ್ತಮಿ
6 MarchMaha Shivaratriಮಹಾ ಶಿವರಾತ್ರಿ
7 AprilYugadiಯುಗಾದಿ
20 December 2026Vaikuntha Ekadashiವೈಕುಂಠ ಏಕಾದಶಿ
15 December 2026Subrahmanya Shashthiಸುಬ್ರಹ್ಮಣ್ಯ ಷಷ್ಠಿ
24 November 2026Kartika Hunnimeಕಾರ್ತಿಕ ಹುಣ್ಣಿಮೆ
Where to see Makara Sankranti
In Karnataka
- Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple, BengaluruKarnatakaThe cave temple where the evening Sun lights the linga on this one day.
- The villages of Mandya and MysuruKarnatakaWhere cattle are still run through fire at Sankranti.
- DharmasthalaKarnatakaPilgrims gather for the day at the temple of Manjunatha.
Across India
- SabarimalaKeralaThe Makaravilakku, for which many from Karnataka have kept the forty-one-day vow.
- MaduraiTamil NaduPongal, the same harvest across the border.
- AhmedabadGujaratUttarayan, kept with kites from dawn to dark.