/v1/panchang/sankranti

Next solar sankranti (sign ingress).

What this tells you

Sankranti is the moment the Sun enters a new sidereal sign. There are 12 Sankrantis per solar year. Makara Sankranti (Sun enters Capricorn, around 14 January) marks the start of Uttarayana and is a major Hindu festival; Mesha Sankranti marks the solar new year in many traditions. This endpoint returns one Sankranti: by default the first one after 12:00 UT on `date`; with direction=previous, the last one before it. Add rashi=0..11 to ask for a specific sign, e.g. rashi=9 for the next Makar Sankranti.

The search starts at 12:00 UT on `date`; `time`, `lat` and `lon` are not used, because the moment is the same everywhere. If a Sankranti happens on `date` before 12:00 UT, direction=next returns the following one. `tz` only formats `sankranti_local`; it takes an IANA name such as Asia/Kolkata or a fixed offset such as +05:30.

Request

All requests require an Authorization header with your dv_live_* API key.

example request

curl "https://api.lifeastroapi.com/v1/panchang/sankranti?date=2027-01-15&tz=Asia%2FKolkata" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Query parameters

Checked against the API: a parameter is marked required when the request fails without it.

Name	Required	Example	Description
`date`	yes	`2027-01-15`	Date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`tz`	yes	`Asia/Kolkata`	Timezone: IANA name (Asia/Kolkata) or UTC offset (+05:30).

Response (200 OK)

The real response to the example request above, generated from the API itself. Long arrays are trimmed to their first two items. Field names are stable across versions.

200 response

{
  "rashi_index": 10,
  "rashi": "Aquarius",
  "sankranti_jd": 2461449.690578,
  "sankranti_local": "2027-02-13T10:04:25+05:30",
  "sankranti_utc": "2027-02-13T04:34:25Z",
  "sun_longitude_sidereal": 299.999999,
  "is_mesha_sankranti": false,
  "is_makar_sankranti": false,
  "season": "Shishira",
  "ayanamsa": "lahiri",
  "direction": "next"
}

Field reference

Every field in the response, with its type, a real example, and what it means.

Field	Type	Meaning
rashi_index	integer (0–11)	Sign the Sun enters: 0 = Aries (Mesha) … 9 = Capricorn (Makara) … 11 = Pisces (Meena). example: `10`
rashi	string	Name of that sign. Translated when you pass `locale` (e.g. locale=hi). example: `"Aquarius"`
sankranti_jd	number	Moment of the sign change as Julian Day in UT. Found to within about 1 second. example: `2461449.690578`
sankranti_local	string (RFC 3339)	The same moment in the request tz, with its UTC offset. example: `"2027-02-13T10:04:25+05:30"`
sankranti_utc	string (RFC 3339)	The same moment in UTC. example: `"2027-02-13T04:34:25Z"`
sun_longitude_sidereal	number (degrees)	Sidereal longitude of the Sun at the found moment. It sits on the sign boundary (rashi_index × 30), so Mesha Sankranti can read 360 or 359.99… instead of 0. example: `299.999999`
is_mesha_sankranti	boolean	true when rashi_index is 0 (Sun enters Aries). example: `false`
is_makar_sankranti	boolean	true when rashi_index is 9 (Sun enters Capricorn). example: `false`
season	string	Ritu the API assigns to the sign, two signs per ritu: Aries and Taurus Vasanta, Gemini and Cancer Grishma, Leo and Virgo Varsha, Libra and Scorpio Sharad, Sagittarius and Capricorn Hemanta, Aquarius and Pisces Shishira. Translated when you pass `locale`. example: `"Shishira"`
ayanamsa	string	Echo of the ayanamsa used (default lahiri). example: `"lahiri"`
direction	string	Echo of the direction: "next" (default) or "previous". example: `"next"`

Usage tips

How to use it

Use for festival reminders
Many pan-Indian festivals are Sankranti-based. To list the next 12, call with direction=next, then call again with `date` set to the day after the last `sankranti_local` date, and schedule a notification for each.
Ask for one sign directly
Pass rashi=9 for Makar Sankranti or rashi=0 for Mesha Sankranti. The search runs up to about 400 days ahead (or back with direction=previous).

Errors

Every error follows the same envelope. Use the error.code field (not the message) for conditional logic in your integration.

401 Unauthorized

{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "missing or invalid API key",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

402 Payment Required

{
  "error": {
    "code": "trial_exhausted",
    "message": "your free trial credits are exhausted — pick a plan to continue",
    "top_up_url": "https://lifeastroapi.com/pricing",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

429 Too Many Requests

{
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limited",
    "message": "rate limit exceeded; retry after 12 seconds",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

Try it

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