For the days you will be at Palitana, Girnar or Sammed Shikharji, this planner gives the sunrise and sunset at the foot of the hill, with the tithi and parva of each day, the kalyanakas the hill holds, and at Palitana whether Shatrunjaya is closed for Chaturmas. A climb is made between sunrise and sunset: our pages describe pilgrims who start before dawn, eat nothing on the hill, and come down in daylight.
On Tuesday 24 November 2026, Kartika Purnima, the day Shatrunjaya reopens after Chaturmas, the planner gives sunrise at Palitana at 6:59 AM, Navkarsi at 7:48 AM and sunset at 5:59 PM. At Madhuban, the foot of Sammed Shikharji, the 15th of June 2026 has 13 h 37 min of daylight for the 27 kilometre round, and the 15th of December 10 h 40 min.
How it works
The places. Times are worked out for the town at the foot of each hill: Palitana for Shatrunjaya, at the same point as our Palitana pachkhan page; Junagadh for Girnar, from our own place list; and Madhuban for Sammed Shikharji, from OpenStreetMap. Sunrise and sunset come from the same calculation as our pachkhan time calculator, Navkarsi is 48 minutes after sunrise, shown rounded up to the minute, and sunset is the Chauvihar time.
The tithi and the kalyanakas. Each day is named by the tithi at sunrise there, with the parva kept by the Jain rule for a skipped or doubled tithi, as our Jain tithi tool keeps it. The kalyanakas come from our kalyanaka calendar, read the same way. The planner shows only the kalyanakas of the hill you chose: at Sammed Shikharji the nirvana of the twenty Tirthankaras whose pages place their nirvana there, and at Girnar the diksha, kevala jnana and nirvana of Neminatha, the three kalyanakas our Girnar page says make it a tirtha. In 2026 those three fall on Tuesday 21 July (nirvana), Tuesday 18 August (diksha) and Saturday 10 October (kevala jnana).
Palitana and Chaturmas. Our Chaumasa page says Shatrunjaya closes for the four months and reopens on Kartik Purnima. The planner takes the four months from our Chaturmas dates tool, Ashadha Purnima to Kartika Purnima by the sunrise tithi at Palitana, marks the days between as closed and Kartika Purnima as the reopening.
What the pages say. Under the result the planner quotes our tirth page word for word: the steps or the walk, the customs on the hill and the way there. Our Palitana page gives the steps as several thousand, our Girnar page as around ten thousand, and our Sammed Shikharji page gives the round as about twenty-seven kilometres.
Checked. Sunrise and sunset at the three places were compared with the Swiss Ephemeris on 24 dates from 1900 to 2074, including the eight dates of our test charts, and agreed within 6 seconds. The 115 kalyanaka days of the two hills in 1900, 1985, 2026, 2027 and 2074, and the Chaturmas boundaries at Palitana in those years, were compared with an independent calculation and all agreed.
Reading the result
The first line gives sunrise, Navkarsi and sunset on your first day and the daylight you have for the climb and the descent. The table lists each day with its tithi at sunrise, the parva, the three times and a note: a kalyanaka of the hill, or at Palitana a closed day or the reopening. Below it, the 15th of each month of that year shows how the length of the day changes, with the Chaturmas months marked at Palitana. Then come the lines from our tirth page and links to it.
Where traditions differ
- Kalyanaka months. The kalyanaka dates are given in the purnimanta months Hemachandra uses. A Gujarati amanta calendar names a dark-fortnight date one month earlier; the day is the same.
- A doubled or skipped tithi. The planner keeps a doubled tithi on its second day, as Shvetambara sanghs do; Digambara sanghs keep the first. In a year with an adhika month a kalyanaka can appear twice, and the planner shows both.
- Palitana’s dates. The trust announces when the climb closes and reopens. The planner gives the tithi days; the trust’s notice comes first.
- Sammed Shikharji. Both traditions revere the hill and each looks after its own part of the circuit, as our page says. Follow the rules of the trust whose tonk you are in.
What it does not do
It does not call any month the best: none of our pages ranks them, so the planner shows the daylight of each month and what the pages say about the seasons instead. It gives no timings, fees, permits or bookings, which the trusts set and change. It does not judge whether you are fit for the climb. Our tirth pages ask anyone with a heart, joint or breathing condition to ask a doctor first, and doli or palanquin bearers are available at each hill.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What time is Navkarsi at Palitana?
Navkarsi is 48 minutes after sunrise, so it moves through the year. On Tuesday 24 November 2026 it ends at 7:48 AM at Palitana. Choose your dates above for your own days, or see the Palitana pachkhan page for the next two weeks.
↳ Is Shatrunjaya open during Chaturmas?
No. Our Chaumasa page says Shatrunjaya at Palitana closes for the four months and reopens on Kartik Purnima. In 2026, by the sunrise tithi at Palitana, the planner marks the climb closed from Wednesday 29 July to Monday 23 November and reopening on Tuesday 24 November. The trust announces the exact days.
↳ How many steps are there at Girnar and Palitana?
Our Girnar page says the steps are commonly given as around ten thousand, and our Palitana page that they are usually given as several thousand. Sammed Shikharji is a walk rather than a flight of steps, commonly described as about twenty-seven kilometres in all.
↳ Which kalyanakas fall at Sammed Shikharji?
The nirvana of twenty Tirthankaras, all but Rishabhanatha, Vasupujya, Neminatha and Mahavira. The planner marks the day of each one that falls in your dates, by the tithi at sunrise at Madhuban.
↳ What is the best month to go?
Our pages do not name one, so the planner does not either. It shows the daylight at the hill for every month, Palitana's Chaturmas closure, and what our pages say, such as that the path at Sammed Shikharji is exposed in summer and slippery in the rains.