Birthday of Lord Kalki, the future 10th avatar of Vishnu who will appear at the end of the Kali Yuga.

Kalki Jayanti, observed on the Shukla Paksha Shashthi of Shravan, honours Kalki — the tenth and final avatar of Vishnu, and the only one yet to appear. The Puranas describe him arriving at the close of Kali Yuga, mounted on a white horse named Devadatta and bearing a blazing sword, to end the age of decline and inaugurate a new Satya Yuga. He is said to be born in the village of Shambhala to a Brahmin named Vishnuyasha. Unlike the jayantis of the other avatars, this one commemorates a birth still to come, and the observance is therefore forward-looking: devotees pray for the strength to hold to dharma in a difficult age. The day is kept with a fast, Vishnu worship, and recitation of the Kalki Purana.

A day-long fruit-and-milk fast is customary, broken after the evening worship. Some observers take a single satvik meal instead.