Hindu Festival Calendar

Each festival falls on a specific tithi (lunar day) in a specific paksha (waxing or waning fortnight) — for example, Diwali is the Amavasya (new moon) of the Kartik month, and Janmashtami is the eighth tithi of the waning fortnight. This tool computes the Sun and Moon positions (sidereal, Lahiri ayanamsa), works out the exact moment each tithi begins and ends, and then applies that festival's own observance rule against real sunrise and sunset for New Delhi — sunrise for most, midday for Rama Navami and Ganesh Chaturthi, afternoon for Dussehra, pradosh for Diwali and Dhanteras, midnight for Shivaratri and Janmashtami, sunset for Chhath. Holika Dahan additionally avoids Bhadra. It is calculated, not copied — the same engine behind our full readings.

A tithi begins and ends at a precise moment, not at midnight. Different traditions observe a festival by the tithi prevailing at sunrise, at midday (madhyahna), in the afternoon (aparahna), or in the evening (pradosh / nishita) — so a festival can legitimately be listed on two adjacent days. Regional calendars (Amanta vs Purnimanta month schemes) can also differ. We apply the standard observance time for each festival.

Roughly every third year the lunar calendar inserts an extra month — an adhika maas — to stay in step with the solar year. 2026 has one (Adhika Jyeshtha). A month that contains no sankranti (no entry of the Sun into a new sign) is that extra month, and festivals skip it for the true nija month. This is why Guru Purnima 2026 falls on 29 July and not a month earlier — a calendar that simply looks for the next full moon in a fixed date range gets this wrong by a whole month.

The major pan-India festivals — Makar Sankranti, Vasant Panchami, Maha Shivaratri, Holi, Ugadi/Gudi Padwa, Rama Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Akshaya Tritiya, Buddha Purnima, Guru Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Dussehra, Karva Chauth, Dhanteras, Diwali, Govardhan Puja, Bhai Dooj and Chhath Puja.