Indian Calendar 1996

Most major Indian festivals are determined by the lunar calendar — tithis (lunar days) and nakshatras — which runs about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian solar year. Each year, Diwali falls roughly 11 days earlier on the Gregorian calendar than it did the year before, corrected every two to three years by an extra intercalary month (Adhika Maasa or Adhika Masa) that brings the lunar calendar back in alignment with the seasons. This is why Diwali might be in late October one year and mid-November the next. Solar-anchored festivals — Makar Sankranti, Onam, Pongal — repeat within a day or two each year because they are tied to the Sun's position in a zodiac sign rather than the moon phase.

Festivals tied to the Sun's transit through a zodiac sign (sankranti) are solar-fixed and appear within one or two days of the same Gregorian date every year. The main ones: Makar Sankranti / Pongal / Uttarayan (January 14–15), Mesha Sankranti / Baisakhi / Puthandu / Vishu / Poila Baisakh (April 13–14), Karka Sankranti (July 15–16). Christmas (December 25) is Gregorian-fixed by definition. All other major festivals — Diwali, Holi, Navratri, Eid, Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Ekadashis — are lunar and shift 11 days per year.

India does not have a single unified festival calendar — Tamil families observe Pongal and Karthigai Deepam that are not major festivals elsewhere; Bengali families observe Durga Puja at a scale that is their defining cultural event; Gujarati families observe Navratri with regional specificity; Punjabi families mark Baisakhi as a harvest and new-year festival. Yet all of these communities also share Diwali, Holi, Navratri in some form, and Ekadashis. This Indian Calendar page takes the broadest view: all traditions' major festivals appear here. Tradition-specific detail is available on the Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, and Hindu tradition pages.

Chaturmas ('four months') runs from Devshayani Ekadashi (Ashadha Shukla 11, typically late June or early July) to Devuthani Ekadashi (Kartika Shukla 11, typically October or November). During this period, most Hindu communities do not conduct vivah (weddings), upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony), griha pravesh (housewarming), or mundan (first haircut). The observance roughly coincides with the monsoon. The wedding season that opens immediately after Devuthani Ekadashi in November and runs through winter and spring is a direct result of this annual pause. Knowing Chaturmas dates is essential for any family scheduling a major auspicious event.

Spring cluster (March–May): Holi (Phalguna Purnima), Ram Navami (Chaitra Shukla 9), Akshaya Tritiya (Vaisakha Shukla 3), Hanuman Jayanti. Summer-monsoon: Guru Purnima (Ashadha Purnima), Naga Panchami, Raksha Bandhan (Shravana Purnima), Janmashtami (Bhadrapada Krishna 8). Autumn cluster (August–November): Ganesh Chaturthi (Bhadrapada Shukla 4), Pitru Paksha (15 days, no auspicious events), Navratri (9 days), Dussehra (Ashvina Shukla 10), Diwali (Kartika Amavasya), Bhai Dooj (Kartika Shukla 2). Winter: Makar Sankranti (January 14–15), Republic Day, then Basant Panchami (Magha Shukla 5) leading into the spring cluster again.

Festival dates are calculated fresh each year from computed ephemeris data (Sun and Moon positions with the Lahiri ayanamsa). Tithi and nakshatra timings are referenced to the sunrise at your saved city. For a handful of festivals that depend on exact nakshatra or yoga timing (such as Janmashtami, which requires Rohini nakshatra at midnight), the calculation uses standard panchang rules. If your local temple panchang shows a different date, the difference is almost always due to a different reference city for sunrise — a one-day difference for a short tithi near a tithi boundary is common.