Janmashtami 2026जन्माष्टमी

Hindu date: Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami (Shravana Krishna Ashtami in the Amanta calendar).

It is listed on the day Ashtami is current at sunrise, the date North India and ISKCON follow; Krishna's birth is celebrated at midnight that night. In some years Smarta households keep the fast a day earlier, on the night Ashtami covers midnight.

Dates are calculated for New Delhi. In other cities, and especially outside India, the tithi changes at a different local time, so a festival can fall a day earlier or later. Month names follow the Purnimanta calendar used in North India, where a month ends on Purnima. How we calculate

Krishna was born in the prison of the tyrant Kamsa. That night Vasudeva carried the newborn across the flooded Yamuna to Gokul, where he grew up with Nanda and Yashoda.

Devotees fast until midnight, decorate a cradle for Laddu Gopal and bathe the image in panchamrit at the moment of birth. Mathura and Vrindavan celebrate on the grandest scale, and Maharashtra marks the next day with Dahi Handi.