When is Holika Dahan / Holi?
The answer
Sunday, 21 March 2027
The full moon burns; colour is played the next day.
Pradosh Kaal puja time
The window
6:32 PM – 8:56 PM
- Lasts
- 2h 24m
- Sunset
- 6:32 PM
- Pradosh Kaal
- 6:32 PM – 8:56 PM
Pradosh Kaal begins at the local sunset and runs six ghatikas — three muhurtas, 2h 24m — as Nirnaya Sindhu and Dharma Sindhu have it. It moves with the sunset, so it is a different clock time every year and in every city. The window above is the part of it where the tithi is genuinely still running.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Phalguna Shukla Purnima
This one is kept at DUSK, not at sunrise. The tithi can be running at dawn on a day it has already left by evening — which is how a calendar computed the ordinary way lands a day late.
And after that
Friday, 10 March 2028
Phalguna Shukla Purnima
6:26 PM – 8:50 PM
Wednesday, 28 February 2029
Phalguna Shukla Purnima
6:20 PM – 8:44 PM
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
The full moon of Phalguna — the burning at night, colour the next day. The burning is done in Pradosh kaal and must avoid Bhadra: lighting the Holika during Bhadra is forbidden, which is why in many years it happens after midnight. The story is Prahlada's — Holika had a boon that fire would not burn her, and the boon broke the moment she used it to kill an innocent. So Holika burns and Prahlada does not. The colour of the next day comes from Vrindavan: Krishna complained about being dark, and Yashoda told him to go and put colour on Radha.
The story behind it
The boon
Hiranyakashipu won a boon: death would come to him neither by day nor by night, neither indoors nor out, neither by man nor beast, neither by weapon nor tool. He declared himself god.
Prahlada
His own son Prahlada was a devotee of Vishnu and would not call his father god.
Holika
His sister Holika had a cloth that fire could not burn. He told her to sit on the pyre holding the boy.
It turned
When the fire caught, the cloth blew off and settled on Prahlada. Holika burned and the boy did not — the boon failed the moment it was used to kill an innocent.
Narasimha
In the end Vishnu came as Narasimha — half man, half lion — at dusk, on the threshold, with his claws, meeting every condition and breaking through it.
The colour
The next day's colour comes from Vrindavan. Krishna asked his mother why Radha was fair and he was dark; Yashoda laughed and said, go and colour her whatever you like.
What to keep ready
- Wood, cow-dung cakes and dry grass for the Holika
- Raw cotton thread, to wind round it
- New wheat ears, gram and barley, to roast in the fire
- Coconut, jaggery, batasha
- Roli, akshat, haldi, Ganga water, a kalash
- Gulal — traditionally made from tesu, the palash flower
- Papad, gujiya and thandai
- Dry colours for the next day, and mustard oil for the skin
How the puja is done
1
Building it
Wood and dung cakes are collected at the crossroads for days beforehand, with a stake of erand or gular set in the middle.
2
The hour
The burning is in Pradosh kaal but must avoid Bhadra. A panchang gives Bhadra's window — that is why in some years the fire is lit after midnight.
3
The puja
Before lighting, wind raw thread three, five or seven times round the pile. Offer water, roli, akshat, flowers, jaggery and coconut.
4
The burning
Light it and go round it. Roast new wheat ears, gram and barley in it — the first share of the harvest given to the fire.
5
The ash
The next morning the ash is put on the forehead, and some houses carry a little home.
6
Dhulendi
Colour the next day. Gulal at the feet of the elders first, then everyone. A bath and visiting in the evening.
What to do
- Take the burning time with Bhadra excluded — the most-forgotten rule of Holi, and the one that decides when the fire is lit.
- Roast new grain in the fire; that is the harvest half of the festival.
- Oil your skin and hair with mustard or coconut before playing.
- Use dry, natural gulal — colour from the tesu flower is the tradition's own.
- Gulal at the elders' feet first, then play.
- Put the ash on your forehead the next morning; the tradition treats it as protection.
What not to do
- Do not light the Holika during Bhadra.
- No plastic, tyres, rubber or chemicals in the fire — this is a fire ritual, not a rubbish burn.
- Do not burn the wood of a peepal, banyan, neem or amla. Use dry fallen wood; do not cut a living tree.
- Do not put colour on anyone who does not want it — even in the tradition Holi is consensual, and 'bura na mano' is not consent.
- Avoid chemical and permanent colours, varnish and grease; they harm the eyes and the skin.
- In many families a newly married woman does not watch the Holika burn at her in-laws' on her first Holi.
The aarti
Shri Narasimha Aarti
ॐ जय नरसिंह हरे, प्रभु जय नरसिंह हरे।
भक्त प्रह्लाद की रक्षा, हिरण्यकशिपु हरे॥
तुम हो दीनदयाला, भक्तन हितकारी।
अद्भुत रूप तुम्हारा, नर-हरि अवतारी॥
खंभ फाड़कर प्रकटे, संध्या की बेला।
देहरी पर संहारे, नख से वह चेला॥
न दिन था न रात्रि, न घर था न बाहर।
न नर था न पशु कोई, न अस्त्र न शस्त्र॥
होलिका जल गई माता, प्रह्लाद बच आया।
वर का बल न चला जब, निर्दोष सताया॥
श्री नरसिंह जी की आरती, जो कोई नर गावे।
भय-संकट मिट जावे, निर्भय हो जावे॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.