When is Krishna Janmashtami?
The answer
Tuesday, 24 August 2027
Krishna's birth, midnight of the eighth.
Nishita Kaal puja time
The window
12:01 AM – 12:45 AM
- Lasts
- 44m
- Sunset
- 6:51 PM
- Nishita Kaal
- 12:01 AM – 12:45 AM
Nishita Kaal is the eighth muhurta of the night: sunset to the next sunrise, divided into fifteen equal parts, of which this is the middle one. It is NOT midnight on a clock — at Delhi's latitude it drifts by half an hour across the year. The window above is the part of it where the tithi is genuinely still running.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Bhadrapada Krishna 8
This one is kept at MIDNIGHT. The tithi has to be running in the middle of the night, not at sunrise, which can move the day by one.
And after that
Sunday, 13 August 2028
Bhadrapada Krishna 8
12:04 AM – 12:47 AM
Friday, 31 August 2029
Bhadrapada Krishna 8
11:58 PM – 12:43 AM
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
Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami — Krishna's birth, and at midnight. So the date follows from where Ashtami is running in Nishita kaal, the eighth muhurta of the night. The Bhagavata gives the whole configuration: Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami, Rohini nakshatra, a Wednesday, the middle of the night. A year in which Ashtami and Rohini fall together is called Jayanti Yoga and counted as special. It is also why the Smarta and Vaishnava traditions sometimes keep it on two different days — one counts from Nishita, the other from sunrise.
The story behind it
The voice
Kansa was driving his sister Devaki to her new home when a voice said her eighth son would kill him. He put both her and Vasudeva in prison.
Seven children
He killed six children one by one. The seventh was moved into Rohini's womb — that is Balarama.
The eighth night
The eighth came on a black night of Bhadon, in rain. At the birth the guards fell asleep, the chains fell open, and the prison doors opened by themselves.
The Yamuna
Vasudeva carried the child out in a basket. The Yamuna was in flood and made way; Shesha held his hood over them.
Gokul
In Gokul a girl had been born to Yashoda that same night. Vasudeva left Krishna there and brought the girl back. When Kansa tried to dash her down she slipped from his hands into the sky and said: the one who will kill you is already born.
What to keep ready
- An image of the infant Krishna and a silver or brass cradle
- Panchamrit — milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar
- Makhan and mishri — Krishna's own bhog
- Dhania panjiri, the fixed prasad of Janmashtami
- Tulsi — the bhog is incomplete without it
- A peacock feather, a flute, yellow cloth, a vaijayanti mala
- A cucumber with its stalk, for the nal-chhedan custom
- Ganga water, a kalash, a conch, a bell
- Chhappan bhog, or as many dishes as you can
How the puja is done
1
The vow
Bathe and keep the fast through the day — nirjala or fruit. The sankalp includes staying awake till the birth.
2
The jhanki
Set up the tableau — the prison, the Yamuna, Gokul. Keep the cradle ready with yellow cloth in it.
3
The cucumber
A cucumber with its stalk goes into the puja. At midnight the stalk is cut with a coin — the cutting of the cord, Krishna separating from his mother.
4
The midnight puja
The birth at exact midnight, in Nishita kaal. Conch, bell, and the cry that Nanda's joy has come. Abhishek with panchamrit at once, then Ganga water.
5
Dressing and the cradle
New clothes, peacock feather, flute, vaijayanti mala. Set him in the cradle and rock it.
6
Bhog and aarti
Makhan and mishri, dhania panjiri and the chhappan bhog, with tulsi. Then the aarti.
7
Parana
Break the fast when both Ashtami and Rohini have passed. Many houses break it right after the midnight puja with the prasad — both are kept.
What to do
- Do the puja in Nishita kaal — midnight is the birth hour, not the evening.
- Keep the cucumber with its stalk and cut it at midnight; it is Janmashtami's own custom and the least known.
- Tulsi must be on the bhog — plucked the day before.
- Use raw milk and panchamrit for the abhishek.
- Make dhania panjiri; it is the fast's prasad precisely because it has no grain in it.
- Look up Rohini too; Ashtami and Rohini together is counted as special.
What not to do
- No grain today — fruit, singhara or kuttu flour, and the panjiri.
- Do not break the fast before midnight; the whole point is staying awake to the birth.
- Do not pluck tulsi on Ashtami.
- No onion, garlic, meat or drink in the house.
- Do not trouble a cow or a calf today; the tradition says so particularly.
- Do not worship a broken flute or a chipped image.
The aarti
Aarti Kunj Bihari Ki
आरती कुंजबिहारी की, श्री गिरिधर कृष्ण मुरारी की।
गले में बैजंती माला, बजावै मुरली मधुर बाला।
श्रवण में कुंडल झलकाला, नंद के आनंद नंदलाला॥
गगन सम अंग कांति काली, राधिका चमक रही आली।
लतन में ठाढ़े बनमाली, भ्रमर सी अलक कस्तूरी तिलक॥
चंद्र सी झलक ललित छवि श्यामा प्यारी की।
आरती कुंजबिहारी की, श्री गिरिधर कृष्ण मुरारी की॥
कनकमय मोर मुकुट बिलसै, देवता दरसन को तरसैं।
गगन सों सुमन रासि बरसै, बजे मुरचंग मधुर मृदंग॥
ग्वालिन संग अतुल रति गोप कुमारी की।
आरती कुंजबिहारी की, श्री गिरिधर कृष्ण मुरारी की॥
जहाँ ते प्रकट भई गंगा, कलुष कलि हारिणी श्रीगंगा।
स्मरन ते होत मोह भंगा, बसी शिव शीश जटा के बीच॥
हरै अघ कीच चरन छवि श्रीबनवारी की।
आरती कुंजबिहारी की, श्री गिरिधर कृष्ण मुरारी की॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.