Ashadha Month in the Hindu Calendar: Rath Yatra, Guru Purnima and Dates

Ashadha is the month of the first rain. In much of India the monsoon arrives in its course, and the long dry heat of Jyeshtha gives way to cloud, thunder and green. The month is named after the nakshatras Purva Ashadha and Uttara Ashadha, the two lunar mansions of Dhanu in which the full moon stands. The name is sometimes read as the unconquered.

Ashadha is also a hinge. Two of its days shape the next four months: Devshayani Ekadashi, when Vishnu is said to go to sleep on the serpent Shesha, and Guru Purnima, the full moon on which teachers are honoured. From Devshayani Ekadashi until Prabodhini Ekadashi in Kartika, many families follow the observances of Chaturmas.

Ashadha is the fourth month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the second of the two months of Grishma, the season of summer. The nakshatra behind the name is the pair Purva Ashadha and Uttara Ashadha. To see where Ashadha sits between Jyeshtha and Shravana, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

The second month of summer

Ashadha is the second of the two Grishma months. Its first fortnight is often the hottest and most humid, because the rain has not yet settled in, and the customs reflect that waiting: Jagannath is taken out in procession, the farmer’s work begins, and people pray for the rain to be steady. In Kerala the nearby solar month Karkidakam is set apart for the reading of the Ramayana, and in Bengal the month is known for the Rath Yatra.

Festivals of Ashadha

Rath Yatra at Puri falls on Shukla Dwitiya, the second day of the bright half. The three chariots of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are drawn through the town, and the festival is also held in many other cities. Devshayani Ekadashi, also called Harishayani and Ashadhi Ekadashi, is Shukla Ekadashi, and is the great day of the pilgrimage to Pandharpur in Maharashtra. See the Ekadashi vrat vidhi and the Ekadashi festival page. Guru Purnima is the full moon of Ashadha, also called Vyasa Purnima after the sage who is said to have arranged the Vedas; the Guru Purnima puja vidhi gives a simple observance. Ashadha Shukla Pratipada to Navami is also kept by some as Gupt Navratri, a quiet period of devotion to the Goddess.

Chaturmas begins

Chaturmas means the four months from Devshayani Ekadashi to Prabodhini Ekadashi. In tradition it is a period of restraint: some families give up one food, take a vow of daily study or lamp-lighting, or avoid long journeys, and many Jain and Hindu monks stay in one place through the rains. Weddings, upanayana and griha pravesh are traditionally not held during it. That explains why the wedding season in much of India opens after Prabodhini Ekadashi in Kartika. Regional practice varies, and the vows are voluntary; they are kept at whatever scale suits a family.

Ashadha in 2026 and 2027: dates

These are the instants at which each amanta month named Ashadha begins and ends, taken from a computation of the new moon in Indian Standard Time. In each row the Ashadha bright half (Shukla paksha) opens at the new moon and runs to the full moon about a fortnight later, and the dark half (Krishna paksha) carries on to the next new moon.

In purnimanta reckoning, the month called Ashadha starts at the full moon that falls inside the amanta Jyeshtha, so it begins about two weeks before each date in the Starts column, and it ends at the full moon inside the amanta Ashadha. The bright half is identical in both systems. Only the dark half changes its name: the fortnight that closes each amanta Ashadha in the table is called Shravana Krishna paksha in the purnimanta count. The full moon that splits Ashadha in two is listed for your own city on the Purnima page, and the method page explains how these instants were calculated.

Ekadashis in Ashadha

The bright half of Ashadha has Devshayani Ekadashi, and the dark half of the amanta month has Kamika Ekadashi, which printed purnimanta lists place under Shravana. Each Ekadashi name stays fixed in every system, and only the month label moves for the Ashadha dark half. How to keep the fast is in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the Ekadashi festival page gives the Ashadha days for your city.

Ashadha in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Ashadh and Gujarati calendars Ashadh. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Ashadha are Aani and Aadi. The overlapping Malayalam months are Mithunam and Karkidakam, the Bengali months are Asharh and Srabon, and the Punjabi months are Harh and Sawan. In Kerala the month of Karkidakam is set aside for reading the Ramayana, and in Bengal Asharh is the month of Rath Yatra. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Ashadha overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

The month before is Jyeshtha and the month after is Shravana. To see why Ashadha can carry two labels, read the page on amanta and purnimanta, and for today’s tithi and nakshatra open the panchang. All twelve months are on the Hindu calendar hub.

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