Bhadrapada Month in the Hindu Calendar: Ganesh Chaturthi, Pitru Paksha and Dates

Bhadrapada is a month of two moods. Its bright half is among the most public of all festivals, with Ganesha installed in homes and neighbourhoods, drums in the street and sweets in every house. Its dark half is quiet, a fortnight of remembering ancestors. The name comes from the two nakshatras Purva Bhadrapada and Uttara Bhadrapada, in which the full moon stands.

The month is also where the calendar turns towards autumn. By its end the rains are thinning, and the amanta month closes on the new moon that begins the Navratri week. In 2026 the Bhadrapada that this page tracks ends on 10 October 2026, and Ashwina begins that same night.

Bhadrapada is the sixth month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the second of the two months of Varsha, the season of the rains. The nakshatra behind the name is the pair Purva Bhadrapada and Uttara Bhadrapada. To see where Bhadrapada sits between Shravana and Ashwina, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

The second month of the rains

Bhadrapada is the second month of Varsha, the rainy season. Its first weeks are the wettest in many places, and it is a month when rivers are full and travel is slow. The festivals fit that pace, being largely domestic or neighbourhood affairs, and Ganesha is in the end given back to the water in a procession.

Festivals of the bright half

Ganesh Chaturthi is Shukla Chaturthi, the fourth day, and the Ganesh Chaturthi puja guide sets out the worship. Hartalika Teej on Shukla Tritiya is kept by women for a happy marriage, and the Hartalika Teej puja page explains it. Rishi Panchami is the fifth, Radha Ashtami the eighth, and Anant Chaturdashi, the fourteenth, closes the Ganesha festival in many places, with the immersion. The full moon is Bhadrapada Purnima, which begins the dark half of ancestors in amanta calendars.

Pitru Paksha: the fortnight of ancestors

The dark half of Bhadrapada is Pitru Paksha, the fortnight in which Hindu families perform shraddha, offerings of food and water for their ancestors, on the tithi on which each ancestor died. It runs from the day after the full moon to the new moon, which is Sarva Pitru Amavasya or Mahalaya Amavasya, the day for all ancestors, including those whose tithi is unknown. In the purnimanta reckoning the same fortnight is called Ashwina Krishna paksha, which is why a northern calendar may say Ashwina while a Maharashtrian or Gujarati one says Bhadrapada. The Amavasya page covers the new moon itself. New purchases and weddings are traditionally postponed during Pitru Paksha.

Bhadrapada in 2026 and 2027: dates

These are the instants at which each amanta month named Bhadrapada begins and ends, taken from a computation of the new moon in Indian Standard Time. In each row the Bhadrapada 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 Bhadrapada starts at the full moon that falls inside the amanta Shravana, so it begins about two weeks before each date in the Starts column, and it ends at the full moon inside the amanta Bhadrapada. The bright half is identical in both systems. Only the dark half changes its name: the fortnight that closes each amanta Bhadrapada in the table is called Ashwina Krishna paksha in the purnimanta count. The full moon that splits Bhadrapada in two is listed for your own city on the Purnima page, and the method page explains how these instants were calculated.

Ekadashis in Bhadrapada

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

Bhadrapada in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Bhadrapad and Gujarati calendars Bhadarvo. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Bhadrapada are Aavani and Purattasi. The overlapping Malayalam months are Chingam and Kanni, the Bengali months are Bhadro and Ashwin, and the Punjabi months are Bhadon and Assu. The Shraddha fortnight is Bhadarvo in Gujarat and Bhadrapad in Maharashtra, while northern calendars call the same days Ashwin. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Bhadrapada overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

The month before is Shravana and the month after is Ashwina. To see why Bhadrapada 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.

Frequently asked questions