Jyeshtha Month in the Hindu Calendar: Adhika 2026, Festivals and Dates

Jyeshtha is the hottest stretch of the northern Indian year, and the tradition of the month is built around heat, water and shade. The name comes from the nakshatra Jyeshtha, the red star Antares with its two companions in Vrischika, where the full moon usually stands. Jyeshtha means eldest or foremost, and Antares, red like Mars, is a fair sign for a month of fire.

Jyeshtha is also the month that was repeated in 2026. The lunar month that begins on 17 May 2026 is an Adhika Jyeshtha, and it is followed by the ordinary or Nija Jyeshtha that begins on 15 June 2026. The extra month closes the gap of about eleven days a year between twelve lunar months and the solar year. Our page on Adhika masa explains how the repeated month is chosen.

Jyeshtha is the third month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the first of the two months of Grishma, the season of summer. The nakshatra behind the name is Jyeshtha, the red star Antares. To see where Jyeshtha sits between Vaishakha and Ashadha, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

Summer begins

Jyeshtha is the first of the two Grishma, summer, months, and Ashadha follows it. In the old Indian division of the year Grishma is the season of strong sun, long days, low rivers and waiting for rain. Customs of the month answer that: a pot of water, a hand fan or a pair of sandals given to someone who needs them, sherbet and buttermilk offered by the roadside, and rest in the afternoon. Mangoes, at their best now, are given and shared in many families.

Festivals of Jyeshtha

Ganga Dussehra is Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami, the tenth of the bright half, when the descent of the Ganga to earth is remembered with a bath in the river or a prayer to it from home. Nirjala Ekadashi, on Shukla Ekadashi, is the strictest of the Ekadashi fasts, kept without food or water by those who follow it fully; the Ekadashi vrat vidhi explains the rules and the gentler ways to keep it. Vat Savitri is kept by married women for the well-being of their husbands, and the day depends on region, on the new moon in much of the north and on the full moon, called Vat Purnima, in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south. The full moon is also the day of the Snana Yatra, the great bathing of Jagannath at Puri.

What a repeated month means for the festivals

In ordinary years Jyeshtha comes once and everything above falls inside it. In 2026 the festivals of the bright half, Ganga Dussehra and Nirjala Ekadashi, belong to the ordinary Jyeshtha that begins on 15 June 2026. The Adhika month has Ekadashis of its own, Padmini in the bright half and Parama in the dark half. Weddings, griha pravesh and other new undertakings are traditionally avoided in an Adhika month, while worship, charity and study continue. If you are unsure which day your family follows, your temple or family priest will say.

Jyeshtha in 2026 and 2027: dates

These are the instants at which each amanta month named Jyeshtha begins and ends, taken from a computation of the new moon in Indian Standard Time. In each row the Jyeshtha 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. The table includes the Adhika Jyeshtha of 2026, which is a repeated month and not a different one.

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

Ekadashis in Jyeshtha

The bright half of Jyeshtha has Nirjala Ekadashi, and the dark half of the amanta month has Yogini Ekadashi, which printed purnimanta lists place under Ashadha. Each Ekadashi name stays fixed in every system, and only the month label moves for the Jyeshtha dark half. How to keep the fast is in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the Ekadashi festival page gives the Jyeshtha days for your city. In the year with an Adhika Jyeshtha, as in 2026, the extra month adds Padmini Ekadashi in its bright half and Parama Ekadashi in its dark half.

Jyeshtha in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Jyeshtha and Gujarati calendars Jeth. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Jyeshtha are Vaikasi and Aani. The overlapping Malayalam months are Edavam and Mithunam, the Bengali months are Joishtho and Asharh, and the Punjabi months are Jeth and Harh. The pairings drift, because twelve lunar months are about eleven days shorter than the solar year until an Adhika month corrects the drift. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Jyeshtha overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

The month before is Vaishakha and the month after is Ashadha. To see why Jyeshtha 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