Margashirsha Month in the Hindu Calendar: Gita Jayanti, Margazhi and Dates

Margashirsha is the month in which, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that among the months he is Margashirsha. The line comes in the tenth chapter, in the list of his excellences, and it is why the month is held dear by Vaishnava devotees. The name comes from the nakshatra Mrigashira, the deer’s head, a small group of faint stars on the border of Vrishabha and Mithuna, in which the full moon usually stands.

The month is also called Agrahayana, a name that is said to preserve the memory of an age in which the year began here. Today it is the ninth month, and the year turns elsewhere.

Margashirsha is the ninth month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the first of the two months of Hemanta, the season of the cool season before winter. The nakshatra behind the name is Mrigashira, the deer’s head. To see where Margashirsha sits between Kartika and Pausha, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

Hemanta begins

Margashirsha is the first of the two Hemanta months, the cool season before winter, and Pausha is the second. In the plains of the north the mornings become cold and misty, and the days are short and bright. It is a month of wedding dates in many families, and also of the new harvest of rice in the east and south.

Festivals of Margashirsha

Vivah Panchami is Shukla Panchami, kept as the marriage of Rama and Sita and celebrated especially at Janakpur in Nepal and at Ayodhya; in some regions, notably Mithila, families avoid holding their own weddings on that day. Champa Shashthi on Shukla Shashthi honours Khandoba in Maharashtra. Mokshada Ekadashi is Shukla Ekadashi and is also observed as Gita Jayanti, the day on which, in tradition, Krishna spoke the Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra; the Ekadashi vrat vidhi explains the fast. The full moon brings Dattatreya Jayanti and Annapurna Jayanti, and see the Purnima vrat vidhi for the monthly full moon observance.

Margazhi in the Tamil calendar

In Tamil Nadu the solar month Margazhi, which starts when the Sun enters Dhanu, is the most devotional month of the year. Women draw large kolams at dawn, temples hold early worship, the Tiruppavai of Andal is sung, and the Chennai music season fills the halls. Margazhi is a solar month, so it follows the Sun, and it does not match Margashirsha in dates. The two overlap, and Margashirsha lends it the name.

The dark half

The dark half of amanta Margashirsha is called Pausha Krishna paksha in the north, and its Ekadashi is Saphala Ekadashi. Utpanna Ekadashi, which many lists treat as the first Ekadashi of the cycle, falls in the dark half that amanta calendars attach to Kartika and the north calls Margashirsha. Check your own calendar if the exact day matters.

Margashirsha in 2026 and 2027: dates

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

Ekadashis in Margashirsha

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

Margashirsha in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Margashirsha and Gujarati calendars Magshar. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Margashirsha are Karthigai and Margazhi. The overlapping Malayalam months are Vrischikam and Dhanu, the Bengali months are Agrahayan and Poush, and the Punjabi months are Maghar and Poh. The old name Agrahayana is still used in Bengal, and the Tamil month Margazhi is the great month of dawn worship. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Margashirsha overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

The month before is Kartika and the month after is Pausha. To see why Margashirsha 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