Phalguna Month in the Hindu Calendar: Holi, Amalaki Ekadashi and Dates

Phalguna closes the lunar year in the way most of India counts it. Its bright half is a build-up of colour, and its full moon is Holi. The name comes from the two nakshatras Purva Phalguni and Uttara Phalguni, in which the full moon usually stands. The Phalguni nakshatras are linked with the bed or the front legs of a couch, and in tradition with marriage and union.

Two nakshatras give the month its name, as they do for Ashadha and Bhadrapada. Phalguna Krishna is the last dark half of the lunar year in the amanta system, and the next new moon opens Chaitra.

Phalguna is the twelfth month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the second of the two months of Shishira, the season of winter. The nakshatra behind the name is the pair Purva Phalguni and Uttara Phalguni. To see where Phalguna sits between Magha and Chaitra, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

The second month of Shishira

Phalguna is the second month of Shishira, winter, and its second half has the warmth of an early spring. In the plains the mango trees begin to blossom as Holi approaches. The custom of the month is to clear out the old, which fits both the bonfire of Holi and the end of the lunar year.

Festivals of Phalguna

Amalaki Ekadashi falls on Shukla Ekadashi and is associated with the amla tree, which is worshipped on that day. Holashtak, the eight days before Holi, begins on Shukla Ashtami; many families avoid weddings and new beginnings in those days. Holi is the full moon, with Holika Dahan, the bonfire, in the evening and the colours the next morning; the Holika Dahan puja vidhi describes the worship. In Bengal the same full moon is Dol Jatra, and in Odisha it is Dola Purnima. Panguni Uthiram in Tamil Nadu falls in the nearby solar month.

Clearing out before the year turns

Phalguna is the month in which many households clean, repair and put things in order before the new year, and the idea fits the Holi fire, in which something old is burned. There is a gentle side to the festival as well: the meeting of neighbours, the sharing of gujiya and thandai, and the stopping of old quarrels for a day. Holika Dahan recalls the story of Prahlada, the child devotee of Vishnu, and the bonfire is lit after dusk when the full moon is up. In some regions the bonfire is a village matter, with each household bringing a small piece of wood. The practice varies by region and family.

The dark half before the new year

In the amanta reckoning the dark half of Phalguna ends the year, and in the north that same fortnight is called Chaitra Krishna paksha, which holds Papamochani Ekadashi and, in many places, Rang Panchami. A family in the north may therefore say that Chaitra has started when a family in the south says the year is about to end. Ugadi and Navratri, on the next bright half, close the gap. See the Chaitra page for the first festivals of the new year.

Phalguna in 2026 and 2027: dates

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

Ekadashis in Phalguna

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

Phalguna in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Phalgun and Gujarati calendars Fagan. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Phalguna are Maasi and Panguni. The overlapping Malayalam months are Kumbham and Meenam, the Bengali months are Falgun and Choitro, and the Punjabi months are Phagun and Chet. Bengal keeps the full moon as Dol Jatra and Odisha as Dola Purnima, and Tamil Panguni Uthiram falls in the overlapping solar month. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Phalguna overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

The month before is Magha and the month after is Chaitra. To see why Phalguna 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