Shravana Month in the Hindu Calendar: Mondays, Raksha Bandhan and Dates

Shravana is the month that many devotees of Shiva wait for. The rain is steady, the hills are green, and the Mondays of the month are kept as fast days with water poured on a Shiva lingam. The name comes from the nakshatra Shravana, three stars in the sign of Makara, in which the full moon usually stands. Shravana means hearing, and the month is traditionally one for listening to katha and scripture.

A point of difference should be understood early. In Maharashtra, Gujarat and the south, where months run from new moon to new moon, Shravana starts at the new moon. In the north, where months run from full moon to full moon, the Shravana that people speak of starts about two weeks earlier, right after Guru Purnima. The Mondays, the Kanwar pilgrimage in the north and the early fasts all follow that earlier start. The details are on the amanta and purnimanta page.

Shravana is the fifth month of the lunar year as counted from Chaitra, and the first of the two months of Varsha, the season of the rains. The nakshatra behind the name is Shravana, in Makara. To see where Shravana sits between Ashadha and Bhadrapada, read the page on the lunar year, and for the year that counts these months see Vikram Samvat.

The first month of the rains

Shravana is the first of the two months of Varsha, the rainy season, and Bhadrapada is the second. In the old reckoning it is a time for planting and rest, when journeys were difficult and a household turned inward. The Shravan month customs of fasting, singing and visiting temples fit that older pattern. The ground is damp, and the festivals of the month celebrate swings, snakes, sisters, and the bright green of the monsoon.

Festivals of Shravana

Shravan Mondays are fast days for Shiva; see the Somvar vrat vidhi. Tuesdays are kept as Mangala Gauri in some families. Hariyali Teej on Shukla Tritiya is the swing festival of Parvati, kept with green clothes and mehndi, and Nag Panchami on Shukla Panchami honours serpents with milk and a prayer. Raksha Bandhan is the full moon, when a sister ties a rakhi on her brother’s wrist; the Raksha Bandhan puja guide covers it. The same full moon is kept as Narali Purnima in coastal Maharashtra, with coconuts offered to the sea, and as Avani Avittam, when the sacred thread is renewed, in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states.

Janmashtami and the dark half

Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna on the eighth day of the dark half, is the best example of how the two calendars name the same night differently. By the amanta reckoning it is in Shravana, and by the purnimanta reckoning it is in Bhadrapada, so a Gujarati and a Delhi family may call the same midnight by different months. The Janmashtami puja page sets out the steps. Aja Ekadashi, in the same dark half, falls a few days after it.

Shravana in 2026 and 2027: dates

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

Ekadashis in Shravana

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

Shravana in regional calendars

Marathi calendars write Shravan and Gujarati calendars Shravan. Tamil calendars follow the Sun, and the solar months that usually overlap Shravana are Aadi and Aavani. The overlapping Malayalam months are Karkidakam and Chingam, the Bengali months are Srabon and Bhadro, and the Punjabi months are Sawan and Bhadon. The big difference is the start: in the purnimanta north Shravana begins after Guru Purnima, and in the amanta south and west it begins at the new moon. The pairing is approximate: a solar month starts when the Sun enters a sign, so the lunar Shravana overlaps those months without matching their dates.

Related pages

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