List of Important Indian festivals and how are they calculated with respect to dates and difference between the dates from festival to festival.

1. Indian Festivals – Origin and Date Calculation
Festivalsare anintegral partof India.Indiansare knownfordifferentcelebrations of differentfestivals.
Our Festivalsare justnotcelebratedinIndia butinthe manyothercountriesaswell. Latestexampleis
Barack Obama celebratingDiwali inwhite house.
But have youevernoticedthatfestivalslike Christmasfall onthe same dayeveryyearbutmany of our
festivalsfallondifferentdates!
Yes,the datesof these festivalschange butthe durationbetweenone festival toanotherdoesn’t
change. For example, DussehraandDiwali mightcome ondifferentdaysevertyearbutthe time gap
betweenthe bothalwaysremainsconstantat20 days.
How isit possible? Let’sfindout!
To start off in Indiawe celebrate two typesof festivals
1. Birthday’s
2. EventsFestivals
We call Birthday’sasJayanthi like KrishnaJayanthi,MahavirJayanthi etc.;andforthe events,festivalsare
relatedtoeventslike RamakillingRavanacelebratedasDussehraandRama’s returnAyodhyacelebrated
as Diwali.
Now, let us understand the timing of these festivals
1. Ugadi isthe newyear whichistakenas benchmark tootherfestivals.Itcomesonthe nextdayof
Newmoonbetweensecondweekof markto1st
weekof April.Thisis the beginningof firstmonth
of Chaitra.
2. 8 days afternewyear iscelebratedasRam Navami.Navami means9th
Day and the gap between
1st
dayand9th
dayis8 days.RamNavami isbirthdayof LordRamathe greatestMythologicalruler.
3. AfterRam Navami, we have 3 monthsgap where full moonday of the fourth monthAshadamis
celebratedasBonaluin Telangana.Bonaluisthe festival offeringharvesttothe goddesswishing
and praying for prosperity and growth.
4. Exactlyone monthlaterfull moonday of 5th
monthShravanais celebratedasRakshaBandhan.It
is a festival symbolling the brother and sister relationship in India since ages and now it widely
celebrated in other countries too.
5. Exactly7 days afterRaksha Bandhan we have KrishnaJanmasthami the birthof lordKrishna.We
all know the pivotal role of Krishna in Kurushektra war who mentored Pandavas in defeating
Kouravas.
6. 11 days after Janmasthami is Ganesh Chaturthi which falls on the fourth day of 6th
month
Bhadrapada. Ganesh Chaturthi is the Birthday of Lord Ganesh who is termed as God for Ridhi,
Buddhi and Siddhi, which means Prosperity, Intellect and Spirituality.
7. After 36 days gap, on the 10th
day of 7th
month Ashweija is celebrated as Dussehra or
Vijayadashami. This festival symbolizes win for good over evil.
8. 20 days after Dussehra on the last day of Ashweija we celebrate Diwali.It is celebrated as Lord
Rama returns to native Ayodhya after his 14 years exile.

2. 9. 15 days afterDiwali inthe 8th
monthof Karthikawe celebrateditas KarthikPournami.This isthe
month when many Indian women fast and pray for prosperity of their families.
10. Thenthere is more than3monthsgapon29th
dayof the 11th
monthMaagha.Thisfestival isMaha
Shivratri the birth day of Lord Shiva.
11. 17 days after this is Holi. Holi fallson the full moon day of the last month of the year Phalguna.
Holi is the festival of spring and colors.
12. Apart from this there is one festival called Makara Sankranti which follows solar calendar and
comeson 14th January evertyear.Makara Sankranti isharvestfestival andalsothe beginning of
Uttarayan or the northern movement of sun.
To summarize
1. Ugadi 1st
day after new moon anytime between March 2nd
and April 1st
week
2. Ram Navami 8 days after Ugadi
3. Bonalu full moon day of the 4th
month
4. Raksha Bandhan full moon day of the 5th
month
5. Krishna Janmasthami 7 days Raksha Bandhan
6. Ganesh Chaturthi 11 days after Krishna Janmasthami
7. Dussehra is 36 days after Ganesh Chaturthi
8. Diwali is 20 days after Dussehra
9. Karthika Pournami is 16 days after Diwali
10. Maha Shivratri 100-101 days after Karthika Pournami
11. Holi 17 days after Maha Shivratri
12. Makara Sankranti is 14th
of January every year
Thus, if you can find the date of Ugadi you can easily find out the dates of all other festivals.