Holika Dahan
The bonfire on the Phalguna full moon — lit after Bhadra ends, and never during it.
Where it is kept All India; as Kama Dahanam in the south, Holika Dahan in the north and west.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying Purnima in the pradosh window, once Bhadra has ended.
Overview
The pyre is built over the preceding weeks and lit on the evening of the Phalguna full moon. The timing rule is strict and is the reason this festival needs a computed muhurta: the fire is not lit during Bhadra, and if Bhadra runs into the night the lighting waits for it. Where Bhadra ends after midnight, the tradition gives specific alternatives, and the lighting is deferred rather than brought forward.
Grain from the new harvest — barley, gram, wheat ears — is roasted in the fire and eaten. That is the older layer of the festival: it is a spring harvest fire before it is anything else.
Where it comes from
The narrative is Prahlada's, from the Bhagavata and Vishnu Puranas: Hiranyakashipu's son, protected through every attempt on his life, and his aunt Holika, who had a boon against fire and sat in the flames holding him. The boon failed for her and held for him.
In the south the same night is Kama Dahanam, the burning of Kamadeva, who was reduced to ash by Shiva's third eye for interrupting his meditation, and restored at Rati's plea as a form without a body.
Why it matters
It is the last full moon of the lunar year, and the fire marks the turn. The following morning is Holi, and the sequence from burning to colour is one observance in two parts.
The Bhadra rule makes this one of the few festivals whose correct hour genuinely varies year to year and place to place. It is computed here from the tithi and the karana rather than taken from a list.
How to celebrate
- Light the fire after Bhadra has ended, in the pradosh windowThe rule is explicit in the nibandha literature and is the reason the muhurta is published each year.
- Roast and eat the new grain in the fireThe harvest layer of the festival, and its oldest part.
- Circumambulate the fire and offer water afterwardsThe customary form.
- Build the pyre from dry wood and cow-dung cakesWhat the tradition uses, and what burns cleanly.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not light the fire during BhadraThe single hard timing rule of the festival.
- Do not burn tyres, plastic or painted woodIt is a widespread modern practice and it is neither traditional nor survivable downwind of.
- Do not cut a living tree for the pyreThe wood is traditionally gathered dead or given; several states now restrict green-wood cutting for Holika.
- Do not site the pyre under trees, wires or beside a buildingThe fires are large and the annual damage figures are consistent.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Bhagavata Purana, Book 7, for the Prahlada and Holika narrative.
- Vishnu Purana and Narada Purana, for the Holika observance and its rules.
- Nirnayasindhu and Dharmasindhu, for the exclusion of Bhadra from the lighting and the deferral rules.
- Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, for the Kama Dahanam narrative kept in the south.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page