Magha Purnima
The Magha full moon — the closing bath of the month-long Magha snan, and the last major bathing day at Prayagraj.
Where it is kept Prayagraj, Varanasi, Haridwar and the Kumbh grounds; observed across north and eastern India.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running at sunrise.
Overview
The whole month of Magha is a bathing observance — Magha snan, a pre-dawn dip taken daily through the month — and this full moon closes it. At Prayagraj it is one of the principal bathing days of the Magh Mela, and in a Kumbh year one of the great ones.
The day's practices are bathing, giving, and the shraddha for ancestors. Sesame, blankets, ghee and grain are the customary gifts, chosen for the cold.
Where it comes from
The Magha bathing observance is prescribed in the Puranas and the Kalpavasa — living at the confluence for the month in a tent, on one meal a day — is documented at Prayagraj over a very long period.
The full moon is also kept as Ravidas Jayanti, the birth of the fifteenth-century sant Ravidas, whose verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib; the observance is large in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and among Ravidassia communities.
Why it matters
Magha is the coldest month in the northern plain, and a daily pre-dawn river bath through it is an austerity of a real kind. The full moon closes it.
The giving prescribed for the day — blankets, sesame, ghee, warm food — matches the season, in the same way the Jyeshtha festivals prescribe water.
How to celebrate
- Take the bath before sunriseThe observance is a pre-dawn one; the Brahma muhurta is preferred.
- Give blankets, sesame, ghee or warm foodThe prescribed dana for the month, and the useful one.
- Perform the tarpana for ancestorsMagha Purnima is a customary day for it.
- Read or hear the Ravidas bani if you keep the jayantiThe verses in the Guru Granth Sahib are the text of that observance.
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 enter deep or fast water at a crowded ghatMagha is cold and the crowds are among the largest of the year.
- Do not treat the bath as complete without the givingSnan and dana are prescribed together for this day.
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.
- Padma Purana and Skanda Purana, for the Magha snan observance and its closing on the full moon.
- Matsya Purana, for the Prayagraj confluence bathing.
- Guru Granth Sahib, for the forty verses of Ravidas, whose jayanti falls on this full moon.
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