Sharad Purnima
The Ashwin full moon — the brightest of the year in the tradition, and the night of the rasa lila.
Where it is kept All India; as Kojagari Lakshmi Puja in Bengal, Odisha and Assam, and Kumar Purnima in Odisha.
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 monsoon has cleared and the air is at its driest; the tradition holds this full moon to be the brightest and the only one at which the moon shows all sixteen kalas. Rice kheer is set out in the open moonlight overnight and eaten in the morning, on the understanding that the moon's rays leave something in it.
In Bengal and Odisha it is Kojagari — from ko jagarti, 'who is awake' — the night Lakshmi walks and rewards those still watching. The night is kept awake, the house is lit and the door left open.
Where it comes from
The Bhagavata Purana places the rasa lila, Krishna's dance with the gopis of Vrindavan, on this full moon. The Braj temples keep it accordingly, and the Vaishnava reading of the night is that one.
The Kojagari Lakshmi Puja is the principal Lakshmi observance of eastern India — more so than Diwali, where the Bengali calendar keeps Kali Puja instead. That divergence is worth knowing: Lakshmi's night in Bengal is this one.
Why it matters
It marks the turn of the season, sharad, and the traditional beginning of the healthy part of the year in Ayurvedic reckoning — the kheer left in the moonlight is described in those terms, as cooling after the pitta accumulation of the monsoon.
It also opens the run to Diwali: this full moon, then Karva Chauth, Ahoi Ashtami and the Diwali sequence follow in the same lunar month.
How to celebrate
- Set the kheer out in the open moonlight, covered with a thin clothLeft out overnight and eaten in the morning; the cloth keeps insects off without blocking the light.
- Keep the night awake if you observe KojagariThe name of the observance is the instruction.
- Leave a lamp at the doorLakshmi is expected; the door is left lit and open.
- Read the rasa lila chapters of the BhagavataBook 10, chapters 29–33, for the Vaishnava keeping of the night.
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 sleep through the Kojagari vigil if you have taken itThe whole observance is the waking.
- Do not leave the kheer out uncoveredA thin muslin is the traditional cover; leaving it entirely open invites what you would expect.
- Do not treat the moonlight claim as a medical oneThe cooling property is stated in the Ayurvedic tradition. It is not a clinical finding and this site does not present it as one.
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 10.29–33, for the rasa lila on the Ashwin full moon.
- Skanda Purana, for the Kojagari Lakshmi observance and the night vigil.
- The sixteen-kala fullness and the seasonal reading are from the Ayurvedic ritu-charya literature, and are reported as tradition rather than as clinical fact.
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