Dahi Handi · Gopalkala Festival The day after Gokulashtami, kept for the boy Krishna who stole butter from the pots his mother hung out of his reach.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Dahi Handi · Gopalkala
- हिन्दी
- दही हांडी
- मराठी
- दहीहंडी · गोपाळकाला
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The day after Gokulashtami, kept for the boy Krishna who stole butter from the pots his mother hung out of his reach. An earthen handi of curd, butter and coins is strung high across a street and teams of govindas build a human pyramid to reach and break it, while the crowd throws water at them. The gopalkala, a mixture of curd, beaten rice, cucumber and pomegranate, is made in the temples and shared out.
- Deity
- Krishna
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
The day after the nishita Ashtami on which Gokulashtami is kept; the handis are broken through the afternoon and into the evening.
The fast
No fast. The night fast of Gokulashtami is broken with the kala prasad and the gopalkala.
Where the regions differ
Mumbai, Thane and Pune keep the largest handis; the Telugu country and Gujarat keep the day more quietly, and the north calls the day after the birth Nandotsav. Traditions vary on how high a pyramid may go, which the Maharashtra courts have had to rule on.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.