Doul Utsav Festival The full moon of Phalgun, when Radha and Krishna are set on a swing and rocked while abir, dry colour, is thrown over them.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Doul Utsav
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 full moon of Phalgun, when Radha and Krishna are set on a swing and rocked while abir, dry colour, is thrown over them. The deity is carried round the para in a palanquin in the morning, the swing is pushed seven times, and the colour is offered at his feet before anyone plays with it. Shantiniketan keeps the same morning as Basanta Utsav, with the songs and the yellow that Tagore set to it.
- Deity
- Krishna, Radha, Gauranga
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Phalgun Purnima running at pradosha in the Assamese reckoning, the evening the Doul begins and the meji is burnt; Bengal takes the same Purnima at sunrise.
The fast
No fast is kept. Malpua, mihidana and the patishapta of the season are made and given away.
Where the regions differ
Bengal and Odisha, where it is Dola Purnima, keep the swing; the Hindi belt plays the colours on Dhulandi and Maharashtra waits until Rang Panchami. Gaudiya Vaishnavas keep the same full moon as the birth of Chaitanya, so Nabadwip and Mayapur fill for it. Assam keeps the same full moon as Doul Utsav: the Gosain is brought out of the satra at Barpeta and at Hajo, the meji is burnt that night, and the phaku is played the next morning.
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.