Gopashtami Festival The eighth day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, held to be the day Krishna was first sent out with the cows rather than the calves, and so became Govinda.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Gopashtami
- हिन्दी
- गोपाष्टमी
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 eighth day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, held to be the day Krishna was first sent out with the cows rather than the calves, and so became Govinda. Cows and their calves are washed, their horns painted, garlanded and circumambulated; in Braj the cowherd deities are decked as cowherds for the day.
- Deity
- Krishna, Gomatha, Govinda
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Kartika Shukla Ashtami at sunrise; the cows are worshipped in the morning before they are let out.
The fast
No fast is prescribed. The cow is fed first, with green fodder, jaggery and roti.
Where the regions differ
Braj, Rajasthan and the Hindi belt keep it; the southern cattle days are Mattu Pongal and Kanuma in January instead.
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.