Festival Guru Gobind Singh
Hola Mohalla
The day after the Holi full moon, set by Guru Gobind Singh in 1701 as a mock battle in place of the throwing of colours: the Panth was to gather at Anandpur Sahib and practise arms, ride, wrestle and hold mock sieges instead.
Hola Mohalla 2027 falls on Tuesday, 23 March, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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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
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 23 March 2027
- Saturday, 11 March 2028
- Thursday, 1 March 2029
Where Hola Mohalla falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 23 Mar
- 2028: 11 Mar, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 1 Mar, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Punjab calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The day after the Holi full moon, set by Guru Gobind Singh in 1701 as a mock battle in place of the throwing of colours: the Panth was to gather at Anandpur Sahib and practise arms, ride, wrestle and hold mock sieges instead. The Nihang jatha keep it still, with gatka, tent pegging and standing horsemanship down the bed of the Charan Ganga, and the darbar runs three days. The langar is enormous and nobody leaves it unfed.
- Deity
- Guru Gobind Singh
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The name carries the Guru's intention: hola is taken from halla, a charge, and mohalla from an organised column on the march, so the day is a charge by the Khalsa in formation rather than a game of colour. It began at the fort of Holgarh at Anandpur, where Guru Gobind Singh divided the Sikhs into two sides, one to hold the fort and one to take it, so that a people who had been told they were weak would learn to defend themselves and others. The Nihangs, in blue and saffron, with tall dumalla turbans ringed with steel quoits, have kept the drill alive ever since, and the kavi darbar of the poets is as old a part of the gathering as the horsemanship. Families go for the spectacle, the seva and the langar, and to show the young what the Khalsa was made for.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Hola Mohalla: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a head covering
- warm clothes for the cold nights
- bedding for the camps
- langar rations or a gift to a langar
- a kesri or blue parna
- water for the day in the crowds
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The langars of the three days serve dal, sabzi, rotis, kheer and karah prashad, and the Nihang camps cook in iron karahis big enough to bathe in; along the roads to Anandpur the roadside langars hand out tea, pakoras, jalebis and fruit to every vehicle that stops.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 23 March 2027 at Chennai
Chet vadi Pratipada, the day after the Holi Puranmashi, at sunrise; the mohalla, the procession of the Nihangs, closes the last day.
The main rite. Chet Vadi Pratipada, the day after the Holi Puranmashi, at sunrise; the darbar at Anandpur Sahib runs three days, and the mohalla of the Nihangs closes the last of them.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:11 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:11, sunset 18:20, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Krishna Prathamai from previous day 16:14 until 14:29 | then Krishna Dwitiyai until next day 13:15 |
| Nakshatra | Hasta until 19:50 | then Chitra until next day 19:26 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:18 to 16:49 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:14 to 10:45 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:16 to 13:47 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:51 to 12:40 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 19:13 | moonset next day 07:12 |
For Tuesday, 23 March 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept. The langar of the three days is much of the point of the gathering, and the Nihangs cook and serve it themselves.
What is avoided
Onlookers keep behind the ropes and out of the horse lanes and the gatka rings, and nobody handles a weapon who has not been trained to. Alcohol and tobacco have no place in the gathering, and colour is thrown dry and never forced on anyone.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Anandpur Sahib is the great one and Kiratpur Sahib keeps its own in the days before; the gurdwaras elsewhere keep a smaller diwan. The rest of north India plays the colours the same morning as Dhulandi.
In other regions
- North India
- The rest of the north plays the colours of Dhulandi on the same morning, and the Sikh sangats of Delhi and Haryana send jathas to Anandpur.
- Maharashtra
- Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib at Nanded keeps its own Hola Mohalla, with the Nihangs' horses and a mohalla through the town that draws sangats from across the Deccan.
- Punjab (the dates above)
- Anandpur Sahib is the great gathering, with Kiratpur Sahib keeping its own in the days before; the gurdwaras across the Punjab keep a smaller diwan with gatka displays.
The dates above are the Punjab reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
ਹੋਲੇ ਮਹੱਲੇ ਦੀਆਂ ਲੱਖ ਲੱਖ ਵਧਾਈਆਂHole Mahalle diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Mool Mantar (Ik Onkar)
- Japji Sahib
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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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.