Festival Krishna, Radha
Jhulan Purnima · Jhulan Yatra
The last of the five days of the Jhulan Yatra, when Radha and Krishna are put on a decorated swing and rocked evening after evening through the bright fortnight of Shravan.
Jhulan Purnima · Jhulan Yatra 2027 falls on Tuesday, 17 August, 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
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 17 August 2027
- Saturday, 5 August 2028
- Friday, 24 August 2029
Where Jhulan Purnima · Jhulan Yatra falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 17 Aug
- 2028: 5 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 24 Aug, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The last of the five days of the Jhulan Yatra, when Radha and Krishna are put on a decorated swing and rocked evening after evening through the bright fortnight of Shravan. Mayapur, Nabadwip and the Vaishnava houses build the swing and set small clay tableaux around it, and children make jhulan sets at home as they would a doll's house. The rakhi is tied on the same full moon, and the rakhi bandhan Tagore called for in 1905 across the partition of Bengal is remembered with it.
- Deity
- Krishna, Radha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The swing belongs to the rains: the Vaishnava poets set Radha and Krishna on a swing hung from a kadamba tree in the Shravan monsoon, the gopis pushing it and singing, and the jhulan brings that scene indoors for five evenings. The Jhulan Yatra begins on the Ekadashi and ends on this full moon, which the Gaudiya Vaishnavas also keep as the birth of Balarama, Krishna's elder brother. For children it is a festival of making: sand and moss for the fields, a mirror for the pond, clay cowherds and cattle, and lately toy houses and railway lines, all set round the swing for the neighbours to come and see.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Jhulan Purnima · Jhulan Yatra: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a small decorated swing
- flowers, leaves and tulsi
- sand, moss and small plants
- clay figures of cowherds and cattle
- a small mirror for the pond
- a ghee lamp and incense
- rakhis
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Sweets, fruit and payesh are offered through the five evenings, with khichuri and five fried vegetables on the Purnima; Gaudiya houses give Balarama his feast after noon.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai
Shravan Purnima at sunrise, the last of the five swing days; the swing is rocked in the evening.
The main rite. Shravan Purnima at sunrise, the last of the five swing days that begin on the Shukla Ekadashi; the swing is rocked at the evening arati.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 05:57 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:29, 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 | Shukla Pournami from previous day 10:29 until 12:59 | then Krishna Prathamai until next day 15:16 |
| Nakshatra | Dhanishta until next day 02:32 | then Shatabhisha until 2 days later, 05:15 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:21 to 16:55 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:05 to 10:39 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:13 to 13:47 (1 h 34 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:48 to 12:38 (0 h 50 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 18:32 | moonset next day 06:32 |
For Tuesday, 17 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast is kept. Sweets, khichuri bhog and the payesh of the Purnima are offered.
What is avoided
The swing is pushed gently, as for a child, and no one else sits on it. The jhulan is not taken down before the Purnima is over.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Bengal, Odisha and Braj keep the swing; Maharashtra keeps the same full moon as Narali Purnima, the coastal south and the Deccan as the Upakarma, and the north as Raksha Bandhan.
In other regions
- North India
- The temples of Braj keep all of Shravan as the hindola season, with Krishna swung in silver and gold at Vrindavan, and the north ties the rakhi on this full moon as Raksha Bandhan.
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Bengal keeps the Jhulan in the Vaishnava temples of Nabadwip and Mayapur and in houses across the state, where the children's jhulan sets are a small art of their own.
The dates above are the Bengal 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
শুভ ঝুলন পূর্ণিমাShubho Jhulan Purnima
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Krishna near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
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.