Festival Krishna, Radha
Rang Panchami
The fifth day of the dark fortnight of Phalgun, the day Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh play the colours.
Rang Panchami 2027 falls on Saturday, 27 March, computed for Chennai.
- Calendar Maharashtra
- Dates to 2036
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
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 27 March 2027
- Wednesday, 15 March 2028
- Sunday, 4 March 2029
Where Rang Panchami falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 27 Mar
- 2028: 15 Mar, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 4 Mar, 12 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The fifth day of the dark fortnight of Phalgun, the day Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh play the colours. The bonfire was lit five days earlier on the Holi Pournima and the gulal waits until now; Indore takes out the gair, a procession with tanks of coloured water thrown from a height, and the Konkan plays it with the shimga songs and the palkhi. The colour is thrown at the deity first, which is what the name of the day means.
- Deity
- Krishna, Radha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Rang Panchami keeps the colours back for five days after the Holi bonfire, and the elders say the colour is thrown first at the gods, to wake the good in the air after the fire has burnt the bad. In the Malwa towns and in Maharashtra it is the real day of play, when whole streets go out together. The Konkan keeps it with the Shimga, the palkhi of the village deity carried from house to house. The day is also held to be the end of the Holi season, after which the summer work begins.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Rang Panchami: how it is kept
Keep ready
- dry gulal in several colours
- old clothes that may be ruined
- oil for the skin and the hair before going out
- water and a change of clothes for afterwards
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Puran poli and shrikhand in Maharashtra, thandai and bhang in the Malwa towns for those who take it, and gujiya carried over from Holi.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 27 March 2027 at Chennai
Phalgun vadya Panchami at sunrise; the colours are played through the morning and the visiting follows in the afternoon.
The main rite. Phalgun vadya Panchami at sunrise; the colours are played in the morning and the visiting follows in the afternoon.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:09 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Aparahna | 13:28 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
Sunrise 06:09, 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 Panchami from previous day 12:44 until 13:34 | then Krishna Shashti until next day 15:05 |
| Nakshatra | Anuradha until 22:15 | then Jyeshtha until 2 days later, 00:32 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:12 to 10:43 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:46 to 15:17 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 06:09 to 07:40 (1 h 31 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:50 to 12:39 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 22:52 | moonset next day 10:21 |
For Saturday, 27 March 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. Puran poli and shrikhand are the food, and thandai in the Malwa towns.
What is avoided
No chemical colours on the face, and no colour thrown at someone who has not joined in. The play stops by the afternoon, and the house is cleaned before the evening lamp.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh play on the fifth day; the north plays on Dhulandi, the morning after the bonfire, which is five days earlier. Traditions vary within Maharashtra, and the Vidarbha districts often keep the northern day.
In other regions
- North India
- The north plays on Dhulandi, the morning after the bonfire, and Indore's gair on Rang Panchami is the great exception in the Hindi belt.
- Maharashtra (the dates above)
- Maharashtra plays on the fifth day, with the Konkan keeping the Shimga and the palkhi through the week.
- Goa · Konkani
- Goa plays the colours on this Panchami rather than the morning after the fire, as Maharashtra does, and it is the day Shigmo closes on.
The dates above are the Maharashtra 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
रंगपंचमीच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छाRangpanchamichya hardik shubhechha
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.
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.