Bhadrapada Maas 2026: Dates, Festivals and the Two Calendars

Bhadrapada maas 2026 begins on Saturday, 29 August in the purnimanta calendar used across north India, and runs to 26 September. In the amanta calendar followed in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, the month labelled Bhadrapada runs from 12 September to 10 October 2026. Both are right, and the difference confuses more people every year than almost anything else in the Hindu calendar.

Why the same month has two date ranges

A Hindu lunar month contains one full moon and one new moon. The only question is where you cut it.

• Purnimanta months end on Purnima (the full moon). Shravan therefore ends with Shravana Purnima on 28 August 2026, and Bhadrapada starts the next day.
• Amanta months end on Amavasya (the new moon). The same stretch of days is still called Shravan in the south until the new moon of 11 to 12 September.

The consequence is precise and easy to state: the two systems agree exactly on the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) and disagree by one month-name on the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha). Kajari Teej on 31 August is Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in the north and Shravana Krishna Tritiya in the south — same day, same moon, different label.

No festival moves. Only the name of the month attached to it moves. If you are matching a family observance against an online calendar and the month name looks wrong, check which system the calendar is set to before assuming an error.

What falls in Bhadrapada 2026

Reading the purnimanta month, 29 August to 26 September:

• 31 August — Kajari Teej and Heramba Sankashti Chaturthi. The Teej vrat for marital wellbeing, and the monthly Ganesha fast, land on the same day.
• Early September — Aja Ekadashi and the Krishna Paksha vrats, closing at Bhadrapada Amavasya on 11 to 12 September.
• Mid-September — Hartalika Teej and Ganesh Chaturthi, the largest observances of the month, opening the ten-day Ganeshotsav in Maharashtra and much of western India.
• Late September — Anant Chaturdashi, which closes Ganeshotsav with the visarjan, and Bhadrapada Purnima on 26 September.
• 26 September — Pitru Paksha begins, running to Sarva Pitru Amavasya on 10 October 2026.

Bhadrapada also carries the end of Chaturmas in most reckonings, which is why the wedding-muhurat drought that has held since Devshayani Ekadashi starts to lift only after this month closes.

The month's astrological character

Bhadrapada is the month in which the Sun completes its passage through Simha (Leo) and moves into Kanya (Virgo) at Kanya Sankranti in mid-September. Sidereally, that is the shift from a fixed fire sign ruled by the Sun itself to a mutable earth sign ruled by Mercury — from display to audit.

That transition is not decoration. It is exactly why the month ends in Pitru Paksha, a fortnight given entirely to shraddha and tarpana for ancestors. The calendar moves from Ganesha, who removes obstacles at the start of an undertaking, to the pitrs, to whom accounts are settled. Beginning and closing, in the same month.

Practically, this makes Bhadrapada a good month for finishing things and a poor one for launching them. Pitru Paksha in particular is treated across most of India as inauspicious for new purchases, new ventures and any shubh karya, though it is entirely appropriate for charity, repair and clearing debts.

What a muhurat is available for in Bhadrapada

The month has a reputation for being closed to auspicious work, and that reputation is roughly half earned. It is worth being precise about which restriction applies when, because the restrictions come from three separate sources and people tend to merge them into one vague prohibition.

• Chaturmas. Running since Devshayani Ekadashi in July, this is the pause on weddings, upanayana (thread ceremonies), griha pravesh (housewarming) and other large samskaras. It lifts at Prabodhini Ekadashi in November, not at the end of Bhadrapada, so this month gives no relief on wedding dates.
• Pitru Paksha, 26 September to 10 October. A stricter and shorter restriction covering new purchases, new ventures, and celebratory events. Property registration, vehicle purchase and business launches are conventionally deferred past Sarva Pitru Amavasya.
• Ordinary panchang factors. Bhadra, Rahu Kaal, the daily choghadiya and the tithi-nakshatra combination apply as usual and are independent of the month.

What remains open in Bhadrapada is substantial: routine work, education and examinations, medical treatment already planned, repairs and maintenance, debt settlement, charity, and devotional undertakings, which the month positively favours. Ganesh Chaturthi in mid-September is itself one of the most auspicious days of the year for beginning a study or a creative project, since Ganesha is invoked precisely at the start of things.

The distinction to hold on to is between shubh karya — ceremonial, celebratory undertakings requiring a formal muhurat — and ordinary purposeful action, which is never restricted. The calendar pauses ceremonies. It does not ask you to stop working.

Using the month rather than just reading about it

Two things are worth checking against your own chart rather than the general calendar.

First, the Moon moves through all twenty-seven nakshatras roughly once in the month, and its position relative to your janma nakshatra (birth star) is what the Tarabala grid measures. That is a far better guide to which days will feel easy than the month-name is.

Second, the Sun's move into Virgo changes which house of your chart is being lit from your chandra rashi (moon sign). Our daily and weekly rashifal by moon sign — the Hindi-first version of aaj ka rashifal, today's moon-sign reading — tracks that per sign rather than in the abstract.

For the tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and day-score of any date in Bhadrapada calculated for your own city, use the daily panchang calendar. If you are looking for an auspicious start time for a specific act inside the month rather than a general good day, the muhurat finder is the right instrument, and it will correctly show you where the Chaturmas and Pitru Paksha restrictions bite.