For New Delhi
Krishna Janmashtami puja time
Nishita kaal (midnight puja)†12:04 am – 12:47 am on 16 Aug · 43 min
- Ashtami tithi
- 11:50 pm – 9:35 pm on 16 Aug
How this time is worked out
The night runs from sunset to the next sunrise and is cut into fifteen equal muhurtas (about 43 minutes each in New Delhi that night).
Krishna’s birth is kept at nishita, the eighth muhurta of the night†, on the day Ashtami runs. At the middle of nishita the Moon is in Bharani.
† Practice varies between schools; our faculty is reviewing these rules.
2025
Friday, 15 August 2025
In 2025 the tithi runs from 11:50 pm on 15 Aug to 9:35 pm on 16 Aug; it is running at the middle of the night (halfway from sunset to the next sunrise) on Friday, 15 August 2025, so that is the day of Krishna Janmashtami.
2026
Friday, 4 September 2026
In 2026 the tithi runs from 2:25 am on 4 Sep to 12:14 am on 5 Sep, and it never reaches the middle of the night (halfway from sunset to the next sunrise), so the day on which it begins is taken: Friday, 4 September 2026.
How the date is fixed
Krishna Janmashtami falls on the eighth day of the dark half of the lunar month Shravana (Krishna Ashtami). The date is the day on which that tithi is running at the middle of the night (halfway from sunset to the next sunrise). In the North Indian (purnimanta) calendar the same fortnight is counted in Bhadrapada.
About
Janmashtami falls on the eighth tithi of the dark half of Shravana in amanta reckoning, which North India names Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami; it is the same night in August or early September. Because the birth is placed at midnight in Rohini nakshatra, the day whose nishitha (midnight) holds Ashtami is chosen, and the day on which Ashtami and Rohini both touch midnight is preferred. This is why smarta and Vaishnava calendars sometimes give consecutive days. Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwarka hold their main celebrations at the midnight hour.
How it is observed
A fast until midnight, the birth ceremony with the infant image at twelve, and dahi handi the next day in Maharashtra.