Janmashtami: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Janmashtami celebrates the birth of Krishna, at midnight, on the eighth tithi (Ashtami) of the dark half of the moon in late summer: Shravana in the amanta calendar, Bhadrapada in the purnimanta calendar of North India. Families fast through the day, decorate a cradle for the baby Krishna, sing and read his story, and at midnight bathe and dress his image, rock the cradle and share the prasad.

The festival has many names and faces. It is Gokulashtami or Krishna Jayanti in the South, where homes draw tiny footprints from the door to the puja room, as if the baby had walked in. Mathura and Vrindavan, the places of his birth and childhood, celebrate for days. In Maharashtra the next day is Gopalkala, when teams form human pyramids to break a pot of curd hung high (Dahi Handi), as Krishna and his friends did to reach the butter.

Smarta and Vaishnava calendars often keep Janmashtami on different days. Both are shown, each with its rule, and neither is wrong.

Why it is kept

The birth in Mathura. The Bhagavata Purana (book 10, chapter 3), the Vishnu Purana (book 5, chapter 3) and the Harivamsha tell the story. King Kamsa of Mathura had been told that the eighth child of his sister Devaki would take his life, so he locked Devaki and her husband Vasudeva in his prison. Krishna was born there as their eighth child, in the middle of the night. The Vishnu Purana, in H. H. Wilson's translation, says: “At midnight, when the supporter of all was about to be born, the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds, and poured down rain of flowers.”

The crossing of the Yamuna. The prison doors opened and the guards slept. Vasudeva carried the newborn through the stormy night and across the Yamuna to Gokul, where Nanda and Yashoda took him in as their own, and he brought back Yashoda's newborn daughter. In the Bhagavata telling, the serpent Shesha spread his hoods over the child against the rain, and the river parted to let them pass.

The child of Vraja. Krishna grew up among the cowherds of Gokul and Vrindavan: the butter thief, the friend of the cowherd boys and girls, the protector who lifted the hill Govardhan. The Bhagavata Purana's tenth book is the great source of these stories, and Vaishnava traditions such as the Gaudiya, the Pushtimarg and the Sri Vaishnava read them as the play (lila) of God.

Why he comes. In the Bhagavad Gita (4.7–8) Krishna tells Arjuna that whenever right conduct declines and wrong rises, he takes birth again, age after age, to protect the good and restore dharma. Many families read these verses on Janmashtami.

The texts behind the story

• Vishnu Purana, book 5, chapter 3 (the birth of Krishna). H. H. Wilson (tr.), The Vishnu Purana (London: John Murray, 1840). Wilson died 1860: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (book 5, chapter 1, p. 493 (leaf n591): the prophecy; chapter 3, p. 502 (leaf n600): the quotation)
• A Prose English Translation of Srimadbhagavatam, Books VII–XII bound in one, edited and published by Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1895–96) (Book X, chapters I–III: the prophecy, p. 4 (leaf n187); the birth, p. 14 (leaf n197); the doors, the sleeping guards, Shesha's hood, the Yamuna giving way and the exchange of the children, pp. 18–19 (leaves n201–n202))
• Harivamsha, chapter LIX, 'Birth of Krishna and Baladeva': the birth at midnight, the night called Jayanti, and the exchange of the children. Manmatha Nath Dutt (tr.), A Prose English Translation of Harivamsha (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1897; title page, leaf n7). Dutt died 1912: public domain. Summarised in our own words. (ch. LIX, pp. 254–256 (leaves n278–n280); midnight and Jayanti, p. 255 (leaf n279))
• Janmashtami and Jayanti (the Ashtami joined with the Rohini nakshatra), midnight as the main time, and Gopalakala on the next day in Maharashtra, as the digests record them. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958). Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 132–139)
• The Travancore State Manual, by V. Nagam Aiya, vol. II (Trivandrum: Travancore Government Press, 1906) (ch. VIII, p. 103 (leaf n138): 'Ashtami Rohini, the birthday of Krishna'; ch. IX, p. 307 (leaf n346): 'Gokulashtami or Srijayanti', with a light meal at about midnight)
• Bhagavad Gita, 4.7
• Bhagavad Gita, 4.8

When it is kept

Smarta rule: Janmashtami is the Krishna Ashtami of Shravana (amanta; Bhadrapada in the purnimanta calendar) that is present at nishita, the Hindu midnight at your location, the hour of Krishna's birth. If Ashtami holds nishita on the first night only, but the next day has Ashtami at sunrise joined with the Rohini nakshatra (the union the texts call Jayanti) and Rohini at nishita, the next day is taken. If Ashtami holds nishita on both nights, Rohini at nishita decides, and failing that the second day is taken; if it holds nishita on neither night, the second day is taken. This is the rule of Smarta panchangs, after the Dharmasindhu and the Nirnayasindhu. Vaishnava rule: the day on which Ashtami is present at sunrise; if Ashtami is lost between two sunrises, the Navami day; if Ashtami holds two sunrises, the Rohini nakshatra at sunrise, then at midnight, then a table of weekdays decides. This is the rule of Vaishnava calendars computed by the GCal program. The app shows both days and labels each.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Janmashtami 2027: Puja falls on Wednesday, August 25, 2027 in Washington DC (Smarta rule, computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Smarta (Dharmasindhu, Nirnayasindhu): Ashtami at nishita, Rohini as the tie-break
• Vaishnava (GCal): Ashtami at sunrise, with Rohini and weekday tie-breaks
• Month name: Shravana (amanta), Bhadrapada (purnimanta)
• Marathi: Gopalkala and Dahi Handi on the next day
• Tamil and Malayali: Gokulashtami, Sri Jayanti or Ashtami Rohini, some families by the Rohini nakshatra in the solar month

Why the day can differ

The biggest difference is between the two rules. The Smarta rule looks at midnight and the Vaishnava rule at sunrise, so in many years the Vaishnava date is a day after the Smarta date. In one recent year, for example, New Delhi's Smarta and Vaishnava Janmashtami fell on consecutive days. Temples follow their own calendar, so ask your temple which one it keeps.

Cities differ too, because midnight and sunrise are local: in some years the Americas keep the Smarta date a day before India. Some South Indian families, above all in Kerala and among Tamil Sri Vaishnavas, keep Krishna's birthday by the Rohini nakshatra in their solar month, which can fall on yet another day; the app does not compute that date.

How to keep it at home

1. In the morning, bathe, clean the puja place and make a sankalpa to keep the fast. Decorate a small cradle (jhula) with flowers and lights, and set out a picture or murti of the baby Krishna (Bal Gopal or Laddu Gopal). Many families also build a small scene of Gokul or the prison of Mathura with toys.
2. South Indian families draw small footprints with rice-flour paste from the front door to the puja room, as if the baby Krishna had walked in.
3. Through the day and evening, sing bhajans and read the birth story from the Bhagavata Purana's tenth book. Prayers often said are the Hare Krishna mahamantra, "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya", the Madhurashtakam, the Achyutashtakam and the Bhagavad Gita, above all verses 4.7 and 4.8.
4. At the midnight window shown in the app, blow a conch or ring a bell to welcome the birth. Bathe the image (abhisheka) with panchamrit, a mix of milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar, then with water; dress it in new clothes, place it in the cradle and rock it gently. Do the aarti and offer butter with sugar crystals (makhan-mishri), panjiri and fruit.
5. After midnight, share the prasad. Families who keep the fast until the next morning end it after the morning puja. The next day many celebrate Nandotsav, the joy of Nanda at the birth, and in Maharashtra Gopalkala and Dahi Handi.
6. Abroad, many temples hold a midnight celebration. If the family's midnight puja is at home, children can join the evening songs and the decorating, and see the cradle rocked early.

Fasting

Many devotees fast from sunrise until the midnight puja, some without water. Many Vaishnava families fast until midnight and then take only non-grain food, breaking the fast with grains the next morning. Fasting food leaves out grains and lentils and uses fruit, milk, makhana, sago, buckwheat and water chestnut flour. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

Krishna's favourites are milk, curd and butter: makhan-mishri, panchamrit, shrikhand and pedas. North Indian homes make dhaniya panjiri, a roasted coriander-seed sweet. Temples may offer chhappan bhog, fifty-six dishes. Tamil homes make seedai, murukku, aval payasam and appam; Marathi homes eat gopalkala, flattened rice mixed with curd, on the next day.

Prayers read at this time

• Bhagavad Gita
• Bhagavad Gita

For children

Krishna was born in the middle of a stormy night. To keep him safe, his father Vasudeva put him in a basket and carried him across the wide river Yamuna. A great snake raised its hoods like an umbrella to keep the rain off the baby, and the river grew calm to let them pass. On the other side, in the village of Gokul, Yashoda and Nanda loved and raised him. Little Krishna grew up playing with the cowherd children and was famous for loving butter.

Something to do together

With a grown-up, mix a little rice flour with water and draw tiny footprints from the door to the puja place, as if baby Krishna had walked in. Then decorate his cradle with flowers or paper and share a spoon of makhan-mishri.

Sources

• Panchang engine rule janmashtami (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with both the Smarta and the Vaishnava rule and the sources it lists: the Dharmasindhu, the Nirnayasindhu and the GCal algorithm documentation.
• Vaisnava Events Calculation in GCAL (GCal algorithm documentation, 2008), the engine's source for the Vaishnava rule.
• H. H. Wilson (tr.), The Vishnu Purana (London, 1840), book 5, chapter 3. Public domain.
• Wikipedia, "Krishna Janmashtami" (background: the eighth day of the dark half of Shravana or Bhadrapada, by the two ways of counting the month).