Sharad Purnima

About Sharad Purnima

Significance

Sharad Purnima is the full moon of Ashvina, the brightest night of the autumn (sharad) season, when the Moon is traditionally said to shine with all its sixteen kalas. The Nirnaya Sindhu and Dharma Sindhu describe it as Kojagara, from the question ko jagarti, who is awake?, which Lakshmi is said to ask as she moves over the earth at midnight; those who keep vigil and worship her are traditionally believed to receive her favour.

The Bhagavata Purana (10.29) opens its account of the rasa dance with the autumn nights of jasmine and moonlight in which Krishna played his flute for the gopis of Vraja, and Vaishnava tradition identifies Sharad Purnima as the night of the great rasa. The same full moon is also Valmiki Jayanti, and in Odisha it is Kumar Purnima, sacred to Kartikeya.

How and where it is observed

In Bengal, Assam and Odisha the night is Kojagori Lakshmi Puja, the household worship of Lakshmi that follows Durga Puja; in Odisha unmarried girls keep Kumar Purnima with songs and games. In Mithila the Kojagara night is a celebration for newly married grooms, with makhana and betel shared among family and neighbours. In Gujarat and Rajasthan families gather in moonlight over milk and flattened rice, and the temples of Vrindavan and Mathura hold special rasa festivals.

Rituals

Lakshmi is worshipped at night with lamps, flowers and offerings, often with an image of her owl or with drawn footprints leading into the house, and many keep vigil with games and devotional songs. A widely kept custom is to prepare kheer (rice cooked in milk) and leave it under the open moonlight overnight, to be eaten the next morning; tradition holds that the moonlight of this night is especially nourishing. Some families also keep a fast through the day.

How the date is fixed

Sharad Purnima is Ashvina Purnima, the same month name in the Amanta and Purnimanta calendars. Because the Kojagara worship belongs to midnight, the day is the one on which Purnima prevails during Nishita, the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of the night, around local midnight. If Purnima covers part of Nishita on two nights, the night with the greater coverage is taken; if it covers neither, the day on which it prevails longest. Some almanacs give the day of the Purnima fast or of bathing and charity separately, by sunrise, so they may show a neighbouring date for those.

Sources

• Nirnaya Sindhu, Pariccheda 2, Ashvina (Kojagara-vrata on the Nishitha-vyapini Purnima)
• Dharma Sindhu, Pariccheda 2, Ashvina (Kojagara)
• Bhagavata Purana 10.29 (the autumn nights and the rasa dance)

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.