Holika Dahan 2028 is on Friday, 10 March 2028, on the Purnima tithi, in New Delhi. The tithi runs from 10:21 on 10 March to 06:36 on 11 March. The Holika Dahan muhurat is from 18:27 to 20:52.
Timings for New Delhi, checked 26 October 2026.
Each event with its day and its time, worked out for New Delhi by the rule the tradition gives for it.
Purnima: 10:21 on 10 March to 06:36 on 11 March
Bhadra is still current when Pradosh begins this year; those who avoid it wait until it ends, at the time given.
Pratipada: 06:36 on 11 March to 02:57 on 12 March
Holika Dahan is the bonfire lit on the Purnima of Phalguna, the full moon at the end of winter, on the night before Holi. In the north it is also called Chhoti Holi; in parts of the south the same night is Kama Dahanam. Neighbourhoods gather wood and cow-dung cakes for days beforehand, and the fire is lit at the muhurat the panchang gives, after Bhadra is over.
The Bhagavata Purana tells of Prahlada, a boy devoted to Vishnu, whose father Hiranyakashipu, king of the asuras, demanded to be worshipped himself. When threats failed, the king's sister Holika, who was said to be shielded from fire, sat in a burning pyre with Prahlada on her lap. The boy came out unharmed, and the shield Holika relied on failed her. The bonfire remembers that night, and the tradition reads it as devotion outlasting pride.
In the afternoon women worship the stacked pyre, wind raw cotton thread round it three or seven times and offer water, roli, rice, flowers, coconut and new grain. At the muhurat the fire is lit, families walk round it, and ears of new wheat and barley, gram and sugarcane are roasted in it and shared as prasad. Many carry home an ember or ash from the fire, and the next morning is Holi, the festival of colours.
Holika Dahan is kept in Pradosh, the evening after sunset, on the day Purnima first covers it, and away from Bhadra, the half-tithi the tradition asks to avoid. When Bhadra lasts past midnight the tradition allows the fire in Pradosh, or in Bhadra Punchha, its tail, but never in Bhadra Mukha; when Purnima also runs through nearly the whole of the next day, the fire moves to that evening.
Short answers about Holika Dahan, for New Delhi.
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Add to my calendarBhadra, the Vishti karana, is the half-tithi the tradition asks to avoid for auspicious rites, and Holika Dahan is one it names. The muhurat is therefore given in Pradosh after Bhadra ends; when Bhadra lasts past midnight, the tradition allows its last part, Bhadra Punchha.
Yes. The bonfire is lit on the night of Phalguna Purnima, and Holi, the day of colours, is the morning after, the first day of the dark half of Chaitra. In a year when the Purnima falls oddly, the two can be a day further apart.
On Friday, 10 March 2028 in New Delhi.
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