Holi 2027 Date: Holika Dahan Muhurat and the Bhadra Question

Holi in 2027 is on Monday, 22 March 2027, and Holika Dahan is on Sunday, 21 March 2027. In New Delhi the pradosh window for lighting the fire is 6:32 pm to 8:54 pm, but this year there is a catch: Bhadra runs from 6:21 pm on the 21st to 5:15 am on the 22nd, covering the entire evening and night.

So expect to see different muhurat times on different sites this year. Below is the rule the texts give for exactly this situation, what our calendar does with it, the times for the main cities, and the one region where the date itself changes.

The key times (New Delhi, IST)

Both festivals have their own pages: Holika Dahan and Holi, and Rang Panchami follows a few days later.

The rule: Purnima, pradosh, and no Bhadra

Holika Dahan is lit on Phalguna Purnima, in pradosh (the first part of the night after sunset), and outside Bhadra. Bhadra is the Vishti karana, the half-tithi that tradition avoids for auspicious beginnings; the fire is one of the things it is never lit in, if it can be helped.

Most years the three conditions are easy to meet: Bhadra ends at some point in the evening and the fire is lit after it. In 2027 Purnima and Bhadra begin at the same moment, 6:21 pm on 21 March, and Bhadra lasts until 5:15 am. There is no Bhadra-free part of the Purnima night at all.

For this case the texts (Nirnaya Sindhu, Dharmasindhu) give an order of preference:

1. If the next day's Purnima lasts long enough after sunrise (three and a half prahars) and Pratipada is growing, light the fire the next evening.
2. Otherwise, when Bhadra runs past midnight, light it on the first evening, in pradosh, or in Bhadra's puchha (its tail end), which the texts treat as acceptable.

In New Delhi the first option fails: on 22 March Purnima ends at 4:13 pm, not long enough after sunrise. So our calendar keeps 21 March in pradosh, 6:32 pm to 8:54 pm, and notes that many priests will use the puchha of Bhadra. Our engine's own note for this year says exactly that: Bhadra runs past midnight and the next-day exception does not apply, so the fire is lit in pradosh.

A detail some calendars add: Bhadra's "loka". Tradition says Bhadra matters most when the Moon is in Cancer, Leo, Aquarius or Pisces (Bhadra "on earth"). On 21 March the Moon is in Leo until 3:44 am, so it is the kind of Bhadra the texts take seriously, which is one more reason calendars will spell out their choice. The full list of Bhadra periods is on our Bhadra page.

Pradosh by city on 21 March

Bhadra begins and ends at the same instant everywhere (6:21 pm to 5:15 am IST). Pradosh is local: it starts at your sunset.

Note that in the eastern cities, sunset comes before Purnima even begins at 6:21 pm (Kolkata 5:47 pm, Patna 6:00 pm), so the early minutes of their pradosh are still in Chaturdashi. The Purnima part of their pradosh starts at 6:21 pm. For your own town, the panchang gives sunset and the tithi.

Guwahati: the one place the date moves

Our calendar puts Holika Dahan in Guwahati on Monday 22 March, 5:34 pm to 7:56 pm, and Holi there on Tuesday 23 March. The reason is the next-evening rule above. Guwahati's sunrise is much earlier than Delhi's, so by the clock the same Purnima (ending 4:13 pm IST) lasts longer after local sunrise there, long enough to meet the three-and-a-half-prahar condition. The texts then prefer the next evening, which is free of Bhadra.

This is not a quirk: it is the same thing that happened in 2026, when Holika Dahan was on 3 March in Delhi but 2 March in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Surat. A festival rule applied honestly to each city's sunrise and sunset can give different days, and a single national date is always a simplification. If you are in the north-east, check your local calendar as well.

Holashtak 2027

The eight days before Holika Dahan are Holashtak, which tradition avoids for weddings, griha pravesh and other beginnings. In 2027 Phalguna Shukla Ashtami begins at 10:51 am on 15 March, and Holashtak days run 16 to 21 March, ending with the fire. The same week also sees the Sun enter Pisces at 7:00 am on 15 March, which starts the spring kharmas until 14 April, so wedding calendars are thin from mid-March to mid-April. Details: Holashtak 2027, kharmas 2027 and our vivah muhurat 2027 guide. For dates you might plan for other purposes, the muhurat finder checks each day's rules.

Why sites will disagree this year

• Bhadra puchha vs pradosh. Some will print only Bhadra's tail (a short slot late at night or early morning), some the whole pradosh, some both. All are following the same texts; they differ in which exception they prefer.
• City. Pradosh starts at local sunset, so a New Delhi time does not fit Kolkata (pradosh from 5:47 pm) or Mumbai (from 6:49 pm).
• The next-day rule. Where Purnima is long enough after sunrise (as in Guwahati), the fire moves to 22 March. A national list may not show this.

None of these is a reason for worry. The texts anticipated a night fully under Bhadra and gave a way to proceed.

Try it yourself

The Holika Dahan page shows the date and windows with the Bhadra times, and the panchang gives your city's sunset and tithi. If you are planning anything around Holashtak or kharmas, the muhurat finder shows which days pass the rules. And for the festival before Holi, see our Maha Shivratri 2027 guide.