Lala Ramswaroop Calendar Festivals: An English wall calendar resets on 1 January. A Hindu Panchang doesn’t — it follows the lunar year, which starts at Chaitra Navratri and runs for roughly twelve lunar months. So when a household keeps a Lala Ramswaroop Calendar on the wall, that single physical copy ends up covering parts of two English years: the back half of 2026 and the first few months of 2027, right up to the point the next edition takes over. This page follows the same logic — a full look at 2026, plus the early-2027 festivals that fall before the Panchang year turns over again.
About the Lala Ramswaroop Ramnarayan Panchang
The Lala Ramswaroop Ramnarayan Panchang is one of India’s long-running printed almanacs, commonly listed alongside names like Kalnirnay, Thakur Prasad, and Babu Lal Chaturvedi Panchang among the country’s well-known published Hindu calendars. Its wall-chart format — one page per month, red ink for festival dates, a Rahu Kaal and Choghadiya grid down the side — is why it remains a household fixture even in homes that also use a calendar app. This page is an independent, plain-English reference built around that same information, not a scan of the printed edition itself.
2026 Hindu Festival Calendar — Month by Month
| Month | Key Festivals & Vrats (2026) |
|---|---|
| January | New Year (Jan 1) · Lohri (Jan 13) · Makar Sankranti (Jan 14) · Mauni Amavasya (Jan 18) · Vasant Panchami (Jan 23) · Republic Day (Jan 26) |
| February | Maha Shivratri (Feb 15) |
| March | Holika Dahan (Mar 3) · Holi (Mar 4) · Hindu New Year / Chaitra Navratri begin (Mar 19) · Ram Navami (Mar 27) |
| April | Hanuman Jayanti (Apr 2) · Baisakhi (Apr 14) · Akshaya Tritiya (Apr 19) |
| May | Buddha Purnima (May 1) · Adhik Jyeshtha Maas begins (May 17) · Ganga Dussehra (May 25) |
| June | Adhik Maas ends (Jun 15) · Nirjala Ekadashi (Jun 25) |
| July | Guru Purnima (Jul 29) · Sawan begins (~Jul 30) |
| August | Independence Day (Aug 15) · Raksha Bandhan (Aug 28) |
| September | Krishna Janmashtami (Sep 4) · Ganesh Chaturthi (Sep 14) · Pitru Paksha (late Sep–early Oct) |
| October | Sharad Navratri begins (Oct 11) · Dussehra (Oct 20) · Karva Chauth (Oct 29) |
| November | Dhanteras (Nov 6) · Diwali (Nov 8) · Govardhan Puja (Nov 10) · Bhai Dooj (Nov 11) · Chhath Puja (Nov 15) |
| December | Vivah Panchami (early Dec) · Gita Jayanti (mid Dec) · Christmas (Dec 25) |
Note the gap between the Adhik Maas (17 May – 15 June) and the late Diwali: 2026 carries an extra lunar month, which pushes Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali about three weeks later than they fell in 2025, and is also why the winter wedding season only opens up from mid-November this year.
Looking Ahead: Early 2027 Festivals
Since a Lala Ramswaroop-style Panchang doesn’t stop at December, here’s the same table carried into the opening months of 2027 — the part of the Hindu year that completes Vikram Samvat 2083.
| Date (2027) | Day | Festival |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 15 | Friday | Makar Sankranti / Pongal |
| Jan 26 | Tuesday | Republic Day |
| Feb 11 | Thursday | Vasant Panchami |
| Mar 6 | Saturday | Maha Shivratri |
| Mar 21 | Sunday | Holika Dahan |
| Mar 22 | Monday | Holi / Dhulandi |
| Apr 7 | Wednesday | Hindu New Year / Chaitra Navratri begin |
| Apr 15 | Thursday | Ram Navami |
| Apr 20 | Tuesday | Hanuman Jayanti |
Once Chaitra Navratri 2027 begins on 7 April, Vikram Samvat 2084 takes over — which is also roughly when the next year’s printed Panchang edition typically goes on sale.
A Closer Look at the Big Four
Makar Sankranti (Jan 14, 2026 / Jan 15, 2027): Unlike most Hindu festivals, Sankranti follows the solar calendar, not the lunar one — it marks the Sun’s entry into Makar (Capricorn) and is one of the only festivals that falls on almost the same Gregorian date every year, with occasional one-day shifts like the one seen here between 2026 and 2027.
Navratri, twice a year: Chaitra Navratri (19 March 2026) opens the Hindu New Year in spring, while Sharad Navratri (11 October 2026) is the larger, more widely celebrated autumn version that ends in Dussehra. Both are nine-day worship periods dedicated to the nine forms of Durga, but it’s Sharad Navratri that most of India associates with garba nights and large-scale pandals.
Diwali (Nov 8, 2026): Falls on Kartik Amavasya, the darkest night of the lunar month, and is preceded by Dhanteras (buying metal or new items) and followed by Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj — the five-day festival block that most printed Panchangs lay out across a single page because the dates run so close together.
Guru Purnima (Jul 29, 2026): The full moon of Ashadha, dedicated to one’s teachers and spiritual guides, is also the unofficial marker for the last calm stretch before Chaturmas — the four-month period when most Panchangs stop listing wedding muhurats altogether.
How Many Ekadashis Fall in This Period, and Why It Matters
A Hindu lunar year carries 24 Ekadashi fasting days — two per month, one in the waxing (Shukla) fortnight and one in the waning (Krishna) fortnight — plus an extra pair in years with an Adhik Maas, like 2026. Each one has its own name and story, but two are worth marking on any calendar in advance: Nirjala Ekadashi (25 June 2026), observed without even drinking water and considered the most rigorous of the 24, and Devutthana Ekadashi in November, which ends Chaturmas and reopens the wedding season. Pradosh Vrat, dedicated to Shiva, runs on a separate twice-monthly cycle tied to the Trayodashi tithi rather than Ekadashi.
Vivah Muhurat Across 2026-2027
Because this page spans two English years, it’s worth laying the wedding-date windows out as a single timeline rather than year by year:
- Jan–Feb 2026: Open, before Holashtak begins.
- Mid-Mar–mid-Apr 2026: Closed — Holashtak, then Kharmas (Sun in Pisces).
- Mid-Apr–mid-Jul 2026: Open, the main spring/summer wedding window.
- Mid-Jul–mid-Nov 2026: Closed — Chaturmas (Devshayani to Devutthana Ekadashi).
- Mid-Nov–mid-Dec 2026: Open, the short post-Diwali window.
- Mid-Dec 2026–mid-Jan 2027: Closed — Kharmas (Sun in Sagittarius).
- Mid-Jan–mid-Mar 2027: Open again, the main winter-into-spring window.
Treat this as a planning map, not a booking calendar — the exact Shubh Muhurat for a specific date and city still needs to be checked against the current-year Panchang and, ideally, against both families’ Kundlis with a qualified astrologer.
Rahu Kaal: A Quick Reference by Weekday
Rahu Kaal is calculated by splitting the daylight hours into eight equal parts and assigning the eighth to Rahu; because it depends on actual sunrise and sunset, the exact minute shifts a little through the year, but the general weekday sequence stays the same:
| Day | Approximate Rahu Kaal (IST) |
|---|---|
| Monday | 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM |
| Tuesday | 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM |
| Wednesday | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM |
| Thursday | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM |
| Friday | 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM |
| Saturday | 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM |
| Sunday | 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM |
These are approximate slots for a standard 6 AM–6 PM daylight window; always check the day’s exact Rahu Kaal for your city before timing something important around it, since sunrise shifts the whole table earlier or later through the year.
Getting the Full Printed Panchang
The original Lala Ramswaroop Ramnarayan Panchang is a copyrighted printed publication sold through stationers and online retailers each year — this page is an independent companion to it, not a scanned copy, so there’s no “original PDF” download here. If you want the full daily-level detail (minute-by-minute Rahu Kaal, city-specific sunrise times, the complete Choghadiya grid for every single day), the printed or official digital edition is the right source. For a quick lookup of this year’s and next year’s major dates, bookmark this page, or use your browser’s Print → Save as PDF option to keep an offline copy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a “2026-2027” Hindu calendar cover two separate years? Not two separate years — one continuous Hindu lunar year. Vikram Samvat 2083 runs from Chaitra Navratri 2026 (19 March) to the day before Chaitra Navratri 2027 (6 April), which is why the festival list naturally spans parts of both English years.
Which 2026 festival dates are most likely to shift by a day? Any festival tied to a specific Tithi — Ekadashi, Amavasya, Purnima, Navratri’s start date — can shift by a day depending on your city’s sunrise and whether your region follows the Purnimanta or Amanta tradition. Fixed national dates like Republic Day and Christmas never shift.
When should I expect the 2027 edition of the printed Panchang to be published? Most printed Hindu Panchangs go on sale either around the English New Year or just before Chaitra Navratri, so look for the 2027 edition from around December 2026 onward.
Why is Diwali in November instead of October in 2026? Because 2026 contains an extra lunar month (Adhik Jyeshtha, 17 May–15 June) to keep the lunar calendar aligned with the solar year. That extra month pushes every festival from Navratri onward about three weeks later than it fell the previous year.
Is this page a substitute for buying the physical calendar? For checking this year’s and next year’s major festival and vrat dates at a glance, yes. For daily Rahu Kaal to the minute, full Choghadiya tables, and personalised Vivah Muhurat matched to a Kundli, the printed Panchang or a consultation with a priest/astrologer still goes further than any single web page.