Lunar months
Ashwin: where the lunar month falls
Ashwin is the lunar month in which the Sun enters sidereal Libra. See its dates for 2026 to 2028 and the full Moon behind its name.
01 · In the lunar year
Ashwin is the lunar month in which the Sun enters Libra.
A lunar month is named from the Sankranti inside it. The new Moon to new Moon month that holds the Sun’s entry into sidereal Libra is Ashwin, the seventh month of the lunar year.
02 · The name in the sky
Ashwin’s full Moon falls in or near Ashwini.
The month names come from nakshatras. With the Sun in the month’s sign, the full Moon stands opposite it, near the nakshatra the month is named after.
The seventh month
Ashwin (आश्विन) is the seventh of the twelve lunar months, after Bhadrapada and before Kartika. Like every lunar month it runs from one new Moon to the next, and it takes its name from the Sankranti that falls inside it: Ashwin is the month in which the Sun enters sidereal Libra. It belongs to Sharad ritu, one of the six seasons of two months each.
In the Amanta count, from new Moon to new Moon, in IST:
| Year | Begins | Ends | Sun enters Libra | Full Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 10 Oct, 21:20 | 9 Nov, 12:32 | 17 Oct, 19:28 | 26 Oct, 09:41 |
| 2027 | 30 Sep, 08:06 | 29 Oct, 19:06 | 18 Oct, 01:45 | 15 Oct, 19:17 |
| 2028 | 18 Sep, 23:53 | 18 Oct, 08:26 | 17 Oct, 07:52 | 3 Oct, 21:54 |
The dates move against the calendar from year to year, by about 11 days earlier from 2026 to 2027, because twelve lunar months are about 11 days shorter than the solar year; why lunar festival dates change each year explains the drift and the extra months that correct it.
The name and the full Moon
The month names come from nakshatras. With the Sun in Libra, the full Moon of the month stands opposite it, and Ashwin is named for Ashwini, the nakshatra the full Moon falls in or near. In the site’s ephemeris the Moon at the full Moon of Ashwin stood in Ashwini in 2026, in Revati in 2027 and in Revati in 2028. The match is to within a nakshatra or two rather than exact: the Sun can be anywhere in its sign when the Moon is full, and the Moon stands opposite wherever the Sun is.
In the Purnimanta count
Where months are counted from full Moon, Ashwin runs from the full Moon of Bhadrapada to its own full Moon. Its waxing half is the same in both counts. The waning half that ends an Amanta Ashwin is called Kartika Krishna in the Purnimanta count, and Purnimanta Ashwin begins instead with the waning half of Amanta Bhadrapada, as why a fortnight can have two month names explains.
Festivals
Of the festivals the site has 2026 pages for, Dhanteras, Diwali, Dussehra, Karva Chauth and Navratri fell in Ashwin that year, counted by the Amanta month at noon IST on the festival’s main day.
The lunar month guide lists all twelve names. See today’s lunar month on the Delhi Panchang, or explore another topic in Learn.