Lunar months
Bhadrapada: where the lunar month falls
Bhadrapada is the lunar month in which the Sun enters sidereal Virgo. See its dates for 2026 to 2028 and the full Moon behind its name.
01 · In the lunar year
Bhadrapada is the lunar month in which the Sun enters Virgo.
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 Virgo is Bhadrapada, the sixth month of the lunar year.
02 · The name in the sky
Bhadrapada’s full Moon falls in or near Purva Bhadrapada or Uttara Bhadrapada.
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 sixth month
Bhadrapada (भाद्रपद) is the sixth of the twelve lunar months, after Shravana and before Ashwin. 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: Bhadrapada is the month in which the Sun enters sidereal Virgo. It belongs to Varsha 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 Virgo | Full Moon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 11 Sep, 08:56 | 10 Oct, 21:20 | 17 Sep, 07:29 | 26 Sep, 22:19 |
| 2027 | 31 Aug, 23:11 | 30 Sep, 08:06 | 17 Sep, 13:46 | 16 Sep, 04:33 |
| 2028 | 20 Aug, 16:13 | 18 Sep, 23:53 | 16 Sep, 19:57 | 4 Sep, 05:17 |
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. Between 2026 and 2034 an extra month, Adhika Bhadrapada, came before the ordinary one from 18 August 2031 to 17 September 2031; how an extra lunar month fits in explains it.
The name and the full Moon
The month names come from nakshatras. With the Sun in Virgo, the full Moon of the month stands opposite it, and Bhadrapada is named for Purva Bhadrapada or Uttara Bhadrapada, the nakshatra the full Moon falls in or near. In the site’s ephemeris the Moon at the full Moon of Bhadrapada stood in Uttara Bhadrapada in 2026, in Purva Bhadrapada in 2027 and in Shatabhisha 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, Bhadrapada runs from the full Moon of Shravana to its own full Moon. Its waxing half is the same in both counts. The waning half that ends an Amanta Bhadrapada is called Ashwin Krishna in the Purnimanta count, and Purnimanta Bhadrapada begins instead with the waning half of Amanta Shravana, as why a fortnight can have two month names explains.
Festivals
Of the festivals the site has 2026 pages for, Ganesh Chaturthi fell in Bhadrapada 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.