Radha Ashtami 2028: Date, Puja Muhurat & Significance

Radha Ashtami Muhurat: 11:05 AM to 1:39 PM (New Delhi).

These times are worked out from local sunrise and sunset, so they shift by city. Choose your city for your own times.

Shukla Ashtami runs 26 Aug, 19:33 → 27 Aug, 18:50.

Radha is said to have been found by King Vrishabhanu on a lotus in the water, not born of a womb; on Radha Ashtami her image is bathed at midday (the hour of her appearance) in milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar, dressed in new finery and jewels, and offered chappan bhog. Devotees fast until noon and read the Radha Sahasranama and the Brahma Vaivarta.

Barsana keeps the largest festival, with the Radha Rani temple on the Bhanugarh hill lit and thronged; Vrindavan's Radha-Vallabha, Radha-Raman and Radha-Damodar temples hold grand abhishekas. For Gaudiya Vaishnavas the day is second only to Janmashtami, and some observe a stricter fast than on Krishna's day, since serving Radha is serving the means to Krishna.

Radha is Krishna's eternal consort and, in the theology of the Radha traditions, not a created being but his own energy of love personified — where Krishna is the enjoyer, Radha is the whole of devotion. Her appearance in Barsana as the daughter of Vrishabhanu and Kirti sets the stage for the Vrindavan lila; the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Gaudiya acharyas give her this supreme place.

Source: Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Braj bhakti acharyas — Radha's appearance and supreme place

Radha appears in Prakrit poetry (the Gatha Saptashati) and is central to Jayadeva's Gita Govinda (12th c.); Radha Ashtami as a festival grew with the Braj bhakti movements of the 15th–16th centuries — the Radha-Vallabha sampradaya of Hita Harivamsha, the Gaudiya, Nimbarka and Pushtimarg — and is now kept wherever they are.

• Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Braj bhakti acharyas — Radha's appearance and supreme place
• Wikipedia — Radha Ashtami

1. Radha's birth is celebrated at midday, fifteen days after Janmashtami, above all at the Shriji temple in Barsana and in Vrindavan.
2. The deity is bathed in panchamrit, dressed in new clothes and offered the chappan bhog, with kirtan through the day.
3. Devotees climb Barsana's hill in large numbers, and ISKCON and Radha-centred temples hold special darshans.

• Barsana and Braj. The Radha Rani temple festival at Barsana; midday abhisheka, chappan bhog, and swings; Vrindavan's Radha temples hold grand worship.
• Gaudiya, Nimbarka, Radha-Vallabha and Pushtimarg communities. Fasting until noon, Radha Sahasranama, and abhisheka; observed worldwide by ISKCON and allied maths.

• Chappan bhog — Fifty-six dishes offered to Radha and Krishna.

Radha Ashtami is kept on the day when Ashtami of Bhadrapada Shukla paksha prevails at Madhyahna (midday). That day is Sunday, 27 August 2028, and the Radha Ashtami muhurat is from 11:05 AM to 1:39 PM. Ashtami holds at midday only on this day.

at Madhyahna (midday)

Radha Ashtami is Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami — the eighth tithi of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada, fifteen days after Janmashtami, in August or September. The abhisheka is done in the madhyahna (midday) window, the hour held to be that of Radha's appearance.

A lunar date: Ashtami of the bright half of Bhadrapada drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.