Janmashtami Festival of India

Name of Festival : Janmashtami

Major Territory of Celebration
Janmashtami is celebrated in all over India

Time of celebration (Months)
Janmashtami Festival falls is celebrated in the month of August or September

Worship in Festival
In Janmashtami Festival people worship the Lord Krishna

About Festival
Janmashtami or Gokulashtami as it is popularly known in North India, is a festival full of joy and gaiety. It is also known as Krishnashtami, Gokulashtami, Ashtami Rohini, Srikrishna Jayanti, Saatam Aatham, Sree Jayanthi or sometimes merely as Janmashtami. On this day people celebrate the birth of Krishna, an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. This festival is celebrated in all over India especially at Mathura and Brindavan where Lord Krishna spent his childhood time.

On this occasions Temples and homes are beautifully decorated. On this day people fast all day and eat only after the midnight birth ceremony . It is only at midnight between the first and the second day that birth of Sri Krishna took place.

Raslila (dramatic enactments) is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and to commemorate his love for Radha.In some places Dahi Handi event is also arranged. In this event the teams of young men form human pyramids to reach a high-hanging pot of butter and break it.

Women prepare special food, sweets and specially ‘Makkhan’ butter and ‘Mishri’ on their home and they offer to ‘Lord Krishna’ on this day.

In South India, Janmashtami is celebrated with prayers, devotional renditions and offering of fruits and special prasadams to Lord Krishna .In Maharashtra, Dahi Handi event organised and celebrated the Janmashtami festival In Mathura main celebrations are held at the Dwarkadhish temple or Jagat Mandir, Banke Bihari, Rangaji, Shri Krishna Balram temple and Gopinath temple.