Shravan 2026 has two correct start dates, and which one applies depends on where your family is from. In most of North India the month runs 30 July to 28 August 2026. In Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and most of the south it runs 13 August to 11 September 2026. Neither is a mistake or a regional approximation. They are two different conventions for deciding where a lunar month ends, the Purnimanta calendar closing on the full moon and the Amanta calendar closing on the new moon, and both have been in continuous use for centuries. The practical consequence is that Sawan Somvar falls on different Mondays depending on which one you follow, and only two Mondays are shared between them. All dates below are for India and follow the Lahiri sidereal reckoning; a lunar day begins and ends at clock times rather than at midnight, so readers outside India should confirm against a local panchang. This is a calendar explainer offered as cultural and informational interest, not a ritual manual and not advice.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Shravan 2026, Purnimanta | 30 July to 28 August 2026 |
| Shravan 2026, Amanta | 13 August to 11 September 2026 |
| Gap between the two | About 15 days |
| Purnimanta regions | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh |
| Amanta regions | Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala |
| Sawan Somvar, Purnimanta | 3, 10, 17 and 24 August 2026 |
| Sawan Somvar, Amanta | 17, 24 and 31 August, 7 September 2026 |
| Mondays common to both | Only 17 and 24 August |
| Nag Panchami 2026 | Monday 17 August, the same day in both calendars |
| Gujarati Nag Pancham | 1 September 2026, a different tithi rather than a different calendar |
| Also called | Sawan, Savan, Shravana, Aadi in Tamil reckoning |
Why Shravan has two start dates
Both calendars agree completely about the moon. They disagree about where to put the boundary between one month and the next.
The Amanta convention ends a month at the new moon, so a new month begins the day after Amavasya. The Purnimanta convention ends a month at the full moon, so a new month begins the day after Purnima. Since a full moon and a new moon are roughly a fortnight apart, the same month name starts about fifteen days earlier in the Purnimanta system.
There is a second effect that follows from this and causes more confusion than the start date does. A Purnimanta month opens with its dark fortnight and closes with its bright one, while an Amanta month opens with the bright fortnight. So on any given day in the second half of Shravan the two calendars agree on the tithi and on the paksha but can disagree on the month name. This is why two people can both be observing Shravan correctly on the same day while their calendars print different month labels, and it is also why some festivals land on the same day in both systems and others do not.
Shravan 2026 dates in both calendars
| Calendar | Begins | Ends | Boundary set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purnimanta (North India) | Thursday 30 July 2026 | Friday 28 August 2026 | Full moon 29 July, next full moon 28 August |
| Amanta (west and south) | Thursday 13 August 2026 | Friday 11 September 2026 | New moon 12 August, next new moon 11 September |
Both 2026 boundaries happen to carry an eclipse. The new moon of 12 August that opens the Amanta month is a total solar eclipse, and the full moon of 28 August that closes the Purnimanta month is a partial lunar eclipse. That is a coincidence of this particular year rather than anything structural about Shravan.
Sawan Somvar 2026: the Mondays differ
Mondays in Shravan are the best known observance of the month. Because the two calendars cover different stretches of the year, they contain different Mondays. Each system has four in 2026, but only two of those Mondays are the same day.
| Monday | Date 2026 | Purnimanta | Amanta |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 3 August | Yes | No, month has not begun |
| Second | 10 August | Yes | No, month has not begun |
| Third | 17 August | Yes | Yes |
| Fourth | 24 August | Yes | Yes |
| Fifth | 31 August | No, month has ended | Yes |
| Sixth | 7 September | No, month has ended | Yes |
These are simply the Mondays that fall inside each date range above, so you can check them against the boundaries yourself rather than taking the list on trust. Households that count the Somvars differently, for instance by starting from a local festival rather than from the month boundary, will get a different list, and regional practice does vary on this.
DesiUtils toolRahu Kaal TodaySee today's Rahu Kaal for your city, sunrise-basedNag Panchami 2026, and why Gujarat is different
Nag Panchami in 2026 falls on Monday 17 August, and unusually it is the same date in both calendars. The reason is that it is fixed to Shukla Panchami, the fifth tithi of the bright fortnight, and that tithi is the same actual day in both systems even though they disagree about when the month began.
Gujarat is the exception, observing Nag Pancham on 1 September 2026, and the cause there is a different one entirely. It is not a calendar difference. Gujarat keeps the observance in Krishna Paksha, the dark fortnight, rather than Shukla Paksha, so it is a genuinely different tithi about a fortnight later. Two separate mechanisms therefore produce regional date differences in the same month, and they are often collapsed into a vague sense that dates simply vary by region.
How to check any of this yourself
Every date above rests on two lunar phases, which makes the whole thing independently checkable without trusting any calendar website, including this one.
The full moons of 29 July and 28 August 2026 bracket the Purnimanta month, and the new moons of 12 August and 11 September 2026 bracket the Amanta one. Look up those four phase times in any ephemeris or astronomical almanac and the two date ranges follow directly. The only subtlety is that a Hindu calendar date is decided by which tithi is running at sunrise in your location, so a phase falling close to sunrise can shift a boundary by a day between cities. That is the usual reason two panchangs disagree by one day, and it is a genuine difference in convention rather than an error in either.
If you want the underlying chart mechanics rather than the calendar, our Kundli Generator shows the sidereal positions these reckonings are built on, and the calculation method behind it is documented separately.
Which calendar applies to you
The usual rule is regional rather than personal. North Indian states largely follow Purnimanta, and Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the southern states largely follow Amanta. Tamil Nadu adds a further layer, since the Tamil calendar is solar and its month Aadi overlaps Shravan without matching it.
Families who have moved between regions are the genuinely ambiguous case, and there is no single answer. Some keep the calendar of the place they came from, some adopt the local one, and many simply follow whatever the nearest temple announces. If your household already observes a particular set of Somvars, that is the tradition you are in, and this page is not the thing to change it.
Sources
- Drik Panchang, Hindu calendar for August 2026, which carries both the Purnimanta default and an Amanta toggle. Accessed 13 August 2026.
- Lunar phase times for July, August and September 2026, cross checked against published astronomical phase tables. Full moons 29 July and 28 August 2026, new moons 12 August and 11 September 2026.
- Solar eclipse of 12 August 2026 and partial lunar eclipse of 28 August 2026, standard eclipse catalogues.
- Weekday assignments for all dates derived arithmetically and stated in the tables above so they can be checked directly.
Regional observance varies, and where a local panchang or a family tradition differs from the dates here, the local reckoning is the one that applies.