Pola 2027

About Pola

Pola, or Bail Pola, is the farmers' day for their bullocks, kept on Pithori Amavasya, the new moon at the end of Shravan, mainly in Vidarbha and Marathwada and as Pora in Chhattisgarh. In 2027 it falls on Tuesday, 31 August 2027. The bullocks rest, are bathed, painted and decorated, fed puranpoli and led in a procession through the village.

On Pola, the bullocks do not work. In farming villages across Vidarbha and Marathwada, the pair that pulled the plough through the monsoon is taken to the river or the village pond, scrubbed, oiled, painted and dressed up, then walked in a procession while the family thanks them. Families who have no farm or no cattle worship clay bulls at home instead.

The Marathi Wikipedia calls Pola a festival of gratitude towards bullocks, and that is the plainest way to describe it. Maharashtra Tourism links the day to a story in which Krishna kills a demon named Polasur, which some families give as the origin of the name. Others simply say Pola is Pola.

How the date is set

Pola falls on Pithori Amavasya, the new moon that ends the month of Shravan in the amanta calendar used in Maharashtra. North Indian purnimanta calendars call the same new moon Bhadrapada Amavasya, which is why it is listed under two months. Hareli in Chhattisgarh falls on the previous new moon, about a month earlier, and Ganesh Chaturthi comes about four days after Pola.

Panchangs can disagree by a day when the new moon starts in the morning. In 2026 Drik Panchang's Nagpur calendar showed Pithori Amavasya on Thursday, 10 September and Pola on the 11th. The bullocks were decorated on the 10th: Chhattisgarh's holiday list put Pola on that day, Nashik's central jail held its Pola procession on that date, and Nagpur's Marbat procession, which follows Pola, was on the 11th. If you are unsure, ask what the village is doing, not what the app says.

Not every region keeps the same day. The Marathi Wikipedia notes that Pola falls at the end of Shravan or in Bhadrapada depending on the region. Around Kolhapur, on the Maharashtra and Karnataka border, the bullocks' day is Karnataki Bendur, held much earlier in the season, the day after Vat Purnima.

Many rural schools in Maharashtra close for Pola. In Chhattisgarh it is an optional holiday for government staff.

The day in a Vidarbha village

1. Day before
   Inviting the bullocks

   The family formally invites the pair to the festival. Their shoulders, rubbed raw by the yoke, are warmed with turmeric and ghee or oil, a custom called khand shekne.

2. Morning
   Bath and rest

   The bullocks are taken to the river or a stream, bathed and let out to graze. They do no work at all that day.

3. Late morning
   Dressing up

   Horns are painted and wrapped in shiny begad foil. The bullocks get an embroidered jhul over the back, a headpiece, strings of cowries and bells, and new ropes.

4. Midday
   Puranpoli

   The bullocks are fed puranpoli, the sweet lentil-stuffed flatbread the family is also eating.

5. Afternoon
   The toran at the village edge

   A rope of mango leaves is tied between two posts at the boundary. The bullocks gather to drums and zadti, the call-and-response Pola songs. A respected elder's bullock breaks the toran. Then the procession goes to the Maruti temple.

6. Evening
   Welcome home

   The women of the house meet the bullocks at the door with a ghee lamp and aarti. The man who looks after the animals gets money or new clothes.

Tanha Pola and Marbat in Nagpur

In Vidarbha, Pola runs over two days. The first, sometimes called Motha Pola, belongs to the bullocks. The second, Tanha Pola, belongs to children. They pull painted wooden Nandis through the lanes, copying their fathers' procession, and go from house to house for small gifts or money. Nagpur's carpenters carve the Nandis from teak or shisham, from palm-sized toys to models five feet long, and the Hitavada reports that most sell out days before the festival.

The same day in Nagpur brings the Marbat procession. Effigies of the Kali (black) and Pivli (yellow) Marbat, along with smaller figures called badgya, are carried through Itwari and then burnt, to drive out evil and, these days, to mock current social problems. Accounts of its age vary; the Pivli Marbat is usually traced to the 1880s, during British rule.

Pora in Chhattisgarh

In Chhattisgarh the same new moon is Pora, and the day turns towards the home and the field. The bullocks are decorated and raced in the evening. Women worship a clay bull, often seen as Nandi, along with clay toys: a little hand-mill called a jata, pots and pans. Sahapedia records the belief that the goddess Annapurna conceives on this day and the rice plants fill with milk that becomes grain, so nobody goes into the fields.

Houses fill with thethri, khurmi, anarsa, sohari and gud chila. Children take their clay bulls to the fields in the evening and break them, which is called pora patkana, then play kabaddi and kho-kho. In Gond villages of Bastar, families worship their Bada Dev with rice panicles. Pora comes a month after Hareli, the first farm festival of the year.

Writing a Pola wish

Pola wishes are warm and a little teasing, because bullocks in Maharashtra have pet names and personalities. Sarja and Raja are the names every Marathi farm song uses for a pair. Write about the animals and the season. For a family that has sold its cattle, or moved to the city, write about the memory instead of pretending the farm is still there.

Pithori Amavasya

The new moon at the end of Shravan, on which Pola falls in Maharashtra

Sarja-Raja

The traditional pet names for a pair of bullocks in Marathi songs

Khand shekne

Warming the bullock's yoke-sore shoulders with turmeric and ghee or oil

Jhul

The embroidered cloth laid over a bullock's back

Begad

Shiny foil wrapped on painted horns

Zadti

Call-and-response Pola songs sung at the village edge

Tanha Pola

The children's Pola the next day, with wooden Nandis

Pora patkana

Breaking clay bulls in the fields, a children's custom in Chhattisgarh

How to wish someone on Pola

A Pola wish is really a wish for the bullocks and the family that works with them. Name the animals if you know them (Sarja and Raja are the classic pair), mention the painted horns, the puranpoli, the procession, and pray for a good kharif crop. "Bail Polyachya hardik shubhechha" is the Marathi greeting. For a city family, Pola is about clay bulls, wooden Nandis on Tanha Pola and memories of a village, so write to that. Not every Maharashtrian keeps Pola; it is strongest in farming families of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Marathi + Hindi, Chhattisgarhi.

When is Pola in each year?

Pola is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 10 days earlier than in 2026.

Frequently asked questions