National holidays

There are four national holidays in India, applicable in all states:

• Republic Day, January 26.
• Independence Day, August 15.
• Gandhi Jayanti (birthday of Mahatma Gandhi), October 2.

It is imperative for all government institutions to observe these as holidays.

In addition, there are several religious and cultural holidays.

Hindu festivals

It is to be noted that as the Hindu calendar is lunar (or luni-solar), Hindu festivals don't fall on a fixed day of the Gregorian calendar. Since Hinduism is polytheistic, there is a large number of festivals. The more important ones are listed below. There is no uniformity as to which of these are holidays.

• Diwali
  • Diwali Amvasaya (Laxmi Puja)
  • Diwali (day 2)
  • Bhaubeej
• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Daserra
• Krishna Jayanti or Janmashtami
• Pongal or Makara Sankranti
• Ugadi
• Holi
• Ram Navami
• Gokul Ashtami
• Vijayadasami
• Onam
• Maha Shivratri
• Thaipusam
• Baisakhi/Vaisakhi
• Gudhi Padwa

Islamic festivals

The Islamic calendar is also lunar and so festival dates are variable. Moreover, they are not known in advance and are determined by the sighting of the moon. The major ones are:

• Eid ul-Fitr
• Eid ul-Adha (Bakrid)
• Ramadan

Christian festivals

Christmas Day and Good Friday are usually holidays.

Other religions

• Buddha Jayanti (Buddhism)
• Mahavir Jayanti (Jainism)
• Guru Nanak's Birthday Jayanti (Sikhism)
• Guru Govind Singh's Birthday Jayanti (Sikhism)
• Guru Teg Bahadur's Martyrdom Day (Sikhism)
• Vaisakhi (Sikhism)

Miscellaneous

• New Year's Day, January 1
• New Year's Days in various regional Indian calendars
• Holi
• Raksha bandhan