Sharad Purnima 1966: Pomona, California

Sharad Purnima (also called Kojagiri Purnima, Raas Purnima, and Kumara Purnima) is the full moon of Ashwin, falling at the precise juncture when the summer rains have completely ended and the autumn sky achieves its greatest clarity. Of all the twelve full moons of the year, this one is considered the most luminous and the most beautiful: the moon is said to be at its closest, its light purest, its beauty most complete. Ancient texts describe the moonbeams on this night as carrying healing nectar (amrit) that descends to earth.

The most beloved observance of Sharad Purnima is the preparation of moonlit kheer: a thick rice pudding cooked with milk, sugar, and cardamom, placed outdoors on a clean surface and left under the open sky throughout the night so the moon's rays fall directly on it. By morning, the kheer is believed to have absorbed the lunar nectar and to carry healing properties. Devotees eat this prasad at dawn. The tradition is especially strong in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

In Vrindavan and the Vaishnava tradition, Sharad Purnima is the night of Krishna's Raas Leela with the Gopis: the mystical circular dance that stretched beyond time itself as the divine and the devoted merged in love. Simultaneously, in the Lakshmi tradition, the goddess herself is said to descend from Vaikuntha and roam the earth from dusk to dawn calling out Ko Jagarti? (“Who is awake?”), bestowing her blessings of wealth, health, and prosperity on every home where a light burns and a devotee is awake in her honour.

This night carries different names in different regions, all for the same Ashwin Purnima: in Bengal it is Kojagari Lakshmi Puja, one of the year's most important Lakshmi observances, with elaborate clay idols and the singing of Lakshmi Panchali; in Odisha it is Kumara Purnima, when young unmarried women bathe at dawn and pray to the moon for a good husband; in Maharashtra, Kojagiri is a beloved community stay-awake night of card games, storytelling, and shared moonlit kheer.