Pohela Boishakh 1434 Is on 14 April 2027: Why Bangladesh and West Bengal Differ

The Bengali year 1434 begins on Wednesday 14 April 2027 in Bangladesh. Chaitra Sankranti, the last day of 1433, is Tuesday 13 April. Across the border in West Bengal, Poila Baisakh is on Thursday 15 April. The two dates come from two different calendars that share the same month names, and the difference is worth understanding if you have family, business or festivals on both sides.

Pohela Boishakh 1434 at a glance

The Hijri date on 14 April 2027 is 7 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1448, a month after Eid-ul-Fitr and a month before Eid-ul-Adha, so the New Year does not clash with either Eid next year.

Why Bangladesh fixes 14 April

Until the 1960s the Bengali calendar everywhere was worked out from the sun's entry into each zodiac sign, using the old Surya Siddhanta tables. Month lengths changed from year to year, and the New Year drifted between 13, 14 and 15 April. National days like Ekushey February landed on a different Bengali date every year.

A committee under Muhammad Shahidullah proposed a fixed arithmetic calendar in 1966. Bangladesh adopted it in 1987: the first five months have 31 days, the rest 30, with a leap day added to Falgun. Pohela Boishakh became 14 April for good.

In 2019 the Bangla Academy revised it once more. The first six months, Boishakh to Ashwin, now have 31 days; Kartik, Ogrohayon, Poush and Magh have 30; Falgun has 29, or 30 in a Gregorian leap year; and Chaitra has 30. With this arrangement every Gregorian date maps to the same Bengali date each year: 21 February is always 8 Falgun, 26 March is always 12 Chaitra, and 16 December is always 1 Poush.

Why West Bengal celebrates on 15 April

West Bengal never adopted the reform. Its panjikas still compute the moment of Mesha Sankranti, the sun entering Aries by the sidereal reckoning, and start Boishakh on the following day. Because that moment now falls on 14 April in most years, Poila Baisakh is 15 April in nearly every year, occasionally 14 April. The same rule gives each month a length between 29 and 32 days, which is why a printed Loknath or Gupta Press panjika disagrees with the Bangladesh calendar by a day in many months.

The Bengali year number is the same on both sides: 1434 begins in April 2027 everywhere.

What happens on the day

In Dhaka the day opens with Chhayanaut's dawn concert under the banyan at Ramna, followed by the Mangal Shobhajatra from the Faculty of Fine Arts. Shops close their old accounts and open a new ledger, the haal khata, and offer sweets to customers. Panta bhat with fried hilsa is the meal most people associate with the morning, though it is a recent city tradition rather than an old rural one. Boishakhi fairs run for days in district towns.

Dates for the next few years

Bangladesh keeps 14 April; West Bengal is shown as expected by the traditional rule.

Every Bengali month of 1434, with its Gregorian range and holidays, is on the calendar page, and the year converter turns any Bengali year into a Gregorian one for land records and old documents.